Canada has now entered into a new millennium, and a growing percentage of our population is under 30. Perhaps the biggest barrier to the meaningful engagement of youth in our society, current and future, is child poverty and the inequality of access to the information, skills and technologies necessary for their productive contribution to a healthy Canada. With the support of the private sector and all levels of government we have supported a two-year program which has assisted communities across the country in eradicating these barriers. The Students Commission/ TG Magazine process has proven highly successful in providing the youth with the tools, motivation and support to make systemic change.

Our definition of "child poverty" is a broad one, not just restricted to economics. We define poverty as the unfair and unequal access to the resources which allow young people a fair chance of succeeding in life. Equal access to resources is our goal; the right of all young Canadians to experience success, positive reinforcement and self-esteem.

Sharing Resources 2000 has created a cross-Canada youth program that implements community action for systemic change, sustaining communication through a network supported by multimedia, Internet and personal exchanges. The theme "Sharing Resources" has encouraged young people to discover the values and skills they have to give, and has focused on young people creating equal opportunity for all young Canadians in the new millennium. Projects by youth have sought to enable young people to break cycles of child poverty and has enabled access to technology and promoted youth engagement in society in Canada and around the world.

In the last two and a half years “Sharing Resources 2000” has supported over 2000 projects initiated by youth. They have created awareness, on all levels of society, and they have given back to the community by way of fundraisers, volunteerism and through creating healthy community within their peer groups, homes and schools. Some amazing work has been done by the young people of Canada in the last two and a half years, but it is far from over. The work of “Sharing Resources” will continue through 2001 and beyond. We hope that the amazing group of youth that are involved will work us out of a job some day, but until then....