I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to Empowered Youth for delivering workshops in diverse areas such as Effective Communication skills, Time management skills and Presentation skills to Newcomer Youth. The content was appropriate for Newcomer Youth to apply in their daily lives to improve their skills. The facilitators’ positive attitude and passion for youth made the workshops very engaged with the students. I also appreciate Empowered Youth being flexible to modify the activities geared to English Learning students so they could understand better and fully engaged during the sessions. I would like to continue to work with them and would also recommend them to other schools or youth groups looking for enhancing youth capacity”

Sherry Park
Program Manager
New Immigrant Youth Camp program
Action for Healthy Communities
June 12,2014

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“As a teacher at Rosslyn Junior High School, I have been able to work with Empowered Youth. They have been involved with numerous students of Rosslyn Junior High School in various capacities. I have seen the impact that the Empowered Youth Workshops has had on our female students. They are able to take shy girls, with low self-esteem and transform them into confident young women by giving them a skill set they didn’t know they had. Empowered Youth also volunteered their time to come and support Rosslyn School’s first Girls Day Conference. They provided mini-sessions for groups of our students with the goal of empowering our female students. I was extremely happy with the content of the sessions. They provided positives messages to our students. I look forward to working with them again”

Sincerely
Amanda Weber
Teacher
Rosslyn Junior High 2014

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“I am pleased to write this letter of reference for Harriet Tinka and Marion Rebonne. These two amazing women run workshops for young women through their organization called Empowered Youth. These workshops help youth realize their full potential through a series of sessions that deal with body image, self-esteem, turning negative thoughts into positive ones and improving self-confidence.
I am the Assistant Principal at Rosslyn Jr. High and Harriet and Marion approached me last spring about running some workshops in my school. We have a number of students who would benefit from interactions with confident female role models who could help them gain a positive, healthy identity. I talked about my students and how many would benefit from improved self-worth, communication and interpersonal skills and the confidence to make positive choices.
Before I had a chance to apply for grants that would allow us to hire Harriet and Marion, they approached me once again with an amazing opportunity. They were running a workshop starting in October and offered two of my students an opportunity to attend; free of charge! The two girls I chose were both having some significant self-esteem issues and had become depressed and were self-harming. They had a great deal of responsibility but were not always making the best choices. Both girls’ families were very excited and thankful for this opportunity.
Over the course of 6 weeks, I have seen some significant changes in the girls! Both girls have stopped the self-harming and talk openly about the positive messages they try to

give to themselves. They carry themselves more confidently and are taking more care in their appearance. Both girls have talked about “what’s possible” in their futures and are making healthier decisions. I believe they are happier!
I would like to thank Harriet and Marion for allowing these girls to attend their workshops and to acknowledge that both these amazing women have gone above and beyond. One of the girls has talked about her goals of becoming a lawyer and Harriet is looking for an opportunity for her to talk to some lawyers. Both of the girls have expressed an interest in dance and Marion arranged for them to volunteer at the Edmonton Ballet and meet some of the dancers. They also set up an opportunity for the girls to play water polo so they can have some different experiences and I know both girls have contacted Harriet and Marion outside of the workshop to talk. We know that the more positive role models these girls have in their lives, the more resilient they will become.
It is without hesitation that I would recommend the workshops Empowered Youth put on. Both Harriet and Marion are passionate about helping young people. Please do not hesitate to call me if you should have further questions”

Yours In Learning,

Andrea Cooper, M. Ed.
Assistant Principal, Rosslyn School
December 01, 2013
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