Programs and service delivery overview – Education and youth
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Post-Secondary education
1. Canada Student Loans Program
Description
The Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP) is a statutory program aimed at promoting access to post‑secondary education so that all Canadians have an opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills needed to successfully participate in the changing labour market. The CSLP reduces financial barriers by providing needs-based student grants and loans to students from low- and middle-income families, as well as students with disabilities and students with dependants.
The CSLP also offers the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) to assist borrowers facing financial difficulty repaying their loans. The RAP makes it easier for borrowers to manage their student debt by restricting student loan payments to what they can reasonably afford based on their family income and family size. No borrower has to repay their student loan until they are earning at least $25,000; this income threshold is adjusted upward based on family size. For those with an income over this threshold, monthly payments are limited to no more than 20% of their gross monthly family income.
In addition to Canada Student Loans, eligible students can receive the following grants:
- Canada Student Grant for Full-Time Students: Up to $3,000 per academic year for students from low- and middle-income families
- For the 2020 to 2021 school year, eligible students enrolled in full-time studies may receive up to a maximum $6,000 per academic year (based on an 8-month term)
- Skills Boost Top-up to the Canada Student Grant for Full-Time Students: Up to $1,600 per school year for low- and middle-income adult learners
- Canada Student Grant for Part-Time Students: Up to $1,800 per loan year for part-time students from low- and middle-income families
- For the 2020 to 2021 school year, eligible students enrolled in part-time studies may receive up to a maximum $3,600 per loan year (from August 1, 2020 to July 31, 2021)
- Canada Student Grant for Full-Time Students with Dependants: Up to $1,600 per academic year for every dependent child for students from low- and middle-income families
- For the 2020 to 2021 loan year, eligible students may receive up to a maximum of $3,200 per dependant per academic year (based on an 8-month term)
- Canada Student Grant for Part-Time Students with Dependants: Up to $1,920 per loan year for part‑time students with dependants from low- and middle-income families
- For the 2020 to 2021 school year, eligible students may receive up to $3,840 (from August 1, 2020 to July 31, 2021)
- Canada Student Grant for Students with Permanent Disabilities: $2,000 per loan year
- For the 2020 to 2021 school year, eligible students receive $4,000 per loan year (from August 1, 2020 to July 31, 2021)
- Canada Student Grant for Services and Equipment for Students with Permanent Disabilities: Up to $20,000 per school year for exceptional education-related services or equipment
Canada Student Loans and Grants are statutory payments established under the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act.
ESDC also offers Canada Apprentice Loans (CAL) to eligible apprentices in Red Seal Trades during their technical training. Eligible apprentices may apply for loans of up to $4,000 per period of block release technical training for up to 5 periods. These loans complement an existing suite of supports that include Employment Insurance, the Apprenticeship Incentive/Completion Grants and the Apprenticeship Tool and Tax Credit. This additional support helps registered apprentices with short-term expenses to allow them to focus on completing their program.
Key program statistics
In the 2019 to 2020 loan year:
- $1.6 billion in grants was disbursed to approximately 528,000 students
- $3.4 billion in loans was disbursed to approximately 608,000 students, and
- approximately 297,000 borrowers received repayment assistance under the RAP
Policy lead: Learning Branch
Service delivered by: Learning Branch (with a third-party service provider and in collaboration with provinces and territories)
Disbursement, account and repayment management is administered by a third-party service provider operating under the name of the National Student Loans Service Centre for the CSLP and the Canada Apprentice Loan Service Centre (CALSC) for CAL.
The program has 9 participating provinces (Quebec excluded) and Yukon manage applications and needs assessments for the CSLP, and the CALSC manages the application and assessment process for CAL. The 3 non-participating jurisdictions (Quebec, Northwest Territories and Nunavut) receive alternative payments in support of their own student aid programs.
