Youth Employment in the Social Economy: How a New Generation Can Generate New Opportunities in CED (Webinar Recording)
Check out this exclusive discussion brought to you by Emerging Leaders, The Canadian CED Network's standing youth committee.
You hardly need to do a quick web search to understand that real and imposing challenges exist for youth wanting to break into the Canadian job market. In some cases you may be told you don’t have enough experience despite years of educational training. In other cases you might be told that you are over-educated for the position. In many cases you may find there just aren’t jobs available in your field of study or practice, despite being told that if you ‘follow your passion’ things would work out. Whatever the reason, many youth, along with other marginalized segments of our population, are being left out of the Canadian economy.
BACKGROUND
In this age of growing concern for social and environmental conditions, youth are increasingly looking for purpose driven employment opportunities in the hopes of developing mission-related careers. Canada’s employment statistics also reveal an aging workforce, much of which is nearing retirement. Employers understand that youth engagement is essential for creating substantive and lasting change and is integral to organizational succession planning for. All of this seems to bode well for youth participation in the Social Economy of Canada. But many organizations have limited hiring power and, in some cases limited experience in effective youth engagement, and so are struggling to provide the work experience and longer-term employment opportunities needed to attract a new generation of workers to the Social Economy.
This session introduces some examples of how youth can take charge of their own careers within the Social Economy, both by creating your own initiatives and by finding ways to integrate yourself into existing programs and projects.
PRESENTERS
- Sandra Badcock is Housing & Tenant Relations Specialist with Stella’s Circle, a
social services agency in St. John's, Newfoundland providing programs for adults who have faced challenge in the community, including personal or family breakdown, homelessness, mental health issues, addictions, abuse, illiteracy and the lack of education as well as poverty. Sandi entered the world of CED as a CreateAction intern in 2010 and has never turned back. Working for various organizations for youth, including FINALY!, Service Canada Centre for Youth, and Student Affairs and Services, Sandi has been active in youth advocacy, issues, and engagement. She is the current chair of Emerging Leaders.
- Stefan Epp-Koop is Program Director of Food Matters Manitoba. Previously,
Stefan has coordinated research, evaluation, and policy analysis at Food Matters and was also Project Coordinator for the Manitoba Alternative Food Research Alliance. Stefan holds an MA in History from Queen's University. Stefan became interested in food for many reasons – growing up in rural Alberta, involvement in international development work, and an interest in policy issues, to name a few, not to mention the joy of getting his hands in the garden dirt.
- Marianne Jurzyniec is currently employed with Affinity Credit Union as a
Community Development Manager in Saskatoon Saskatchewan. In 2011 she joined Emerging Leaders and has enjoyed the experience of meeting other people who share the same goals and interests as she does including her passion for co-operatives, the environment, and her community. Her current role in Community Development allows her to feed these passions by working with micro-enterprise, co-op development, financial literacy, affordable housing, social enterprise, and environmental initiatives.
Paying a Living Wage makes good business sense! In this tele-learning we will hear from two of Canada's leading living wage employers, Catherine Ludgate is the Manager of Community Investment for Vancity Credit Union and Alex Johnstone who is a trustee with the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board.
The CUMA cooperative is a service that provides its members the means necessary to their operations. It thus provides an opportunity for its members to use farm equipment at the lowest possible price, meeting the needs of each. A cooperative use of agricultural equipment (CUMA) is a group of farmers established under the Law on Cooperatives. The first mission of a CUMA is to enable its members to use farm equipment at the lowest possible cost and the needs of each member. The CUMA is a great way to reduce the capitalization in machinery and equipment, thus reducing production costs. It also allows the use of more efficient machines and free up capital that can be directed towards productive investment.
Carrolyn O'Grady agr.
This webinar will open the dialogue on ethnocultural co-operatives (specifically reflecting on examples across Canada and the US) and the place of these co-ops in the larger society. The two featured speakers are both undertaking research as part of the Measuring the Co-operative Difference Research Network: Jo-Anne Lee of the University of Victoria and Jessica Gordon-Nembhard of John Jay College, affiliated with the City University of New York.
October 30, 2013
