Manual offers roadmap for creating a youth employment program

A new manual supported by CERIC and funded by The Counselling Foundation of Canada offers a roadmap for how to create a successful youth employment program. Developed by FoodShare Toronto, the manual presents insights into its Pathways to Youth Employment program and placement model along with a breakdown of its policies and procedures, including administrative and marketing templates.

FoodShare Toronto received a two-year grant in 2010 from the Foundation (which also funds CERIC) for the program. FoodShare Toronto is a non-profit community organization whose other programs include direct fresh produce access, childhood nutrition and education, community cooking, community growing and urban agriculture. Each month, FoodShare reaches over 155,000 children and adults across the City of Toronto.

The funding allowed FoodShare Toronto to hire a co-ordinator to work with local food service businesses to ensure that the program’s training makes youth job-ready. The learnings gathered in this process were used to develop a program manual to be shared with other organizations across the country looking to create youth employment opportunities.

All of the youth in the program have barriers in their life due to systemic discrimination. Previous participants have been immigrants to Canada from the global south, racialized, living in a marginalized neighbourhood, navigating mental health challenges or living in the shelter system. Many of the youth who apply for this program are only able to find precarious and underwaged positions.

While at FoodShare, interns develop their employability skills in a team environment, says Debbie Field, the Executive Director of FoodShare Toronto. “The program allows interns to build their professional skills through on-the-job learning and mentoring, and through workshops and trainings,” she writes in the manual.

The first section of the manual includes information on the program as a whole and how the program and policies were designed. The second portion focuses on FoodShare’s placement model, including how it sets up its placement program, changes made to improve the program and how successful it has been.

Field also discusses in the manual how FoodShare Toronto itself is not a youth training organization and how few of its 60 staff members are trained social workers or youth counsellors. Yet integrating a youth training program has been incredibly successful for both the interns participating and the organization as a whole, and is part of FoodShare’s commitment to social entrepreneurship.

“This manual is intended to chronicle our own procedures, to help others operating youth programs, and also to encourage non-youth organizations to start youth programs,” she says.

For the Foundation, this grant continues its long history of funding initiatives around youth employment and ways to support youth becoming more successful economic participants of our society, says Bruce Lawson, Executive Director of the Foundation.

“For those agencies considering creating a youth internship program, be it around food or another focus, I think you’ll find there is a great deal of useful information here that can help get you started.”