List of key stakeholders
- Provinces and territories: The Intergovernmental Consultative Committee on Student Financial Assistance is a jointly managed federal-provincial/territorial body that meets regularly to examine policy and program elements related to student financial assistance in Canada
- Student stakeholder groups: The National Advisory Group on Student Financial Assistance (NAGSFA) is a forum for CSLP stakeholders to discuss policy delivery issues related to student financial assistance. The NAGSFA is co-chaired by the CSLP and a stakeholder group, currently the Canadian Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, and includes:
- the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
- Canadian Association for University Continuing Education
- Canadian Association of University Teachers
- Canadian Federation of Students
- Colleges and Institutes Canada
- National Association of Career Colleges
- National Educational Association of Disabled Students, and
- Universities Canada
2. Canada Education Savings Program
Description
The Canada Education Savings Program (CESP) is a statutory program that encourages individuals to plan and save for a child’s post-secondary education through 2 education savings incentives: the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) and the Canada Learning Bond (CLB):
- the CESG was created in 1998 and adds 20% to personal contributions made to a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) each year. An additional amount of CESG was introduced in Budget 2004 so that low- and middle-income families could receive an additional 10 or 20%, depending on family income. The maximum grant is $7,200 per child, up to age 17, and
- the CLB, introduced in 2004 with the additional amount of CESG, provides up to $2,000 in an RESP for eligible children from low-income families, born in 2004 or later up to the age of 15 with no personal contributions required
Both the CESG and the CLB are paid into RESPs, which are accounts used to save for a child’s post-secondary education. RESPs allow education savings to grow tax-free, and they are the only savings account that attract Government of Canada education savings incentives.
The CLB and the CESG are statutory payments established under the Canada Education Savings Act.
The CESP delivers the education savings incentives through arrangements between the Government and approximately 82 RESP promoters (for example, banks, mutual fund dealers, scholarship plan dealers and others) across Canada. This service delivery model enables pan-Canadian coverage and, by leveraging the operations and resources of the financial services industry, ensures that the delivery of education savings incentives remains cost-effective for Canadians.
Key program statistics
- The Government of Canada disbursed $996 million in CESG payments into RESPs in 2019 for 3.0 million children
- The CESG participation rate has steadily increased from 9.7% in 1998 to 53.5% in 2019
- Although the CLB participation rate has steadily increased from 0.3% in 2005 to 40.7% in 2019, over 2.13 million children from low-income families have not yet received the CLB. The Government of Canada made $205 million in CLB payments for the 2019 calendar year, including payments to 185,731 new beneficiaries receiving the CLB for the first time, and
- Withdrawals from RESPs have become a very important source of funding for post-secondary education. In 2019, $4.37 billion was withdrawn from RESPs (including contributions, earnings and savings incentives) to support the post-secondary education costs of 462,730 students
Policy lead
- Learning Branch for the design and delivery of the education savings incentives
- Finance Canada for the administration of the Income Tax Act, and
- Canada Revenue Agency for the registration of education savings plan
Service delivered by: Learning Branch
List of key stakeholders
- Finance Canada
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
- Provincial and territorial governments
- RESP promoters
- Community-based organizations, and
- Academic stakeholders
3. Supports for Student Learning Program
Description
The Supports for Student Learning Program (SSLP) aims to bridge gaps in education attainment, build competencies and create education opportunities for youth in Canada. The SSLP funds a variety of youth-serving organizations to provide the supplemental supports youth need to graduate high school and transition to, and succeed in, post-secondary education. Funding can be used to provide bursaries and scholarships, tutoring and mentoring or other wraparound supports for youth in middle school, high school or through post-secondary education. Complementing the Department’s broader continuum of learning programs, the SSLP, through its targeted investments primarily outside the school system, enables and empowers youth to advance and enrich their education. Through its partnerships with leading experts in youth service design and delivery at international, national, regional and local levels, the SSLP directs its investments to reduce barriers, test innovative approaches and bolster education success, particularly for underserved youth. Building on the success of programming over many years, the SSLP offers an umbrella for a suite of programming including:
- Since 2010, the Department has funded Pathways to Education Canada to deliver after-school supports (for example, tutoring, mentoring, direct financial incentives such as bus tickets and meal vouchers) to help students from low-income communities graduate from high school and transition to post-secondary education
- Since the early 1990s, Indspire, a national, Indigenous-led organization that invests in the education of Indigenous students, has been funded by the Government of Canada to provide financial and career support to help First Nations, Inuit, and Métis students pursue post-secondary education
