Case Study: Youths Climate Action Summit achieves inclusive hybrid youth collaboration with Howspace

YCAS coaches young people to collaborate against climate change

Youth Climate Action Summit (YCAS) is a summit created by the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Network to help young people collaborate on climate initiatives and build action plans for their schools and communities. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the planned in-person Ontario event to go online, YCAS needed an engaging and secure platform that could support collaboration across remote and hybrid teams. Howspace was the platform suggested to help host the summit and workshops.

Howspace enabled YCAS to run a fully virtual summit one year and then a hybrid model the next, with pre-engagement, live sessions, team pages, shared resources, chats, and ongoing post-event collaboration. The platform helped broaden participation across Canada, support follow-up conversations after the summit, and simplify submissions for funding proposals. Measurably, 75% of registered users actively wrote comments, and organizers reported strong engagement before, during, and after the event, including participants joining from as far away as Alberta and Newfoundland.