Of the 10 immediate risks listed in this year’s World Economic Forum Global Risks Report, the one most likely to be overlooked is number eight – “youth disillusionment.”

According to the Risk Report, the result of young people facing their second global crisis in a decade will result in, at best, temporary disruption and disillusionment and, at worst, permanent scarring and lost opportunity. The report’s findings and predictions are troubling, citing deterioration of mental health since the start of the pandemic leaving 80% of young people worldwide at risk of depression, anxiety, and disillusionment. 

Research reveals young people are more at risk of long-term effects from chronic stress and trauma than adults. There has never been a more important time to understand resilience and how it equips young people to meet the challenges they face now and in the future. Resilience is closely linked to self-efficacy, which is the idea that people who believe they will succeed are far more likely than others to actually succeed. 

The good news? Self-efficacy can be taught. This is why Viewpoint Foundation is a big supporter of JA Southern Alberta which has expanded its free financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship programming to reach students from grades 3-12 and is committed to ensuring young people have the resources they need to flourish.

Through skills mastery (such as JA’s hands-on learning experiences in the form of gamification, simulation, and real-world entrepreneurship and business creation) and through observing the success of others who have high levels of self-efficacy (like the JA volunteers delivering programs in classrooms), students are building resilience.

JA Southern Alberta is experiencing unprecedented demand for this programming. To learn more about how you can support this critical work, please click here.