Credit union grants go to youth groups

Coast Capital Savings recently awarded more than $250,000 in grants to 24 youth-focused community organizations on Vancouver Island.

Initiatives include bullying prevention initiatives, projects aimed at strengthening youth leadership and civic engagement and workshops that help Coast Salish youth reconnect with their ancestry and communities.

The grants are part of the credit union’s community investment program, designed to empower youth so they support their peers and give back to their communities.

“Our goal is to help build richer futures for youth in our communities,” said Wendy Lachance, Coast Capital Savings’ director of community leadership.

“The organizations we’re partnering with align with our four building blocks of community leadership: building knowledge, financial literacy, healthy minds and a sense of belonging.”

This year, the granting decisions were made by community leaders under age 30 who are part of Coast Capital’s new Young Leaders Community Councils in Surrey, Victoria and Vancouver.

Each year the credit union, the second-largest in Canada, invests seven per cent of its annual pretax profits back into the communities it serves — a total of $4.8 million in 2013.

For more information, go to coastcapitalsavings.com.