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47 B C B U S I N E S S . C A M A R C H 2 0 2 5 responded to many overdoses in per- son, and I've seen how undignified the deaths of drug users have been. I've lost friends to accidental overdoses," she says. Punitive measures, she argues, don't work. "I myself have suffered from depression and all these adver- sities, and I didn't have prescription options back then," she says. "I tried to kill myself twice, and getting pre- scription medication saved me." She calls for evidence-based drug policies and a compassionate health-care system that upholds everyone's right to personalized care. In 2023, Juristia's advocacy efforts grew into the J Healthcare Initiative (JHI), a Vancouver-based nonprofit focused on harm reduc- tion and overdose prevention. JHI offers internships for students and a virtual health promotion network for drug users. It also provides stipends to users for input on proposals. One of its innovations, RAPID, is a "real-time alert platform for informed decisions" that uses lab-checked drug test results to provide safety alerts and identifies which areas have higher concentra- tions of alerts. "Drug users are, in many ways, like my boss," says Juristia, who's working at a time when harm-reduc- tion efforts in B.C. have stalled, with the provincial government reversing part of its decriminalization pilot due to public and political backlash. As it stands, the drug crisis remains a com- plex issue, with policies and debates still evolving. JHI is contributing to the conver- sation by sponsoring project-based learning through which university students engage with harm-reduction topics. "We want to familiarize the next generation of regulatory officials and health-care leaders with the toxic drug crisis so they can apply this knowledge in their future practice," says Juristia. B O T T O M L I N E >> JHI is working to tackle the overdose crisis through project-based education, commu- nity building and strategic policy advocacy. It's reached over 170,000 students in Canada through its university networks and has 15 to 20 interns supporting research, reports, campaigns and operations.—R.R. SOPHIA YANG Age: 28 Founder and executive direc- tor, Threading Change T H E J O U R N E Y >> "I used to be the biggest fast fashion consumer," says Sophia Yang. And it wasn't until the tail end of her forestry degree at UBC that she began connecting the dots between climate change and fashion justice. "Yes, that sweater cost you $5, but that's not the true cost of the clothing. Someone is paying for that—in unfair wages, terrible working conditions or polluted rivers in Bangladesh." At the 2019 UN Climate Change Conference in Madrid, Yang was shocked to see that key stakeholders like youth and garment workers were missing from the conversation. "There was one event out of 500 side events that was talking about fash- ion," she recalls. "You could see how, at the global industry level, they only care about climate mitigation. They're not willing to talk about human rights, pay, equitable labour. In fact, they kind of avoided the question." In 2020, Yang launched Threading Change to address systemic injustices in the fashion industry. The youth-led, Vancouver-based nonprofit engages people aged 18 to 30 through work- shops, events, webinars and more. It collaborates with human rights groups like Oxfam International and Fashion Revolution, and features sus- tainable brands on its online Global Innovation Story Map. "But people know us best for our clothing swaps and youth engage- ment work," stresses Yang. Threading Change began hosting swaps in 2022 to offer a sustainable way to refresh wardrobes. The first one in Vancouver sold over 250 tickets and went viral on TikTok. In 2024, Yang launched the Fair Fashion Festival to expand the swaps into full-scale events featuring mend- ing and policy workshops, panels on sustainability and human rights, and local fashion initiatives by brands like Patagonia and KenDor Textiles. "I want Threading Change to be an intersectional organization that's driven by young people and our desire to change the world," says Yang. B O T T O M L I N E >> Since 2021, funding for Threading Change has grown from $90,000 to over $400,000 with support from partners like Lush, Finance Engage Sustain and the Van- couver Foundation. The nonprofit has a team of three full-time staff and 20 volunteers. So far, it has hosted 25 clothing swaps in 10 cities and six countries.—R.R. VEDANSHI VALA Age: 23 Co-founder and executive director, Bolt Safety Society T H E J O U R N E Y >> While completing her bachelor of science at UBC in 2020, Vedanshi Vala co-founded Richmond-based Bolt Safety Society as a way to help address increasing reports of domestic and sexual violence and a lack of a centralized database for resources. "Bolt Safety Society is a youth-led tech startup meets nonprofit," Vala says. "Our objective is to prevent and respond to sexual violence, domestic abuse and harassment, as well as advocate for a more safe and equitable community." Bolt's digital platform is a free database of resources for survivors of violence and their allies; features include maps with safe hubs that those in need can duck into along with hyper-local information on shelters, crisis lines, legal services and medical support. Additionally, the organization runs a program called Safe Buddies, which was launched in response to escalat- ing reports of racial crimes (especially against people of Asian descent) and harassment and stalking of women in Metro Vancouver. Bolt recently pivoted to covering local events to reach people directly with its services by offering a safe booth onsite where anyone can come to rest, ask for help or, depending on the nature of the event, grab complimentary items like water, drug testing strips and condoms. "We've reached over 11,000 people with it," Vala says. Vala and the rest of her team at Bolt are thinking globally, too. In 2022, they launched Project LyghtNyng, where they provide workshops with the aim of decreasing violence and abuse through educating about consent culture, promoting inclusion and providing access to resources like legal aid, crisis lines and information on how to fill out a police report. These workshops have taken place in Canada, India and Kenya. "We deliv- ered workshops to over 390 people in just five days across five cities in India," Vala says. B O T T O M L I N E >> As Bolt continues to expand its humanitarian reach, it's also been in direct conversation with key legislators—from the City of Richmond all the way to federal ministers, members of Parliament and even the UN, where Vala repre- sented the company at the 67th and 68th sessions of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2023 and 2024.—D.W.

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