General guidelines

 General guidelines

The Dare to Dream program is all about youth taking the lead in educating people in their schools and communities about mental health and decreasing the stigma that often surrounds mental illness.  By applying for a Dare to Dream grant, you can create something amazing that will help spread awareness of mental health and help more youth get engaged.

Applicants must:

  1. Be 18 years of age or under. The only exception to this rule is for group projects, in which the majority of applicants must be 18 or younger. (i.e. if a group of three apply one may be older than 18 years).
  2. Be residents of Ontario. Dare to Dream is a provincially funded program, so only youth from Ontario may apply.
  3. Agree to help us promote the project on our website. This means keeping us up to date with the project’s progress and providing pictures, videos, stories/testimonials, project products, etc. for others to learn from.
  4. Partner with an adult mentor who has experience working with children and youth. Click to find out more about getting a mentor or being a mentor.
  5. Work with their mentor to demonstrate an effort to manage the funds wisely. Learn more about managing grant money and creating a budget in our application walkthrough.
  6. Submit a final report and exit survey to the Centre at the end of their project.

All projects must:

  1. Be youth-led.  The ideas must be developed by youth, the application (excluding the mentor portion) must be completed by youth and projects that receive funding must be created and run by youth.
  2. Be relevant to child and youth mental health in Ontario.Your project may have other elements and purposes, but your main goal must be mental health related.
  3. Be innovative.  Ask yourself – is this a new idea, or has it been done in my community before?  Check out our Project Showcase for ideas that have already been funded.
  4. Demonstrate impact.  Ask yourself – will my project reach many people in my school and/or community?  Applicants must come up with ways to evaluate their project and demonstrate its success. Learn more about this requirement in our Application Walkthrough
  5. Be linked with a Child and Youth Mental Health Agency.  Learn more about partnering with a child and youth mental health agency here!

As you develop your project idea it’s good to refer back to these general guidelines to ensure that your idea is on its way to success!  If you feel you’ve met all these requirements then you can keep moving onto the next step in the Dare to Dream Journey and get it approved!