Publications + Products

SRDC Produces Report on Study of Employment Programs for Disadvantaged Youth

Disadvantaged Canadian youth often encounter difficulties in becoming established in the labour force. Whether due to emotional and physical abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, failure in school, or involvement in the criminal justice system, it is clear that many of these young people have inadequate skills and experience to compete in labour markets that increasingly require advanced training.

While programs exist that provide support for these youth, results have been disappointing. However, researchers and practitioners continue to believe that some things do work for out-of-school, out-of-work youth. Yet, discovering how to design a program that can have an impact on young people’s lives remains a challenge.

The Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC), a not-for-profit research organization, has recently published BladeRunners and Picasso Café: A Case Study Evaluation of Two Work-Based Training Programs for Disadvantaged Youth, a report that presents the findings of a case study of two pioneering programs for street youth in Vancouver. BladeRunners places youth on construction sites while encouraging them to work toward an apprenticeship in the building trades. The Picasso Café provides a place for young people to train and to earn college credits in food preparation or food service.

This case study was undertaken in order to gain knowledge about how employment programs for street youth operate, moving perhaps a small step closer to a definitive answer to the question of what works for street youth. The report identifies some salient themes that help describe how these programs operate and might affect young peoples lives —a focus on hands-on-training, mentoring or adult support and access to a broad array of support services. This report can be found at www.srdc.org/english/publications/EYOUTH.htm or contact Barbara Greenwood Dufour at (613) 237-7444 to obtain hard copies. A French version is also available.

Career Crossroads
A personal career positioning system.

Gray Poehnell and Norman E. Amundson
Ergon Communications, 2001
ISBN 0-9684345-1-7

There are lots of resources out there for decision making, but very few focus specifically on how to make an informed decision when one is torn between staying in one’s current position, company or field, or moving in a new direction.

Career Crossroads is a workbook designed to fill that gap. It begins with a check list for identifying when one is at a crossroads in their career and sets out a map for evaluating options constructively. It offers a list of considerations for seven “positioning perspectives”: match, balance, recognition, boundaries, direction, duration and risk. A score is calculated for each section and transferred to the overall decision summary. There is also a short section for action planning. The workbook is 28 pages including acknowledgements and introduction. Though the graphics for the wheel charts in some sections are a bit small for a workbook format, the exercises are clear and the scoring system is simple to use.

Cost: $10.00 per workbook. Online ordering through www.ergon-communications.com

Envirocareers

Canadian Council for Human Resources in the Environment Industry. (CCHREI), 2000
ISBN 0-9684778-8-7

The Canadian Council for Human Resources in the Environment Industry. (CCHREI) has developed a free career planning resource that is available for schools and career centres. It includes a CD-ROM that covers most of the material that is found on their web site (www.cchrei.ca), a 14 minute video, a booklet with 31 occupational profiles and a facilitator’s guide. The material is geared primarily for high school students, but the occupation information is detailed and current enough to be useful for adults as well.

The profiles are quite comprehensive, with a skills and interest check list, an occupation summary, educational requirements, typical duties, a profile and quotes from someone working in the occupation, salary information and suggestions for where jobs can be found.

The video features different individuals and jobs from those found on the web site and CD-ROM. There are five occupational streams of Protection, Conservation, Promotion, Exploration and Management. The diversity shown in each medium is effective in communicating that there are many ways in which one can be involved in the environmental sector, and that many different types of skills are needed. Profiles include Global Positioning Systems technicians, toxicology experts, public educators, field workers, computer programmers, researchers and more.

The video would be a good introduction to the scope of the sector. Interesting individuals have been chosen for profiling and they are successful in dispelling the image of nerds and tree-huggers.

If one chooses to begin with the interest inventory for either the web site or the CD, the list of occupations is reorganized by the number of matched factors. However, the interest inventory is short and the results may not be very accurate so we would encourage students to read all of the summaries before deciding if they wish to view the full details.

The package is well presented, easy to use and is dense with information.

You can order a free copy online at www.cchrei.ca, but there is a limited number available.