Throughout the pandemic, a volunteer team of young Canadians began leveraging social media to share public health messages. At first, Samanta Krishnapillai was posting on her personal Instagram. By June she launched ON COVID-19 Project to do more of this work. Today the team has grown to 130 volunteers and they have garnered an Instagram audience over 10,000 followers. The group contextualizes official updates for millennial and Gen Z audiences navigating the pandemic. For months, they have been offering guidance to groups that are less visible in general messaging. This includes students, young parents and entry-level employees to name a few. To learn more, CJRU speaks with Krishnapillai about the platform’s impact and their recent name change to On Canada Project.
This story by Sam Dharmasena is part of the Local Journalism Initiative, a project by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.
