The Applicant’s Section
This is to be completed by all youth 18 years of age and under who are applying. Remember to print or type CLEARLY.

Note: This section MUST be written by you – not by your mentor. If an adult has completed this section the Dare to Dream review team will not consider your application.

Dare to Dream Cover Sheet
This first page asks for important information about you, the applicant (or your group) and your mentor. We need this personal information to process your application, so PLEASE ensure that this information is correct.

Your Project Idea
This second page asks you to explain your project idea. Tell us, in the space provided, what you are hoping to do in order to promote mental health and increase mental health awareness among your peers or community.

Please make sure your project has a title!

About Your Project
This section asks you to describe the mental health issue or challenge that you are trying to address with your project idea. Think about WHY you have proposed this idea, we want to know how this project is linked to mental illness and how it builds mental health awareness among your peers and or community.

Project Goals
Please describe the overall goal of your project. What impact are you hoping to achieve among your peers or community? How many people are you planning to reach by doing this project?

Your Project’s Relevancy to Child and Youth Mental Health
Tell us more about how this project relates specifically to child and youth mental health promotion and awareness in Ontario.

Project Action Plan
How are you planning to do your project? Describe in detail, the action plan or steps that you will take to plan your project, to set it up and to do it. Please think about this before filling out this section. Well thought out plans are always more successful than those simply thrown together!

Your Project Budget
This is a VERY important section of the application form. You may want to seek help from your Mentor before completing this section. Tell us, in detail, how you plan to use the money (up to $1000 for individuals and up to $5000 for groups) to do your project. Do some research to find out how much your materials will cost.

Individuals and groups are allowed to request an honorarium of up to $200 per award (included within the $1000 or $5000) as a “thank you” for all of the hard work and commitment to the project. If you prefer the full $1000 or $5000 can be used to fund project expenses. Please be sure to indicate whether or not you would like an honorarium in the Project Budget section of the Dare to Dream application form.

Honorariums are sent out only after we receive the Final Report for your project.

In the table provided, please list all of the items that you will need to plan, implement and evaluate your project (if you or your group would like to include an honorarium for your time and commitment to the project, please enter the amount in the budget table – up to $200). There is also a space for donations that you may receive (try to think of how others can assist you with these items so that you will have more money to spend on project related expenses).

In the Budget Explanation section (found below the budget table) please describe WHY the budget items you have listed are required. (To find out what, can and cannot be funded visit the FAQ section.)

Note: Please make your budget as realistic as possible. If your budget for certain items seems to be too high, it may affect your application’s success! When planning your budget, try to list everything you need to make your project happen. Your goal when budgeting should be to figure out exactly what you need to bring your project to life, while staying within the budget limit (as opposed to trying to “fill” your budget in order to spend the maximum amount of the award).

It’s also a good idea to think carefully and prioritize what you need in case costs run higher than you expect or you only receive partial funding. Ask yourself: which things are essential to my project? What can I do without? Where and how can I raise additional funds if I need more money?

Project Evaluation
How do you plan to identify if your project was a success? We will need to know how, at the end of this project, you will know if you have promoted mental health and increased mental health awareness among your peers and or community.

A few examples of program evaluation include:

A Survey: with help from your mentor, create a survey to determine how much the audience knew about your mental health topic before and then after your project or activity. Before your project begins, ask participants to complete the survey. Then have them complete the survey once again after they have participated. By comparing the before and after surveys you will be able to determine what impact your Dare to Dream project has had on your audience.

A Feedback Form: create a feedback form by writing down key questions that you would like answered after the presentation/activity (i.e., what was the most informative part of this play? What is one thing that you learned from the presentation/activity that you did not know before?).

The Mentor’s Section
Ask your mentor to fill out the Mentor’s section of the form. He or she may chose to do this on the computer or by hand – both are acceptable.