- Since 2019 the Department’s Goal Getters program, initially an element of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, has funded youth-serving organizations working in the after-school space to provide youth at-risk of academic disengagement with supports outside of the school system to help them complete high school, transition to, and succeed in post-secondary education
- Beginning in 2019 to 2020, the Department’s Outbound Student Mobility Pilot, as part of Canada’s International Education Strategy, is seeking to provide study and work abroad opportunities to college and undergraduate university students, particularly those who otherwise would not have the opportunity, to help them develop key skills, intercultural competencies and international networks to succeed in a changing labour market
- In 2020, the SSLP responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with funding to 7 organizations working in the after-school space to support youth, including to transition their services, such as tutoring and mentoring, to online platforms; and
- Budget 2021 proposed a 2-year expansion of the SSLP to broaden its reach, and engage with and fund a diverse range of youth-serving organizations, including the continuity of COVID-19 response programming and enabling new investments to reach youth among underserved populations and communities
Objectives
- Supporting learners to complete high school and transition to, and persist in, post-secondary education and the labour market
- Providing financial and non-financial supports to learners
- Enabling learners to acquire in-demand skills as part of their studies at a public Canadian post-secondary institution (for example, study and work abroad opportunities), and
- Building an evidence base and developing approaches that are effective and/or innovative to address issues related to learning and skills (for example, testing and evaluating pilot demonstration projects, engaging in research, collecting data collection and developing methodologies, engaging in partnerships and coalitions, and disseminating information and knowledge)
Expected outcomes
More students receive supports, particularly those who are underserved or at risk of disengaging from their education.
Target population
The SSLP provides support to a diverse range of Indigenous and underserved youth facing barriers to education, including but not limited to youth with disabilities, Indigenous youth, youth from low-income families, and racialized youth.
Benefit / Program amounts
Total funding envelope:
- Pathways to Education Canada: $43 million over 4 years, from 2018 to 2019 to 2021 to 2022
- Indspire: $11.8 million per year, until 2021 to 2022 and $3.8 million ongoing
- Outbound Student Mobility Pilot: $95 million over 6 years, from 2019 to 2020 to 2024 to 2025
- Goal Getters: $45 million over 5 years, from 2019 to 2020 to 2023 to 2024, and
- SSLP: $15 million in 2020 for COVID-19 response, and $118 million over 2 years, from 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023 (with $20 million internally reallocated from Goal Getters) to expand the SSLP
The program is non-discretionary.
Policy Lead: Learning Branch, Youth Service and Learning Directorate
Service delivered by: Funding recipients and third-party delivery organizations
List of key stakeholders
Existing funding recipients include:
- BC Aboriginal Network on Disability Society (BCANDS)
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
- Choices for Youth
- Colleges and Institutes Canada
- Indspire
- Kids Code Jeunesse
- National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC)
- National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS)
- Pathways to Education Canada
- SHAD Canada
- TakingITGlobal (Connected North)
- The Tamarack Institute
- The Rideau Hall Foundation
- The Ulnooweg Development Group, and
- Universities Canada
Federal partners in the International Education Strategy:
- Global Affairs Canada, and
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Youth
1. Youth Employment and Skills Strategy
Description
The Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) is a horizontal Government of Canada initiative led by ESDC and delivered in collaboration with 11 other federal departments, agencies and Crown Corporations.
The Strategy was modernized in 2019, building on the former Youth Employment Strategy, to ensure all young Canadians (aged 15 to 30) have opportunities to develop their skills and find meaningful employment. The modernized Strategy improves YESS’ ability to respond to the needs of youth facing barriers, including
- racialized youth
- Indigenous youth, and
- youth with disabilities
The Strategy now aims to provide flexible services tailored to each individual, broadened eligibility, and enhanced supports to help young Canadians in developing skills and gaining experience necessary to successfully transition into the labour market.
Each of the YESS federal partners have their own process for selecting and funding recipient organizations. With respect to ESDC, the latest call for proposals closed in July 2019 and received an unprecedented number of applications. From that process, 269 national and regional projects will help deliver on the Government of Canada's commitment to support young people facing barriers to employment.
To support regional youth employment projects in the province of Quebec, the Government of Canada and Quebec signed a contribution agreement in August 2019, through which the Government of Quebec will receive approximately $135 million over 5 years from ESDC's YESS program for projects that exclusively benefit youth in the province of Quebec.
