Volunteering in the Aboriginal Community

Urban Native Youth: Urban Native Youth is a fairly large organization that has many programs that provide Native youth with education and training, personal support, live-in programs, and sports and recreation. Their work also includes community development, training, research, educational materials, and advocacy.  The main goal of the program is to provide opportunities that can help Native youth reach their personal goals and full potential. Urban Native Youth is a great resource to find volunteer positions in your areas of interest.

Charity Village: Charity Village is a large online platform that helps non-profit organizations and “like-minded professionals” connect by sharing ideas and opportunities.  By typing “Aboriginal” or “Indigenous” into the search bar, a variety of different opportunities become available to you at the click of a button.  Some volunteer opportunities deal with government-related roles, while others focus on helping Aboriginal women and educating Aboriginal youth.  Charity Village has a large database of organizations and opportunities to search from, and it provides opportunities all over Canada.

GoVolunteer: GoVolunteer is an extremely good resource to find hundreds of volunteer opportunities in the Lower Mainland. What I particularly like about this website is that you can enter specifics into the search. I find this very useful if you are looking for an opportunity in a certain area of interest and in a particular location. It also provides you with many organizations that may not have a website or online presence. By typing “Aboriginal” or “Indigenous” into the search, GoVolunteer always provides great opportunities nearby.

Other good organizations to check out: Vancouver Native Housing Society, and Vancouver Aboriginal Housing Society.

With so much at our fingertips, it is easy to get overwhelmed when looking for something particular. I hope this article can help you narrow down your search, find something that interests you, and inspires you to try something new. There are hundreds of opportunities available and I encourage you to get out there and get involved!

Original article by Alexandra Lowe, edits by Chris Gal-lang.

Alexandra Lowe is a co-op student working as the Volunteer Services Assistant. She studies communication and in her spare time she volunteers, plays sports and enjoys the outdoors. You can find her in Career Services in MBC 0300 and don't forget to visit the Volunteer Services website (sfu.ca/volunteer) to getin information about the latest events and opportunities