2018: The Year of Pipe Cleaners, Spray Paint and Speaking Notes

#WouldYouRatherTO on King Street in downtown Toronto.

It was a year of many firsts.

We expanded our team for the first time, worked on our first public art project, mentored our first cohort of 1UP School Chapters, presented our first talk outside of Canada, and many more.

Undoubtedly, 2018 is our biggest year yet.

And we are excited to share some of our favourite moments with you. Take a look at the many things we did in the last twelve months.

1. We planned. (January-March)

We spent the first three months of the year planning the 1UP Toronto Conference 2018. It’s in the name, too—Plan For Good — as the theme was about highlighting our drive towards social good in our city.

Student teams creating their prototype during the Design Jam at 1UP Toronto 2018 Conference.

Before we knew it, it was showtime. On March 10, we brought together high school students, volunteers from universities and companies, and city-building leaders into the same room for a productive day of learning and doing. During the Design Jam, participants worked in teams to develop creative solutions (with pipe cleaners and other craft supplies, of course) for real urban challenges.

Special shout-out to RU A Planner, our wonderful co-hosts, who made the planning process so much easier and more enjoyable.

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam was our opening keynote speaker.

2. We built. (April-June)

And by built, we meant building both literally and figuratively.

That’s me, trying not to breathe in too much of the spray paint.

We were thrilled when we heard that we won the Everyone is King design-build competition with #WouldYouRatherTO. After all, you don’t often get a chance to build a public art installation in downtown Toronto, just five minutes away from work.

We jumped on the opportunity and got to work. For weeks, we were spray painting and blowdrying buoys in the garage, so that they would be ready for assembly by June. Yes, in case you’re wondering, those are flotation buoys you see in swimming pools. And thanks to the help of our wonderful friends, we did it! We even made a video for it.

Meanwhile, we also built our first 1UP Executive Team! This amazing team of high school students met for the first time in the spring and started working right away to plan out the year. Thank you for your hard work!

In less glamorous yet very important news, we incorporated! Many tedious forms and one unproductive visit to the legal clinic later, we are now officially a not-for-profit organization. We are legit.

3. We strategized. (June-September)

As Urban Minds reached its two-year mark, we wanted to make sure we put the best foot forward. To do that, we knew we needed to expand the team.

The dream team: Janice, Justina, Angela, and Ryan.

Our new team members Janice and Justina added to our repertoire with their urban planning, youth engagement, design thinking, and business planning experience. Not to mention, they are great people to work with and even better friends!

In August, we had our 1UP Leaders Lab, which was a three-day workshop for high school students interested in taking the next step to becoming community leaders and starting their own projects.

Run! We played icebreaker games to kick off each day during the 1UP Leaders Lab.

Students went on walking tours to learn more about the city and participated in hands-on workshops on topics like project management, public speaking, and design thinking.

Big smiles and certificates!

When school was back in session, our four 1UP School Chapters kick-started their community projects under the guidance of our new chapter mentors. Their projects are now well underway and our 1UP Fellows will be presenting their work at our 2019 Conference. Stay tuned.

4. We spoke. (September-December)

In late September, we travelled to Detroit to speak about youth engagement at the Public x Design conference. It was our first time representing Urban Minds abroad and it was an awesome experience sharing our work with other city builders outside of Canada. With the short amount of time we got to spend in the city, we caught a glimpse of Detroit’s impressive comeback and lingering challenges. There was so much to learn and too little time.

Public x Design Conference organized by Gehl Institute.

In November, we returned to Voice Integrative School for the Liveable Neighbourhood workshop series and saw the energy and creativity the students had in thinking of ways to improve their neighbourhoods.

Grade 7 students at VIS showing off their prototype.

We presented at the Future Cities Canada Summit at Evergreen Brick Works with some new and old friends from across the country: CityHive from Vancouver, Youthful Cities from Toronto, and CityInclusive from Montreal. We were all glad to see youth engagement becoming a more prominent topic in city building conferences.

Getting ready for the workshop at Future Cities Canada Summit.

Speaking of friends, we formed an Advisory Board! We recruited the brightest minds (who also happened to be our biggest fans) to be our advisors in the next two years. We look forward to working with them to take Urban Minds even further.

Ellen-style selfie (groupie?) with the Advisory Board.

2018 was quite a ride for us, and we couldn’t be more proud of what we accomplished. Many thanks to our sponsors, partners, and volunteers, without whom we would not be where we are now.

We have big plans for the new year — we are expanding our services to work with more organizations so we can include more youth in city-building projects.

We’re ready to take on 2019. 💪