The Strategy includes 2 distinct programs:
Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program
The YESS program is delivered across 11 partner departments, agencies and Crown corporations. It is an integrated program that has replaced the former Skills Link, Career Focus and Summer Work Experience program streams. The YESS program provides funding to organizations and employers to deliver a range of activities that help youth overcome barriers to employment while also helping them develop a broad range of skills and knowledge in order to participate in the current and future labour markets. The Program can also provide additional supports that facilitate access for youth to work and training such as mentorship, child care supports, and counselling.
Additionally, the program is working to measure more meaningful outcomes through the program, such as skills development, and better targeting youth who face barriers to provide them with access to work opportunities.
Canada Summer Jobs
Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) provides wage subsidies to employers, including:
- not-for profit organizations
- public-sector employers, and
- small and medium-sized businesses (50 or fewer employees)
This to create quality summer employment opportunities for youth between the ages of 15 and 30 years. CSJ is delivered solely by ESDC. While ESDC establishes national priorities for CSJ, Members of Parliament assist ESDC in establishing local priorities in each constituency. They also review and provide feedback on the list of projects recommended for funding, and notify successful applicants. Beginning in the summer of 2019, policy changes widened the focus of the program by expanding eligibility to non-student youth, supporting mentorship opportunities and encouraging longer placements. More details avec available on Canada Summer Jobs 2 pager.
Key program statistics
The Government of Canada has been making significant investments in support of training and employment services so that young people (aged 15 to 30) can gain the skills, abilities and work experience needed to get a strong start in their careers. In support of the modernization of the Strategy, the Government provided a further $498 million over 6 years, in Budgets 2018 and 2019, to provide additional resources to better support youth, especially those facing barriers.
Additional investment to the YESS program has been made in response to COVID-19 and through Budget 2021. The Budget announced a number of new measures to help young Canadians gain access to the valuable job skills and experience they need to launch their careers and obtain quality employment. The Government committed an additional investment of $109.3 million in 2022 to 2023 to provide 7,000 youth with job placements and supports. This in addition to the $575.3 million, announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, to create 45,300 job placements for youth over 2 years as well as the creation of 9,500 additional work opportunities in 2020 to 2021 for young Canadians in critical and high-demand sectors announced in June 2020.
In 2019 to 2020, 20,000 youth received supports via the YESS program. Further, 7,473 YESS program participants were employed or self-employed following their intervention. In addition, data on the new indicators started to be collected in 2019 to 2020, the first year of YESS modernization. Results reflect a focus on key groups, for example, 30% of total youth served self-identified as Indigenous youth and 28% as visible minority youth. It is too early to determine year-over-year increases.
Policy lead: Skills and Employment Branch (YESSP, CSJ)
List of Key Stakeholders
A wide range of stakeholders are implicated by YESS, including Indigenous organizations not-for profit organizations public sector employers private-sector employers, and youth-serving organizations and youth themselves with the modernization of the program, the Government of Canada is increasingly collaborating with partners that serve populations facing barriers, as well as research organizations in order to best measure the impact of programming.
The Government of Canada, and in particular ESDC, is also working with some stakeholders to establish strategic collaborations to increase capacity across the youth service provider network, to better support youth, and to help employers hire and retain youth, in particular those who face barriers.
YESS is delivered by 11 federal partners across the Government of Canada, which are governed by horizontal terms and conditions for the Program. This includes:
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
- Canadian Heritage
- Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
- Employment and Social Development Canada
- Environment and Climate Change Canada
- Global Affairs Canada
- Indigenous Services Canada
- Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
- National Research Council Canada
- Natural Resources Canada, and
- Parks Canada
The implementation of YESS is overseen by an Assistant Deputy Ministers’ Interdepartmental Steering Committee, which serves as a collaborative decision making body comprised of representatives from all participating departments, agencies and Crown corporations.
2. Canada Summer Jobs
Description
The Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) program is delivered by ESDC under the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS). The CSJ program objectives align with the YESS and are as follows:
- provide quality work experiences for youth in jobs
- respond to national and local priorities to improve access to the labour market for youth who face unique barriers; and
- provide opportunities for youth to develop and improve their skills
The program provides wage subsidies to employers from not-for-profit organizations, the public sector; and small- and medium-sized businesses (50 or fewer employees) to create quality summer work experiences for young people aged 15 to 30 years.
