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Youth Employment Skills Strategy Program - Strategic Collaboration projects

From: Employment and Social Development Canada

Application period:
May 22, 2024 to July 10, 2024, at 3:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) Closed
Funding amount:
Up to $4.5 million for a project that is up to 4 years in duration
Who can apply:
Applicants invited by ESDC

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Application period

Invited organizations can apply between May 22, 2024 to July 10, 2024 at 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Note: Only specific organizations can apply.

Description

The Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) Program provides funding to organizations to deliver a range of activities that help youth (aged 15 to 30) overcome barriers to employment. The Program supports a flexible approach that offers services tailored to each individual youth to gain the skills and experience they need to find and keep good quality jobs.

The Program also supports innovative cross-sectoral initiatives that aim to address complex, systemic challenges in the youth employment sector and build organizational and sectoral capacity to improve outcomes for youth.

This Competitive-Solicited Intake process aims to provide funding to successful applicants whose projects are designed to expand capacity within the youth employment sector to address new and emerging systemic challenges.

Applicants may request up to a maximum of $4.5 million for projects that are up to four years in duration. The total funding available for all Strategic Collaboration projects is $29 million over 4 years.

Organizations may only submit one application for funding under this call.

We expect to make funding decisions in Fall 2024. You should not start your project until you hear from us. All projects must end by March 2028.

Objective

Eligible projects under this intake process will respond to new and emerging systemic challenges within the youth employment sector through strategic, cross-sector partnerships. Projects will use research and development (R&D) approaches to develop and test innovative solutions to complex problems. Solutions that emerge from these projects should be both scalable and sustainable.

Finally, all projects will be expected to support the adoption or adaptation of solutions within the Canadian youth employment sector to build organizational and sectoral capacity to improve outcomes for youth.

Organizations solicited for funding

The organizations identified and invited to apply under this funding are:

  • A Way Home Canada
  • Canadian Association for Supported Employment (CASE)
  • Canadian Career Development Foundation (CCDF)
  • Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW)
  • Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF)
  • Choices for Youth
  • Giant Steps
  • Egale
  • Eva's Initiatives
  • Eviance
  • Hope Blooms
  • Ready, Willing and Able (RWA) *RWA is a partnership of Inclusion Canada and Autism Alliance of Canada
  • Indigenous Works
  • Inclusive Design for Employment Access (IDEA) *IDEA is a project of the Institute for Work and Health (IWH)
  • Integrated Youth Services Network (IYSN)
  • InWithForward
  • MASS LBP
  • Opportunities for Employment
  • Raven Indigenous Capital Partners
  • Saint John Learning Exchange
  • Simon Fraser University - Centre for Dialogue
  • Smart Waterloo Region Innovation Lab (SWRIL)
  • Tamarack Institute
  • Youth Employment Services (YES)

The organizations invited between May 22 and June 12, 2024, following requests for consideration and eligibility review are:

  • Blue Door
  • Canadian Parks and Recreation Association (CPRA)
  • Chora Canada
  • ETHOS Career Management Group
  • Findhelp Information Services
  • Harvest Manitoba Inc.
  • Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
  • John Howard Society New Brunswick
  • Mentor Canada
  • Prepr Foundation
  • Selections Career Support Services
  • YMCA of Greater Toronto

Find information on funded grant and contribution projects in proactive disclosure.

Eligibility

ESDC is using a competitive, solicited call for proposals to fund projects. We will solicit proposals from groups with the following specific expertise:

Expertise in cross-sector collaboration:

The organization has experience leading or participating in successful collaborations with organizations that represent different sectors (e.g., service providers, employers, academia, innovation, knowledge mobilization) to address a challenge.

Expertise in strategic partnerships & networks:

The organization currently holds strategic partners and networks that could facilitate collaboration related to a theme within and across the youth employment and or youth with disabilities and employment spaces.

Expertise in research and development (R&D), experimentation or innovation, in the past five years:

The organization has been significantly engaged in R&D, experimentation, or innovation in the past five years.

Expertise in at least one of the following themes:

General themes:
A. Strengthening youth voices:

This theme emphasizes the importance of including young people in decision-making processes; it focuses on supporting organizations to involve youth more meaningfully in the design and delivery of services and programs intended for their benefit.

B. Integrating employment supports into social and health services hubs/networks for marginalized youth:

Youth with complex needs must often independently navigate a complicated and disconnected web of services (e.g., shelters, foodbanks, counselling), and can struggle to access employment supports. This theme focuses on integrating employment services for youth furthest from the labour market within existing health and social service hubs, to better support them in making progress towards their goals.

C. Improving impact measurement:

This theme focuses on strengthening capacity to use data among youth employment organizations. Better quality data and data analysis will support organizations to identify the diverse and unique needs of youth and demonstrate what works well for youth in different contexts. This in turn helps generate learnings that can inform program and service improvements.

D. Building sectoral capacity for sensemaking: Shared learning, analysis, and action:

This theme aims to improve sector-wide knowledge sharing and coordination through methodologies like ‘sensemaking’ and ‘collective intelligence’. Building the sector’s capacity to work together to identify emerging trends, document effective practices, and align efforts to address shared challenges will ultimately lead to more relevant and effective employment services for youth.

Youth with Disabilities Stream themes:
E. Strengthening employer capacity to create barrier-free workplaces:

Even though there are resources and tools available to help employers to create disability-inclusive workplaces, youth with disabilities continue to report facing challenges in getting and keeping jobs. Projects under this theme seek to remove barriers and encourage disability-inclusive workplaces by scaling up high-impact practices.

F. Improving service provider responsiveness to youth with disabilities’ intersectional needs:

All youth have “intersectional identities”, meaning that different parts of who they are, like their race, gender, and types of disabilities, overlap and affect the barriers they may experience on their pathways to employment. This theme focuses on improving service providers’ ability to respond to the intersectional needs of youth with disabilities. By building the ability of youth-serving organizations to offer culturally appropriate and disability-inclusive employment supports, projects aim to ensure that youth with disabilities receive tailored services that reflect their different needs, ultimately enhancing their opportunities for success in the workforce.

Eligible applicants

Groups eligible for this funding process must be located in Canada and include:

  • Not-for-profit organizations (including registered charities, voluntary organizations, and foundations)
  • Municipal governments
  • Indigenous organizations (including band councils, tribal councils, and self-government entities)
  • For-profit organizations (provided that the nature and intent of the funded activity is non-commercial and not intended to generate a profit)
  • Public health, educational, and cultural institutions
  • Provincial and territorial governments, institutions, agencies, and Crown Corporations.

Contact us

If you have questions, please email us at ESDC.YESS-SCEJ.EDSC@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca

If you would like us to review your organization's eligibility to apply, please contact us by June 12, 2024, at 3 PM Eastern Standard Time. Requests for consideration received after this deadline will not be accepted.

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