Mayor's Youth Employment Summit

 The Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee submits, without recommendation, the following report (April 28, 1998) from the Commissioner of Community and Social Services:

 Purpose:

 To brief City Council on the initial commitments and strategy developed at the Mayor=s Youth Employment Summit.

 Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

 That City Council allocate an additional $200,000.00 in funds to support the Mayor=s Youth Employment Summit Program: Getting Jobs for Toronto=s Youth.

 Recommendations:

 (1)that $200,000.00 be added to the consolidated grants budget to support the Mayor=s Youth Employment Summit Program entitled, Partnerships in Youth Employment: Getting Jobs for Toronto=s Youth. This program will be cost-shared with Human Resources Development Canada and the Ministry of Education and Training, who will each contribute $400,000.00, for a total public sector budget of $1,000,000.00;

 (2)the program will be a funding partnership between the City, Corporate Sector and Federal and Provincial levels of government. The funding for this program will be contingent on the Corporate Sector matching the funds made available by the three levels of government;

 (3)that City Council approve broadening the mandate of the Children=s Advocate to include youth and re-naming the position Children and Youth Advocate;

 (4)that the Commissioners of Community and Social Services and Urban Development Services, in consultation with the Children and Youth Advocate, submit a more detailed report outlining the various strategies developed at the Mayor=s Youth Employment Summit;

 (5)that City Council extend their thanks to all the volunteers, City staff and the Summit Planning Committee, particularly Mr. Gordon Cressy, Ms. Susan Pigott and Mr. Holger Kluge, who assisted in the Mayor=s Youth Employment Summit; and

 (6)that the appropriate City officials be authorized and directed to take the necessary actions to give effect thereto .

 Background:

 As identified in my report to the April 15 and 16, 1998, meeting of City Council, The Mayor=s Youth Employment Summit was held on April 27, 1998, at Metro Hall. This report was prepared on the request and in consultation with Mayor Lastman=s office. Mayor Lastman=s proposal for a $200,000.00 funding commitment on the part of the City for a new partnership program to create jobs for youth, required that this report be forwarded directly to the Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee in order that the request could form part of City Council=s overall budget deliberations this week. Mayor Lastman=s office consulted with Councillor Jakobek (Budget Chair) who is in agreement with the need to forward this request through the Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee.

 This report provides an initial report on the outcomes of the Mayor=s Youth Employment Summit: Count Me In. A more detailed report will be prepared within the next month and forwarded through the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee of Council.

 Comments:

 As outlined in the previous report, the purpose of the Summit was to bring together the key stakeholders required to deal with the issue of youth unemployment and to develop real strategies to employ the youth of our City. A total of 150 people participated in the Summit. The participants represented Toronto=s corporate, government, labour, education and community agency sectors and included a number of youth. The Summit=s success was due to the support it received from the community agency sector, who assisted with both the planning of the event and the volunteer support required on the day of the Summit. On behalf of all City staff I would like to extend our thanks to all those who helped in making this Summit a reality.

 The agenda for the Summit divided the day into three key sessions (refer to Appendix 1). The first session was dedicated to four keynote speakers, who included: David Crane (Economic Editor for the Toronto Star); Bob Richardson (Senior Vice-President - Angus Reid); Charles Beer (Executive Director of Ontario Association of Youth Employment Centres) and Tracey Lloyd (Director - Alternative Youth Centre for Employment). The speakers covered a wide range of issues including: the underlying economic condition that has contributed to the current youth employment situation; a demographic overview of youth in the City; and the current services available to support the youth. Each speaker articulated the challenges that need to be addressed if the problem of youth employment is to be solved.

 The second session of the day focussed on the AStories@ of current and past programs/initiatives that met the challenges, and resulted in a number of inspiring success stories. CITY-TV sponsored this segment of the Summit, which incorporated both video clips of people as well as interviews with participants who were present at the Summit. The stories approached the issue of youth employment from a variety of perspectives, including those of youth, sponsoring agencies, business and government.

 The passion and sincerity of the Stories inspired the third and final segment of the Summit, which required that participants break into small groups and develop strategies to address one of three key challenges: becoming job ready, getting and keeping a job, and creating job opportunities. A wide range of strategies were developed by each of the 15 groups. The majority of these strategies focussed on addressing the challenges faced by Aat-risk@ youth.

 The Mayor=s Commitments:

 The Mayor spoke at the opening of the Summit and also provided the closing remarks, which emphasized both his commitment to at-risk youth and outlined immediate steps required to begin to address youth unemployment. In his opening remarks the Mayor recommended that the role of the Council appointed Child Advocate be Aofficially@ broadened to include the youth portfolio. Councillor Chow accepted this challenge and it should be recognized that her work program for the Children=s Action committee currently contains a work stream dedicated to Youth issues. However, by expanding this role, various interest groups will now have a single contact point around child and youth issues.

 The Mayor also acknowledged the challenges facing youth in the City, referencing a number of statistics of which one of the most revealing is the 17.6% unemployment rate for youth between the ages of 15-24. It is based on this reality that the Mayor felt most compelled to issue his first challenge to the Summit participants and the City in general.

 The Mayor agreed to bring forward a request to City Council this week to commit $200,000.00 in 1998, to launch a pilot program that will result in at-risk youth getting permanent jobs. Human Resources Development Canada and the Ministry of Education and Training each agreed to come forward with $400,000.00 to support this new City initiative. This will result in a total public sector commitment of $1,000,000.00. The Mayor challenged the Corporate sector to meet or exceed the $1,000,000.00 commitment and agreed to pursue this matter. The City, Federal and Provincial funding are contingent on matching funds from the Corporate sector. The basic focus of the program is to provide youth with four months of on the job experience (at minimum wage), the cost of which would be fully subsidized by the program. Two challenges were directed at the corporate sector. The first was to provide matching funds for the program. The second was to get business to commit to training the youth for the four month period and then providing the youth with a permanent job. Agencies will be critical partners in this program as they will assist in screening applicants identifying, placements and assisting with follow-up. The Mayor stressed the importance of monitoring these next steps and assessing this pilot initiative.

 The response to the Mayor=s challenge was positive. Representatives from the Federal and Provincial levels of government, Mr. Temple Harris from the Toronto Construction Association, Mr. Dennis Kucherawy from Famous Players, Mr. Don McCreesh from CIBC and Ms. Susan Pigott of St. Christopher Neighbourhood House, all spoke in strong support of this program as well as the need to follow-up on other initiatives developed as part of the Summit. The Mayor agreed to review all of the strategies developed at the Summit and consider further action on this issue.

 Conclusions:

 The Mayor=s Youth Employment Summit was the first step in a three-year commitment to this issue. The proposed pilot program will result in youth getting job experience and an opportunity to participate in the work force. As noted above, a large number of highly innovative strategies were discussed at the Summit and these will be reflected in a further report to City Council.

 Contact Name:

 Ann-Marie Nasr (392-0402)

 Appendix 1 AMayor=s Youth Employment Summit Agenda@, referred to in the foregoing report, was forwarded to all Members of Council with the agenda of the Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee for its special meeting of April 28, 1998, and a copy thereof is on file in the office of the City Clerk.