Best Activist Organization

Gold Winner Youth Project

Silver Winner Autism Nova Scotia

Bronze Winner YWCA Halifax

Update: Around late October 2018, when the Best of Halifax issue was going to press, the Youth Project was dealing with personnel issues—including a workplace harassment complaint—and its programming was in flux. This uncertain situation became the focus of the Youth Project's BOH citation, which you can see in the paragraph below. A few weeks later, however, the Youth Project told us an external review found that the complaint was baseless, and as of this writing many events are being offered on the organization's website. Although BOH write-ups are intended to be snapshots of a moment in time and we don't make a habit of changing them (because with hundreds of dynamic winners, where would you stop?), we feel this update is warranted to provide some closure. For more information, here is our news story about the situation, "Harassment complaint against Youth Project executive director unfounded, investigation concludes."

Well, this is awkward. In the days leading up to this issue, news broke that the executive director of the Youth Project has been suspended pending an external investigation into “workplace environment and office culture.” A public statement on the LGBTQ+ non profit’s website says all workshops and internal programming are also cancelled for the next two months. Meanwhile, an “extraordinary general meeting” will be held November 24 at the Glitter Bean Cafe. Whatever’s happening, we’re sure all the Youth Project’s supporters want to see the organization tackle this situation with openness and accountability—so the city’s Best Activist Organization can resume offering its much-needed programs and supports.