Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS)The YESS is a horizontal Government of Canada initiative delivered in collaboration with 11 federal departments and agencies, including Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). Through the YESS, the Government of Canada helps young people, particularly those facing barriers to employment, get the information and gain the skills, work experience and abilities they need to make a successful transition into the labour market. ESDC’s YESS program supports organizations that provide job placements and skills development services to young people, as well as a broad range of supports such as job coaching, mental health support, clothes for job interviews, day care services for parents and subsidized Internet access to help with job searches.
The following projects are helping Black youth across the country get the skills and opportunities they need to transition into the workforce.
Organization: Africa Centre Title:
Boost Pathways to Success
Description: Over 35 weeks, Africa Centre will offer Black youth interventions and supports that will help them develop skills and boost employability in order to prepare them for the workforce.
Region: Western Canada
Funding Amount: $1,800,000
Target Number of Participants: 78
Organization: CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals
Title:
From NEET to EET!
Description: Over six months, the CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals will deliver employment skills training, employment services and quality employment opportunities. Participants will benefit from supports and access to information such as educational requirements of different career paths, job search techniques, job application processes, résumé and cover letter preparation, and job interview preparation. The project was funded as part of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan.
Region: Ontario
Funding Amount: $250,000
Target Number of Participants: 14
Organization: Centre for Resilience and Social Development (CRSD)
Title:
YESS: CRSD – Empowering Youth Through Employment
Description: Over 36 months, the Centre for Resilience and Social Development will deliver employment skills training, employment services and quality employment opportunity interventions to assist Black youth facing barriers. This project will help Black youth develop their skills and employability, in order to prepare them to obtain and keep employment.
Region: Ontario
Funding Amount: $1,000,000
Target Number of Participants: 72
Organization: Common Good Solutions CIC
Title:
Project 561
Description: Common Good Solutions will provide technological supports to help African Nova Scotian youth develop skills and connect with employers in the Halifax area and beyond. Over three years, the organization will build an online platform and application geared to create a network for these supports. It will also help develop African Nova Scotian youth with the supports they need to navigate existing employment services. This will include employment skills training, entrepreneurship skills training and quality employment opportunities.
Region: Atlantic Canada
Funding Amount: $1,225,347
Target Number of Participants: 30
Organization: Somali Canadian Education and Rural Development Organization (SCERDO)
Title:
Support All Youth Employability Skills (SAYES)
Description: SCERDO will provide Black youth facing barriers with the opportunity to benefit from interventions and supports that will enable them to develop their skills and employability in order to prepare them to obtain and keep employment. This project was funded as part of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan.
Region: Western Canada
Funding Amount: $500,000
Target Number of Participants: 24