While ESDC establishes national priorities for the CSJ program, Members of Parliament assist the Department in establishing local priorities in each constituency. They also review and provide feedback on the list of projects recommended for funding, and notify successful applicants.
Key Program Statistics
Beginning in the summer of 2019, policy changes widened the focus of the CSJ program by expanding eligibility to non-student youth, supporting mentorship opportunities and encouraging longer placements.
As a response to COVID-19, temporary flexibilities were introduced in 2020 and extended for 2021. These include:
- increasing wage subsidy from up to 50% to up to 75% of the provincial/territorial minimum hourly wage for private and public sector employers
- allowing for part-time work placements
- extending positions beyond the summer, with some placements extending to February 2022, and
- allowing employers who were approved for funding to amend the activities of projects impacted by COVID-19 restrictions
On June 25, 2020, the Prime Minister announced additional funding to create 10,000 more jobs for a total target of 80,000 jobs for CSJ for 2020 to 2021.
On November 30, 2020, the Fall Economic Statement allocated $447.5 million to create an additional 94,000 job placements, bringing the total to 120,000 jobs for 2021 to 2022.
On April 19, 2021, the 2021 Federal Budget was announced and focused on expanding the Government’s ability to help gain more youth training opportunities. This included $371.8 million in new funding for 2022 to 2023 to create an additional 75,000 jobs for a total of 100,000 jobs for 2022 to 2023.
As of April 2021, more than 150,000 jobs have been made available to young Canadians on the Job Bank website and mobile app.
Policy lead: Skills and Employment Branch
Service delivered by: Program Operation Branch
List of Key Stakeholders
A wide range of stakeholders are implicated in CSJ, including:
- not-for profit organizations
- public‑sector employers
- private-sector employers, and
- youth-serving organizations and youth themselves
With the recent modernization of the program, the Government of Canada is increasingly collaborating with partners from the employment ecosystem that serve populations facing barriers, as well as research organizations, in order to best measure the impact of programming.
3. Student Work Placement Program
Description
The Student Work Placement Program supports the creation of work placements for students of all ages who are enrolled in any post-secondary education program at a college, university or polytechnic in Canada. The Program aims to better prepare post-secondary students to enter competitive job markets and help employers build a talent pipeline for their future hiring needs. It is based on an employer-consortia model to facilitate partnerships between employers and post-secondary institutions.
The Program was launched in August 2017 with a $73 million investment over 4 years to support the creation of up to 10,000 student work placements for young Canadians enrolled in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and business programs at post-secondary education institutions across Canada.
The Student Work Placement Program is delivered through employer consortia to:
- provide wage subsidies to employers who create incremental work placements to offset part of the student’s wages: 50% of wages, up to $5,000, for standard placements; and 70% of wages, up to $7,000, for placements to first-year students and under-represented groups
- women in STEM
- Indigenous students
- recent immigrants
- persons with disabilities, and
- visible minorities with a focus on Black Canadians
- facilitate the creation of multi-stakeholder partnerships between employers and post-secondary institutions to work collaboratively to create more work placements that better align skills training with the skill needs of employers in key and emerging sectors of the Canadian economy
In 2018, the Government invested an additional $11.3 million over 3 years to create an additional 1,500 work placements in cyber security and artificial intelligence fields to ensure Canadian students are at the forefront of emerging global trends.
In 2019, the Student Work Placement Program was expanded to give students outside of STEM (such as the arts, humanities and social sciences) access to work placements. This represents an investment of $631.2 million over 5 years, starting in 2019 to 2020, to support up to 20,000 new work placements per year for post-secondary students across Canada, in all disciplines by 2021 to 2022.
Also in 2019, ESDC was provided with $150 million over 4 years, starting in 2020 to 2021, to develop the Innovative Work-Integrated Learning initiative, which supports partnerships with innovative businesses to create up to a further 20,000 work-integrated learning opportunities per year. Activities supported under this initiative will follow 3 main characteristics, namely:
- offering shorter duration and high intensity opportunities
- do not require on-site learning, leveraging virtual and new technologies, and
- facilitating access for students who may otherwise not participate in traditional work-integrated learning settings through more flexible delivery approaches
All students participating in the Initiative will receive a stipend to compensate their efforts and/or cover some of their costs, with amounts ranging from $200 to a maximum of $2,000 per student depending on the nature and length of the opportunity.
