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Vedanshi Vala

Richmond, BC

Vedanshi Vala is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of BOLT Safety Society, believing passionately that young people have the power to make a difference in their communities. Vedanshi's social impact has been recognized nationally by L'Oreal Paris, and she has also advocated for gender equity at United Nations Headquarters in New York as a delegate at the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

The Rural Safety Network by BOLT Safety Society

The Rural Safety Network by BOLT Safety Society is a multi-faceted endeavor to grow the organization's existing programming in urban communities to more rural and remote areas of British Columbia in an effort to combat sexual violence. This will include expanding their Digital Platform's database of resources to new geographies, hosting educational workshops, and growing a network of Safe Hubs locally.

https://www.boltsafety.org/

About this Project

Communities Served

My project will involve and/or impact the following communities:

  • At risk youth & children
  • Senior citizens
  • Refugees & newcomers
  • Persons with disabilities
  • Indigenous Peoples
  • LGBTQ2+ Community members
  • Racial or visible minorities
  • Vulnerable individuals (e.g. those experiencing addiction, abuse)
  • Multi-barrier populations

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

When it comes to community impact projects, the UN has created 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These are the Sustainable Development Goals associated with my project.

  • SDG 3: Good health and Well-being
  • SDG 5: Gender equality
  • SDG 10: Reduced inequalities
  • SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities
  • SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals

How the project works

The Rural Safety Network by BOLT Safety Society was a multi-faceted endeavour to grow our existing programming in urban communities to more rural and remote areas of British Columbia in an effort to combat sexual violence. This included expanding our Digital Platform's database of resources to new geographies, hosting educational workshops, and growing a network of Safe Hubs locally.

Project Impact

We were able to host two workshops, one at the IBeyond Conference at The Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront, where we addressed the lack of resourcing in rural BC communities and shared our Sprout Ideas project to an audience of 87 students. Our second workshop, though smaller in size, was hosted in Squamish, BC to staff members of Trickster’s Hideout, which is a bar and one of our new Safe Hubs partners. Nonetheless, it was nice hosting an intimate event as greater opportunities to converse with attendees was made possible, and they also shared that since becoming a Safe Hub a few weeks prior, they had already had people come into their space looking for help (not knowing they were a Safe Hub), but their staff was equipped to respond thanks to the resources provided by BOLT Safety Society. Speaking of Safe Hubs, we were able to introduce 2 in Squamish, 1 in Whistler, and 4 in Pemberton - with more maybes - bringing us to 7 new Safe Hubs partners. Check out our Safe Hubs map here: https://www.boltsafety.org/safehubs We also interviewed two organizations that support survivors of sexual violence and domestic abuse, namely PearlSpace and Sea to Sky Community Services. We released a resource article on The Hub, which is part of our Digital Platform, that details options for support for survivors in Squamish, Whistler, and Pemberton, BC. One of the new things we were able to launch through this project was the inclusion of video content in the articles, something we are planning to replicate for our other content as well, that provides a visual picture on what it looks like for someone to seek support from these kinds of organizations. Have a look here: https://www.boltsafety.org/post/squamish-whistler-pemberton-bc-sexual-violence-resources When we started our initial #RisingYouth projects, both with the launch of the Digital Platform (only a handful of articles, more so focused on Metro Vancouver resources), and the Safe Hubs network (started with 9 at launch), we didn’t have as many articles as we now do, specified to communities beyond Metro Vancouver (and this project helped us focus on rural communities in BC), nor as many Safe Hubs as we now do (in total, we are at 39 locations in 16 cities).

Project Mission

The mission of The Rural Safety Network by BOLT Safety Society is to ensure that no one gets left behind from accessing safer and more equitable communities, especially in rural or remote communities.

Project Team

The team at BOLT Safety Society predominantly consists of youth volunteers who are passionate about harnessing the power of technology to create a more safe and equitable world.

    Video Name or info

    2021-22 Rewind | BOLT Safety Society