Youth Skills Zone The name of this program at the City of Toronto is the Street Involved Youth Progr

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Youth Skills Zone(The name of this program at
the City of Toronto is the Street Involved Youth
Program - SIYP)

• In the long run hundreds of youth like me will
  need this program, for most its the only chance
  to be free from the street and for some its
  their last chance
• YOUTHLINK - Youth Skills Zone Graduate

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• YOUTHLINK is a
• Member agency
• Funding for the YOUTHLINK Youth Skills Zone
  project is provided under the Government of
  Canadas National Homelessness Initiative
  program, Supporting Communities Partnership
  Initiative, administered by the City of Toronto

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History of Youth Skills Zone (YSZ)

• 1998 Toronto City Council supported the creation
  of the Squeegee Diversion program
• 1999 a Steering Committee of 20 youth serving
  agencies was developed and they created the
  Squeegee Working Youth Mobilization (SWYM)
  program (the original name of YSZ)
• 2001 YOUTHLINK assumed full responsibility

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Program Overview

• YSZ uses a harm reduction approach to support 100
  (25 youth, 4 programs a year) chronically
  homeless/street involved youth, per year, to take
  first steps toward lifestyle stabilization. We
  have two times this number who apply
• The pre-employment component of YSZ supports
  youth (16-24) in 10 week, 3 days per week
  Lifestyle Stabilization Modules that combine life
  skills enhancement and either computer repair or
  food preparation skills

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Program Overview

• Three Employment Support Workers (ESWs) work on
  establishing the youths goals and how to
  overcome employment barriers, develop employment
  skills and establish critical links to supportive
  services including housing, employment, legal
  assistance, mental health assessment and
  treatment, addictions counselling and appropriate
  educational programs
• The goal is to help youth achieve greater
  accessibility to employment and housing, leaving
  the streets and shelters behind

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Participants

• Target population is street involved youth, this
  means youth who panhandle, squeegee, drug deal or
  are involved in the sex trade
• Many of the potential participants lack
  identification, are involved in substance
  use/abuse, have health and mental health issues,
  lack housing, have a poor level of education and
  little or no employment history

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Outreach

• Outreach is accomplished 2 weeks prior to a 10
  week module starting
• The ESWs attend Yonge Street Mission Evergreen
  Centre for Street Youth, YOUTHLINK Inner City,
  and LOFT Community Services - Street Outreach
  Services at predetermined dates to assess and
  interview appropriate candidates
• Youth Employment Toronto - Social Development and
  Administration Division at the City of Toronto -
  also refers appropriate youth from the greater
  Toronto area

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Life Skills

• Life Skills provided 2 times per week for 1.25
  hours, members of 25 various community agencies
  speak about employment, housing, substance abuse,
  counselling, mental health, sexual health and
  education programs
• Chill Zone or Stress Management Youth attend
  this every other week during the 10-week modules,
  with one ESW and a Community Youth Worker from
  St. Stephens Community Centre

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Nutrition Component and Food Preparation Skills

• The Nutrition Coordinator and 2 youth
  participants provide 3 nutritious meals daily for
  the three days that participants are attending
  YSZ
• They also prepare 5 meals per week for YOUTHLINK
  Inner City, a drop-in centre for street involved
  youth, which is co-located with YSZ

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YOUTHLINK Inner City

• This is a street based resource centre and
  outreach program for street-involved youth and
  homeless youth in Toronto
• They offer a continuum of services for hard to
  reach youth such as basic necessities, crisis
  counselling, referrals, harm reduction program,
  street outreach, healthy sexuality, HIV/AIDS and
  Hepatitis C support, peer education, and Streets
  to Homes

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Computer Hardware Repair Skills

• Two Computer Instructors help 23 participants
  learn how to fix and repair donated computers
  (corporations such as Yahoo, CIBC and Toronto
  Hydro donate computers to YSZ)
• We are presently working on developing a business
  plan for a Social Purpose Enterprise called
  COMPUZONE in order to sell these refurbished
  computers and further employ youth

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Youth Feedback

• ESWs also conduct exit interviews to
  individually get feedback from youth about their
  experience at YSZ
• Youth Employment Toronto Social Development and
  Administration Division at the City of Toronto -
  conducts in-camera evaluations with the group of
  graduating youth
• This feedback is incorporated into future
  programs

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2005/2006 fiscal year statistics

• Outcomes related to program graduates
• (an average of 65 graduate)
• Securing Personal Identification 95
• Accessing Substance Use Treatment 29
• Accessing Medical/Mental Health 77
• Accessing Housing 50
• Obtaining Voice Mail 100
• Enrolment in Further Education 26
• Secured Employment 56
• ESWs made contact with over 1600 youth

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Case Study

• Emma was 20 years old when she applied to YSZ at
  Street Outreach Services (SOS) and had been
  street involved for approximately 4 years.
  Emmas mom died when she was 17 and her father
  has a drinking problem.
• When Emma became street involved she started
  using drugs, pan handling, was involved in
  prostitution and began using drop-in centres.
  Emma was using the drug K and E 2-3 times a week,
  drank alcohol almost everyday and used cocaine
  and marijuana occasionally.

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Case Study

• When Emma applied to Youth Skills Zone, she had a
  court date for a preliminary hearing the next
  month for an assault charge. Emma and her
  boyfriend lived in a bachelor apartment in the
  east end of the city, had no stable income and
  always had friends over partying.
• During the 10 weeks at YSZ, Emma set clear goals
  and she used fewer drugs because she was busy
  working with us, as well as was working as a peer
  mentor at SOS. By graduation, Emma said that her
  drug and alcohol use was occasional. Emma
  attended her court date and received a
  conditional discharge with 2 years probation.
• Emma said that emotionally she became more
  confident and felt happier since she started
  working with YOUTHINK Youth Skills Zone.

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Case Study

• In summary, Emma was able to earn and save money
  through the provision of youth stipends, which
  ultimately helped her maintain her affordable
  housing. Participation in the YSZ program helped
  enhance Emmas self esteem and confidence and
  provided the necessary motivation required to
  apply and obtain a job at All A Board Youth
  Ventures River Restaurant. Through the
  provision of nutritious food Emma began a process
  of taking better care of herself having learned
  more about healthy, affordable eating from the
  Nutrition Coordinator. Currently, she is
  applying to the transitional year at Seneca and
  intends to submit and application to the Social
  Service Worker program.