What can you expect of the program?

Positioning youth as Ocean ambassadors, the program aims to empower participants to become active Ocean Wise citizens and adopt a culture of service through the following program components: 

1. Community & Capacity Building 

From May to October, participants connect as a national team and with the broader community of ocean conservation through a variety of distance-learning activities including speaker series, discussions, workshops, and reflections. Topics of climate change, ocean pollution and overfishing deepen participants’ understanding of complex ocean conservation challenges while professional development workshops build participants’ capacities to act as ambassadors for the ocean.  

*Ocean Bridge Ambassadors are eligible to receive an iPad on loan to support participation in this virtual component of the program. See Frequently Asked Questions for more details. 

2. Coaching & Action Projects 

During the 6-month program, participants take action for the Ocean and waterways by identifying, developing and delivering a action project. This year, participants will deliver their project as part of IMPAC5’s Ocean Festival running from June until September. An Ocean Bridge program staff provides guidance and support to Ocean Bridge ambassadors throughout their service journey in one-to-one bi-weekly coaching calls. These individualized coaching sessions focus on goal setting, action project development and delivery, and reflection. 

To support their ocean action projects, Ocean Bridge ambassadors can access: 

• Up to $500 Youth Ocean Action Grant funding. 
• A range of action project kits, on loan, equipped with everything you need for: videography, podcasting, shoreline cleanup, water quality testing, backyard BioBlitz, education outreach, and more. 

3. Remote Learning Journey*

Hosted between May and July, the first Learning Journey experience is a 10-day immersive Learning Journey which focuses on ocean and waterway health and delivering action projects in a remote setting. During this journey, Ocean Bridge ambassadors meet their peers in person for the first time to learn, explore, connect, and experience an aquatic habitat and its major conservation threats. By living, working, and reflecting as a team in an iconic natural setting, the ambassadors will develop social capital, respect for diversity and a heightened sense of responsibility and pride in the natural environment, themselves, and one another. During this trip, ambassadors will  

• Explore nature in a way they might not have done before with an accent on one's own environmental footprint and how it impacts water health.  
• Experience and take an active role in conservation action projects organized by staff and program alumni 
• Listen and learn from local experts, researchers, and traditional knowledge keepers to gain new perspectives on water protection. 

The Remote learning journey is partially co-delivered with some local Indigenous partners who know best the area, its history and can help us better understand the complexity of interconnection and the underlying threats of our aquatic habitats. Our goal is that our ambassadors return home to their communities with a deepened understanding of the importance of water protection from an environmental-conservation lens as well as from a spiritual and cultural lens. 

4. Urban Learning Journey* 

In September, Ocean Bridge ambassadors participate in their second immersive learning journey. Focusing on outreach and professional development, participants will gather in Vancouver, BC to form a delegation to the 5th International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5). Beyond the conference, participants will organize and participate in a series of ocean actions scheduled around the city from discussions to shoreline cleanups. As Ocean Ambassadors, Ocean Bridge will look for participants who are interested in not only taking the lead in planning activities around the conference, but also in hosting sessions and representing Ocean Wise at key events.  

*Remote and Urban Learning Journeys are subject to local, provincial, and federal health guidelines and travel restrictions. While we hope to bring youths together for in-person activities, we will only do so if it can be done safely for participants, staff, and our community hosts.  When necessary, distance-based experiences will be facilitated as an alternative to in-person programming. 

---

2022 Timeline

Start Date	Orientation	10-day remote learning journey	5-day Urban Learning Journey	Project Showcase	End date	Application deadline
May 2, 2022	May 6-7, 2022	May – July 2022	September 2022	October 22, 2022	October 28th	March 11th

---

Continue to Contact Us »