In 2020, the Student Work Placement Program received $266.1 million in additional funding as part of the Government of Canada’s comprehensive package of measures introduced to help respond to the economic impacts caused by COVID-19 on young Canadians. This new funding will support up to 40,000 work placements for post-secondary students across Canada to obtain paid work experience related to their field of study. The Program also temporarily adjusted its policies to increase the wage subsidy and waive the net new criteria requiring employers to offer more placements than they did in previous years.
Budget 2021 proposes to invest $239.8 million in the Student Work Placement Program in 2021 to 2022. This funding would increase the wage subsidy available for employers to 75%, up to $7,500 per student, while also increasing employers’ ability to access the program. This is expected to provide 50,000 students with work-integrated learning experiences.
Key Program Statistics
The Student Work Placement Program has signed agreements with eleven employer consortia representing key economic sectors, including:
- information and communication technology
- environment
- biotechnology
- aerospace/aviation
- mining
- manufacturing
- electricity/clean energy, and
- entrepreneurship
ESDC also has an agreement in place to enhance the Outcome Campus Connect platform which provides the Program with more efficient and centralized data collection to improve results reporting.
Through these employer consortia, the Program has supported the development of partnerships with 8,410 employers, 88% of which are small and medium-sized enterprises.
These consortia also engaged 195 post-secondary education institutions across Canada including
- 89 universities
- 68 colleges
- 22 CEGEPS and institutes, and
- 16 polytechnics across all 10 provinces
Together, as of March 29, 2021, these consortia have supported the creation of 31,320 work placements. Of those opportunities, 38.2% were created for students from groups that are traditionally under-represented in the labour market or first-year students.
The Innovative Work-Integrated Learning initiative was launched in 2020 to 2021, and currently has agreements with 9 organizations to provide new and emerging types of work-integrated learning opportunities.
Policy lead: Skills and Employment Branch
Service delivered by: Program Operations Branch
List of Key Stakeholders
Current Student Work Placement agreement holders (employer consortia):
- the Information and Communications Technology Council
- Technation
- the Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace
- Environmental Careers Council Canada
- BioTalent Canada
- Venture for Canada
- the Mining Industry Human Resources Council
- Electricity Human Resources Canada
- Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium
- Magnet, and
- the Ontario Chamber of Commerce
Current Innovative Work-Integrated Learning agreement holders:
- Actua
- Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning (CEWIL)
- Riipen Networks Inc.
- Singularity U Canada
- University of Calgary
- Venture for Canada
- Canadian Mobility and Aerospace Institute (CMAI)
- Numana, and
- Colleges and Institute Canada (CiCan)
Other stakeholders:
- Orbis Communications
- Business Higher Education Roundtable (BHER)
- Polytechnics Canada
- Universities Canada, and
- Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA)
4. Canada Service Corps
Description
Announced in 2016 with $105 million over 5 years starting in 2016 to 2017, and $25 million annually thereafter, the Canada Service Corps (CSC) is a grants and contributions program focused on promoting civic engagement among Canadian youth aged 15 to 30. The CSC gives young Canadians the chance to participate in meaningful volunteer service projects that have positive impacts in communities across Canada.
CSC provides funding through the following program streams:
- Micro-contribution projects, branded as “micro-grants,” which support the implementation of small-scale youth-led projects and innovative community service ideas by dispersing funding for youth-led projects and providing participant financial supports
- Service placements projects, which fund national and regional/local project for organizations to deliver full-time and/or flexible service placements and provides participants financial support, and
- Innovative engagement and outreach projects, which support activities designed to promote civic participation, facilitate access to service, and engage and sustain youth in service
The CSC supports a vision of Canada in which youth, including Indigenous, and under-served youth, are more engaged and service-oriented. Participants will carry service experiences and skills into later stages of life, supporting civic engagement and participation, as well as global citizenship.
The design phase of the CSC was launched in January 2018 and concluded on March 31, 2019. During this phase, national and local organizations tested different ways to engage youth in volunteer service by delivering service placements that varied in terms of themes, duration and weekly time commitment to gauge youth interest and impacts on participants and communities. As well, over the design phase, ESDC directly engaged over 800 youth across Canada in co‑creation sessions where youth participated in dynamic activities to identify challenges/barriers to their engagement in volunteer service, and to propose solutions to address these circumstances.
