Program overview

The Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) is a Government of Canada initiative led by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and delivered in partnership with 11 federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations. Together, these 12 partners deliver funding programs to provide youth in Canada aged 15 to 30, especially those facing barriers to employment, with opportunities to receive employment supports, gain work experience and develop the skills needed to find and keep quality jobs. 

At ESDC, the YESS consists of two programs:

• ESDC’s YESS Program provides funding to organizations to deliver a range of activities that help youth overcome barriers to employment. It supports a flexible approach that offers tailored services to ensure individuals across the country can gain the skills and experience they need to find and keep good-quality jobs. Supports can include mentorship, coaching, training, wraparound services (for example, dependant care support, mental health counselling) and paid work placements.
• Canada Summer Jobs provides wage subsidies to employers from not-for-profit organizations, the public sector and private sector organizations with 50 or fewer full-time employees, to create quality summer employment opportunities for young Canadians.

Youth who face barriers often include:

• Indigenous youth;
• Black and other racialized youth;
• 2SLGBTQI+ youth;
• youth with disabilities;
• youth who are early leavers from high school;
• youth living in low-income households;
• youth experiencing houselessness or precarious housing; and
• youth living in rural, remote, northern or fly-in communities
  

For these youth, barriers often intersect, making them more likely to be among those involuntarily not in employment, education, or training.

YESS Program offers increased support to youth facing barriers to employment  

In late 2023, ESDC held a call for proposals (CFP) for the YESS Program. The purpose of the CFP was to fund new projects that support youth facing barriers to employment. For the first time, the Program included a Youth with Disabilities stream to increase the availability of inclusive programming to support youth with disabilities and address the unique employment challenges faced by these individuals.

Also new was a requirement that all projects serve youth furthest from employment in some capacity, including youth not in employment, education or training, and youth facing multiple and compounding barriers to employment. Other priority groups included Indigenous youth, 2SLGBTQI+ youth, Black youth, and other racialized youth. The selection of recommended projects also aimed to have regional coverage across Canada, with service to youth in rural, remote, and urban settings, including official language minority communities.

Following the review of applications, in July 2024, the Government announced $370 million in funding to support over 200 projects, helping 22,000 youth overcome employment barriers and secure meaningful, lasting jobs. Most of these projects are now underway. As agreements are finalized, the projects are published on Grants and Contributions (canada.ca) on a quarterly basis.

The additional $23 million in funding announced today brings the total investment in ESDC’s YESS Program to over $393 million for the period of 2024–28.

YESS Program projects in Winnipeg

Organizaton: NorWest Co-op Community Health Centre Inc.
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Funding amount: $1.1 million
Project description: Over 41 months, NorWest Co-op Community Health Centre Inc will assist 80 youth facing barriers to employment to develop the skills and gain the experience they need to find and keep quality jobs.

Organizaton: Elmwood Community Resource Centre
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Funding amount: $1.35 million
Project description: Over 43 months, Elmwood Community Resource Centre will assist 71 youth facing barriers to employment to develop the skills and gain the experience they need to find and keep quality jobs.

Organization: The Momentum Centre Inc.
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Funding amount: $1.56 million
Project description: Over 43 months, The Momentum Centre Inc. will assist 88 youth facing multiple barriers to employment including youth furthest from employment to develop the skills and gain the experiences they need to find and keep quality jobs.

Organizaton: Pluri-elles (Manitoba) Inc.
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Funding amount: $1.4 million
Project description: Over 43 months, Pluri-elles (Manitoba) Inc. will assist 80 youth facing barriers to employment to develop the skills and gain the experience they need to find and keep quality jobs.

Funding agreements for additional projects in Winnipeg are currently under negotiation. As agreements are finalized, the projects will be published on Grants and Contributions (canada.ca)