First Work is accepting advance registrations for this year’s Futures Conference, allowing organizations and staff to reserve their place.
Futures is happening October 17-19, 2012 at Blue Mountain Resort and is Canada’s largest professional development opportunity for those working with young people seeking employment. The conference is a three-day event, attracting over 375 delegates from youth employment counselling centres, colleges, the private and public sectors, government, as well as other community-based organizations.
First Work is deeply concerned about the closure of Service Canada Centres for Youth. The decision caught us by surprise, and impacts thousands of youth and dozens of communities across the province. Rather than close centres, the federal government should have been consulting with us and our network on how to provide effective services more efficiently. Continue Reading »
Recommendations affecting Employment Ontario (EO) have been put forward in the Drummond Report, a comprehensive report to the provincial government.
The report outlines the deteriorating state of employment in Ontario, and has put forth nine recommendations to improve the delivery of employment and training services.
Among them are suggestions to focus efforts on clients requiring complex interventions, including at-risk youth, while directing those requiring modest intervention towards lower-cost, self serve resources. First Work sees this as an opportunity to fuel program innovation in the sector and develop self-help approaches for clients requiring modest intervention.
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From the CBC: “Ontario for so long the dominant province is confronting cold calculations that confirm its industrial, economic and demographic power is on the wane. The consensus out of the latest census is that the very things that made Ontario surge now make it sluggish and the center of the universe is tilting West.
The changing job market in Ontario is particularly tough on young people, and many are leaving for better opportunities.
Randy Heasman, the Director of Employment Programs at St. Stephen’s House in Toronto, has worked for twenty five years helping youth find work.”
We are looking for dynamic individuals interested in sharing their expertise with the delegates of Futures. Futures is Canada’s largest and longest-running conferences for employment professionals serving youth. Lead the field by contributing your best practices to this exceptional professional development and networking opportunity.
Submit your workshop proposal here.
Please pass this link on to leaders in the youth employment field who may want to contribute. Continue Reading »
Led by Frances Lankin and Munir A. Sheikh, the Commission for Review of Social Assistance in Ontario is charged with examining social assistance in Ontario through engagement, research and analysis to provide the government with a concrete action plan to improve the system for the people who need it.
The Commission has released Discussion Paper 2: Approaches for Reform and What We Heard: A Summary of Disscussion on Social Assistance. You can find it them here.
They are also seeking feedback, and you can do so by leaving a comment, completing the online workbook, sending a submission, or calling them at 1-855-269-6250.
First Work is excited to announce that we have successfully completed our second Youth Awareness Green Job Fairs program.
The job fairs took place in partnership with member centres YES! Employment Services, Red Lake Career and Employment Services and YMCA Sudbury. The program was a great success with over 35 green employers attending and over 650 youth receiving information about green careers.
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"Face it, boomers. You need those young ppl to deliver." Older generation should be helping Gen Y succeed. Here's why: http://t.co/Y8PFTFYm
22 hours ago from web The Leadership Summit is off to a great start! We're so excited to have you all here!
4 days ago from Twitter for BlackBerry® RT @MichaelH_KEYS: In a workshop with @chriskulbaba at the Leadership Summit. Good to reconnect with Chris.
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Congrats to those who completed our Solar Panel Installation Assistant course in Ingersoll and good luck to those starting the course tmrw!
1 week ago from web