Based on the engagement and feedback received, an additional investment of $314.8 million over 5 years, starting in 2019 to 2020, with $83.8 million per year ongoing, was made to make the CSC Canada’s signature national youth service program.
This investment will support:
- up to 15,000 annual volunteer service placements with national, regional and local partner organizations by 2023 to 2024
- 1,000 annual individual grants for self-directed service projects
- new incentives and program supports co-created with young people to address barriers to participation in volunteer service programs, and
- a new digital platform—seamlessly integrated with the Government’s new Youth Digital Gateway, an online, user-friendly platform to help youth access federal supports—that allows young people to identify, manage and share experiences from their service placements
Key Program Statistics
The following are key program statistics thus far:
- Since the program was launched, 116 service projects have been funded since the beginning of the CSC, including:
- 99 local/regional projects
- 12 national projects
- 1 national micro-contribution project, and
- 4 innovative engagement and outreach agreements
- As of April 6, 2021, 14,862 service placements have been delivered by national and regional organizations
- 4,663 micro-grants have been distributed directly to youth, and
- In post-participation surveys, over 75% of youth agreed or strongly agreed that:
- new interests have emerged (88.3%)
- they learned new skills (professional 59.3%, “soft” skills 75 to 78%), and
- they are more likely to consider or seek volunteer service opportunities in the future (92.3%)
Policy lead: Learning Branch, reporting to the Minister of Youth
Service delivered by: Program Operations Branch
List of Key Stakeholders
The CSC has an extensive group of national and regional stakeholders that includes youth advocates, youth organizations and the voluntary sector.
While our partnerships with national stakeholders are not evergreen and are subject to change, as of April 13, 2021, the CSC’s national stakeholders include the following organizations:
- Canadian Wildlife Federation
- TakingITGlobal
- Katimavik
- Apathy is Boring
- Boys and Girls Club of Canada
- Chantiers Jeunesse
- Duke of Edinburgh
- Mindyourmind
- Ocean Wise
- 4-Rs Youth Movement
- YMCA
- Canadian Roots Exchange*
- 4-H Canada*
*not renewing their national service project
5. Youth Digital Gateway
Description
The Youth Digital Gateway (YDG) vision is to be the Government of Canada hub for youth employment skills, learning, and service. It will achieve this by providing new digital services for youth and youth partners that are accessible across a range of digital channels, and by working directly with users to co-design and co-create their enhanced digital experience. The YDG is not a website – it is a Digital Services Platform. It will serve as an integration point for an entire youth ecosystem.
The YDG Project will deliver holistic, client-centric digital services for youth, with a priority focus on youth employment, skills, and services. In addition to establishing a digital channel for youth programming and services, the project will advance the digital architecture and platforms required to lay the groundwork for the delivery of personalized services for youth in Canada. In delivering on project outcomes, the YDG project will also establish a service design and delivery capability that will enable the Government of Canada to co-design and co-create digital services with youth and stakeholders in the youth ecosystem.
As announced in Budget 2019, the YDG project is funded through both the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) and Canada Service Corps (CSC) programs. The team has worked closely with policy and program branches and enabling branches to collaboratively produce the required documentation for project approval. YDG obtained Gate 3 Approval to execute on August 31, 2020. Youth Digital Gateway project will directly and indirectly support the achievement of YESS and CSC policy and program objectives. A few examples include:
- Support youth in their transition to the labour market by providing them with more seamless and easier access to the range of Government of Canada opportunities and resources related to skills and employment
- Contribute to creating a culture of youth service in Canada by providing youth with more seamless and easier access to federally-supported volunteer service placements in their communities
- Enhance skills and employment supports to youth, especially those facing barriers, by helping youth partners connect and collaborate with other players in the youth ecosystem, and report more efficiently on results
- Help youth plan their future by working with partners to develop tools and resources to support their career and job decisions, and
- Engage youth in a meaningful way in the development of policy and programs
Policy Leads: Skills and Employment Branch and the Program Operations Branch
List of Key Stakeholders
There are a number of departments and programs across the federal government that are stakeholders within this program, including:
- Parks Canada
- Natural Resources Canada
- Indigenous Services Canada
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
- Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
- Environment and Climate Change Canada
- Heritage Canada
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, as well as Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
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