ABOUT THE PROGRAM

How did Youth Futures start? It actually morphed from a more modest program called Youth University, founded by University of Ottawa professors Caroline Andrew and Betsy Kristjansson in 2008. About 35 teens spent a couple of weeks during the summer at the university in hopes they would be encouraged to apply to university or college after high school. But the poorest students couldn’t attend during the summer because they had to find work. How does the program work? Youth Futures has several components: leadership sessions that take place on most Saturdays between March and June; resumé workshops and first aid training; university and college visits; summer employment. Participants are all assigned a mentor — a University of Ottawa student — who keeps track of the participant’s attendance, assignments and generally offers support. So who runs the program, exactly? It takes a village (of organizations). The City of Ottawa takes a lead role, as does Ottawa Community Housing, where many of the participants live. University of Ottawa is obviously a key partner, but plenty of other organizations — including Saint Paul University, the Children’s Aid Society, Ottawa Police Services, Algonquin College, La Cité collégiale (although there was no visit there in 2014) and Carleton University — contribute officially or volunteer on an as-needed basis. How many people are in Youth Futures? In 2014, more than 350 people applied for 75 spots. The program is at capacity now. What sorts of summer jobs do the Youth Futures participants get? Most of them — 33 in the summer of 2014 — will work in the city’s Parks and Recreation department. This past summer, nine worked for OCH, another 12 at community health resources centres, two in local museums, 10 in various community agencies and four in the private sector. Jobs pay minimum wage and last for six to eight weeks. How much does this program cost and who pays for it? Like everything at Youth Futures, it’s a collaboration. The city funds it to the tune of about $300,000, although a big chunk of that goes toward the wages for the participants’ summer jobs. The University of Ottawa pays the wages of the mentors. Someone at Ottawa Police Services spends time helping Youth Futures organize the police checks everyone needs before starting work. Professors volunteer to speak to the group when they visit various schools. The value of all this participation is likely more than $1 million. Is the program successful? There’s anecdotal evidence participants benefit from the program, but Youth Futures hasn’t kept official records of how many participants actually go on to post-secondary schools. However, a PhD student has been charged with surveying participants from the past two years — no easy task as contact information is hard to keep up-to-date. That review should give the program’s stakeholders a more concrete idea in a year or two of how many participants are pushing past high school.

How can you apply? You can find more information at www.youth-futures.com. The application deadline is early January 2015. Youth Futures offers both English and French programming.