Regina, Saskatchewan—The Government of Canada announced new funding to support a recent graduate in Regina to gain the skills, knowledge and experience needed to enter and succeed in the job market. The announcement was made by Ray Boughen, Member of Parliament for Palliser, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development.
“Our government’s top priorities are creating jobs, economic growth and long-term prosperity,” said Mr. Boughen. “The Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy is helping youth develop the skills and gain the experience they need to get jobs now and prepare for the workforce of tomorrow.”
Being Astonished! is receiving $20,000 from the Career Focus program to help a recent graduate gain on-the-job experience and apply the skills acquired through education to ease the transition to work. Career Focus is part of the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy (YES).
The participant in the Being Astonished! project will work primarily with the organization’s Youth Leadership Team to organize social gatherings and fundraising events for local young adults with complex physical disabilities. The graduate will also teach the youth how to use specialized adaptive software, such as speech recognition, that helps them use computers more easily.
“This funding from the Government of Canada together with funds that have been raised by Astonished! will enable us to hire our first employee,” said Ruth Blaser, board of directors chair, Being Astonished!. “This will help us raise community awareness for social inclusion of young adults with complex physical disabilities, as we get ready to open The Astonished! Teaching and Learning Centre at the University of Regina.”
With annual funding of more than $300 million, YES helps youth, particularly those facing barriers to employment, obtain career information, develop employment skills, find jobs and stay employed. YES includes the Skills Link and Career Focus programs and the Canada Summer Jobs initiative, which creates thousands of job opportunities for students every summer.
Economic Action Plan 2012 is providing an additional $50 million over two years to enhance YES through a new initiative that will connect young Canadians with jobs that are in high demand and help them develop tangible skills and gain work experience.
The additional funding will be delivered through two Calls for Proposals—one for Career Focus and one for Skills Link. The Calls opened on September 5th and will close on November 2nd. Organizations across Canada are invited to apply. Information is available at servicecanada.gc.ca.
Youth employment programs are part of the Government of Canada’s broader strategy to create an educated, skilled and flexible workforce. The Government underscored its commitment to this strategy in Canada’s Economic Action Plan. A key component of the Plan is to create more and better opportunities for Canadian workers through skills development. To learn more about Canada’s Economic Action Plan, visit actionplan.gc.ca.
The Government of Canada is helping youth plan their careers, learn new skills and find jobs through enhanced online services available at Youth.gc.ca.
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For more information, contact:
Marian Ngo
Office of Minister Finley
819-994-2482
Media Relations Office
Human Resources and
Skills Development Canada
819-994-5559
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IF THERE IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ANY PRINTED VERSION AND THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THIS NEWS RELEASE, THE ELECTRONIC VERSION WILL PREVAIL.
This news release is available online at: actionplan.gc.ca.
The Youth Employment Strategy is the Government of Canada’s commitment to help youth make a successful transition to the workplace.
Skills Link helps youth facing barriers to employment, including youth who are single parents, youth with disabilities and youth in rural and remote areas, to develop the skills and gain the experience needed to find a job or the confidence to return to school.
Career Focus provides funding to employers to hire young post-secondary graduates to give them career-related work experience and help them acquire skills to transition into the job market.
Canada Summer Jobs provides funding to not-for-profit organizations, public-sector employers and small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to create summer job opportunities for young people aged 15 to 30 years who are full-time students intending to return to their studies in the next school year.
To learn more about Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy and other youth employment initiatives, please visit Youth.gc.ca.
