1. MEMORANDUM TO: Secondary School Guidance Counsellors and Career Educators across Ontario
FROM: Joanne Brown
President
Ontario School Counsellors’ Association
PO Box 60
Hillsburgh, ON
N0B 1Z0
www.osca.ca
Carine Strong
Chair
Ontario Volunteer Centre Network
c/o Volunteer MBC
7700 Hurontario Street, Unit 601
Brampton, ON
L6Y 4M3
(905) 238-2622
www.ovcn.ca
DATE: March 17, 2014
SUBJECT: 2014 ChangeTheWorld – Ontario Youth Volunteer Challenge
______________________________________________________________________
From April 6 to May 19, the seventh annual ChangeTheWorld - Ontario Youth Volunteer Challenge is
being held across the province. This is now a six-week campaign promoting youth volunteerism among
Ontario’s high school students.
ChangeTheWorld is delivered through a partnership between the Government of Ontario and the Ontario
Volunteer Centre Network (OVCN). Since 2008, more than 100,000 young people have volunteered over
435,000 hours through this campaign.
ChangeTheWorld challenges high school students aged 14 to 18 to volunteer three hours over six weeks.
Participation in this campaign is open to all secondary school students and contributes to the 40-
community involvement hours required to obtain an Ontario high school diploma.
Last year, more than 38,000 youth volunteered a record 170,000 hours, working with their schools, local
volunteer centres and community agencies. This year, the OVCN along with 23 volunteer centres

2. representing communities across Ontario are helping to organize volunteer opportunities and connect
students to them.
As the guidance and career educators of your schools, you can be the ambassadors to help promote the
ChangeTheWorld campaign by encouraging students to participate. Our youth are increasingly seeking
opportunities to improve their local communities by giving their time, skills and talents as volunteers for
causes they deem important. This campaign helps students find their passion and develop essential skills
for their future careers.
If your school is interested in participating in volunteer events during ChangeTheWorld, visit ctw.ovcn.ca
for more information. We would be delighted if you could share this information with your school staff,
faculty and student councils and/or groups, to make them aware of the many events taking place in their
communities.
Sincerely,
Joanne Brown Carine Strong