"Colson'' Youthcenter

“Colson” Youth Center NGO The “Colson” Youth Center NGO is a civil society hub in the town of Ararat. The Center addresses youth development, civic participation, human rights and many other issues of community concern. The Center was founded in 2001 by a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer D. Colson. At that time, the purpose of the Center was to organize computer and English courses, intellectual clubs, youth meetings for the residents of the town of Ararat. Given the growing number of community challenges, the Center incrementally enlarged the circle of its beneficiaries and diversified its activities. Up to 2005, the Centerpublished “Colson” newspaper that informed citizens about activities and projects of the Center and other issues of community interest in Ararat region. The newspaper was operated through the dedicated engagement of the localyouth. Later the newspaper was renamed to “Veratsnund” (Renascence) as it shifted the focus more on community development through civic participation and active citizenship. The portfolio of the Center has three major programmatic directions:civic participation, youth empowerment and human rights. Civic Participation In 2016, Eurasia Partnership Foundation’s Citizens Engagement for Local Governance (CELoG) project selected the Center to serve as a resource organization for EPF’s Ararat InfoTun. The main areas of activity of the Ararat InfoTun are community development, youth activism, ecology, civic education and social entrepreneurship. EPF’s InfoTuns are information hubs that promote citizen awarenessand public participation in local governance. As part of the CELoG project, EPF conducted a “Mardamej” Social Innovation Camp in Ararat InfoTun in April 2016. The Camp brought together 60 participants who elaborated on joint innovative project ideas; out of the pool of proposed projects, two initiatives received a grant support. One of the projects established twoinformation boards in the town of Ararat to inform citizens about community council meetings and decisions, and other important events. The other project titled ''Out of the Box'' proposed a blog through which citizens of the town of Ararat could share their opinion about the local governance and other issues of local concern. Starting from 2017, EPF’s Media for Informed Citizen Engagement (MICE) project started using the Ararat InfoTun for programmatic activities in Ararat region. Youth Empowerment In 2007, the Center became EPF's Ararat YouthBank host organization. EPF’s Youth Banks program nurtures groups of young volunteers, who become decision makers and “change-agents” in their home communities. From 2007 to 2015, Ararat YouthBank implemented more than 25 community development projects in Ararat region focusing on youth activism, community development, anti-discrimination, intolerance, entrepreneurship, etc. As part of the CELoG project, Ararat YouthBankimplemented a number of small scale projects to translate CELoG’s objectives to young people in their communities and enhance youth participation in community development. The “Youth Participation in Community Development: Small in Scale but Significant in Impact” was one of the recent YouthBank projects implemented in 2016. As part of the project, YouthBankssupported community projects toincreaseyouth activism andyouthparticipation in community life. Human Rights The Center’s human rights programming is in its initial stage. The Ararat InfoTun coordinates "Knowledge against discrimination in the regions" project with the support of EPF and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The project supports trainings to promote human rights and tolerance in Ararat region. The Center has also implemented the “StepAhead” project with the support of Helsinki Committee of Armenia.