Social Awareness Project

Students initiated an action project to raise awareness for housing insecurities related to COVID-19. 

The students from Alexandra Woods’ grade 12 social science class at Adult High School have co-written a song with Juno-nominated Craig Cardiff and produced a music video with Youth Ottawa’s Jesse Card to bring awareness to the housing emergency in Ottawa and to the challenges individuals are facing due to COVID evictions. 

The funding for the song and video workshops was provided by the OCDSB’s Experiential Learning department – OCDSBXL and the model for activism was adapted from the Active Citizenship Initiative – a civic engagement initiative created by Youth Ottawa. 

  • The Project

    The song and music video was created as part of a larger social awareness campaign which included a social media component, mask distribution to the street community through the Salvation Army's Outreach Program, and lobbying municipal and provincial government to address the housing emergency in Ottawa. This included conversations with political representatives in Ottawa including Catherine Mckenney, Councillor for Somerset Ward and Joel Harden, MPP for Ottawa Centre.

  • January 29th marks the one year anniversary of Ottawa City Council's declaration of a housing emergency. The music video and song will be the anthem for a virtual rally being held on Friday, Jan 29th, 2021 by the Alliance to End Homelessness to mark this day. The goal of the project is to raise and amplify the voices of those who are struggling with housing insecurities as a result of COVID-19.

"Housing is a basic human right and we need to take care of our community in order to get through this difficult time."
Alexandra Woods
Teacher at Adult High School