The goals of Youth Are Working (www.youthareworking.ca)  are to provide youth aged 17-24 who face barriers to employment with the prerequisites needed to overcome these obstacles and become positive, contributing members of our community – helping them find and maintain employment, and become self-sufficient.

Youth Are Working addresses the following nine objectives in pursuing its stated goals: 

1. To provide youth with access to the labour market by advocating on their behalf, by providing opportunities to gain skills and work experience, and by encouraging lifelong learning;
2. To ensure youth have the information, skills and work experience they need to find and keep a job;
3. To observe and learn from other successful youth employment programs in Canada and around the world;
4. To engage youth serving agencies to work together, to build on each others particular strengths, to offer a more successful, holistic approach;
5. To engage the business community to assist youth serving agencies in the process of reintegration and rehabilitation of youth;
6. To utilize the stability of a sustained funding arrangement to form solid partnerships and secure other sources of financial support, both public and private;
7. To empower youth to realize their potential, to enhance their skills, to provide youth the opportunity to recognize their abilities through work experience and pro-social activities;
8. To act as a catalyst, to set into operation the conditions and forces that lead to change for youth based on the understanding that change must come from within; and
9. To share our model for success with other communities throughout the world.

In 2007, an indepth program review was completed with feedback from clients. Youth respondents collectively asked for more enhanced and comprehensive computer training as part of future projects.  It is our intention to implement a computer training program which ultimately assists youth in becoming more marketable to future employers. By adding this component to the current program, youth will have a much better chance to move on to employment as opposed to a continuing reliance on income support/welfare  and the resulting low self esteem, and anti-social behaviour it sometimes causes.

WHAT WE NEED:

We currently have ten computer terminals that each youth uses for logging on to complete job searches, completing resumes, cover letters. We use software such as CareerCrusing.com and careerwave.com for interest inventories and profiles. several of these computer terminals are out of date and were donated from a local phone company a few years ago. with new software performance needs, we would hope to replace several of these workstations.

Having updated software and being aware of software which could enhance our programs is essential to future development. We would be especially interested in learning software and employment related software.

In order to implement a computer skills program into our project, we would need the funding for the human resource needs of this position. Funding for an instructor as well as the funds for the resources they would need to purchase for the clients, ie work books, manuals etc.

Location