Minister Mitchell Announces Youth Retention Strategy for Northern Ontario
Minister Mitchell Announces Youth Retention Strategy for Northern Ontario
NORTH BAY, Ontario, October 28, 2005 — The Honourable Andy Mitchell, Minister of State (FedNor), and Anthony Rota, Member of Parliament for Nipissing–Timiskaming, today announced a comprehensive $8M FedNor Youth Retention Strategy aimed at helping Northern Ontario youth gain valuable skills and work experience. The Strategy consists of three components: strengthening the highly-successful Youth Internship Program, funding for strategic post-secondary education initiatives, and helping build community capacity.
“The Government of Canada, through FedNor, is providing the tools that communities need to help keep their youth living and working in Northern Ontario,” said Minister Mitchell. “This three-pronged strategy will build on the success of past initiatives and provide a framework for future generations.”
“The FedNor Youth Retention Strategy will not only strengthen our economy, it will provide our young people with the necessary skills and experience to help them secure permanent employment in Northern Ontario,” added Mr. Rota.
The first component of the Youth Retention Strategy involves a $3.8M investment to further strengthen the proven FedNor Youth Internship Program. This funding will create at least 150 new and exciting employment opportunities for Northern Ontario youth over the next two years.
The FedNor Youth Internship Program is designed to provide invaluable hands-on work experience, allowing the intern to gain the necessary experience and skills to secure permanent employment in Northern Ontario.
Since its inception in 1997, FedNor has provided funding to help 875 young Northerners, in both the public and private sectors, make the successful transition from the campus to the workplace. Approximately 400 different organizations have benefited from FedNor’s Youth Internship Program.
“Every external evaluation of the Youth Internship Program has recorded impressive results,” said Minister Mitchell. “More than 80% of youth interns were employed in Northern Ontario after their internship ended. The organizations benefit from the skills the interns offer and the funding available while the interns benefit from their work experience and networking opportunities. Clearly, the program is having a positive impact in the North.”
The second component of FedNor’s Youth Retention Strategy, consists of $3.2M for education and skills training. Through strategic investment in partnerships with Northern Ontario colleges and universities, the Strategy will help increase the North’s capacity to provide highly skilled and highly trained graduates to Northern Ontario’s business and industrial communities.
Initiatives under this component will help meet the needs of the mining and forestry industries, as well as industrial and bio-medical research organizations, by producing qualified graduates with strong roots in the North.
The third component of FedNor’s Youth Retention Strategy – community capacity building – will concentrate on engaging and working with First Nations, community economic development organizations and not-for-profit groups to plan and implement initiatives directed at increasing the knowledge and awareness among youth regarding employment opportunities, skills training and socio-economic development. FedNor will invest $1M in eligible activities, including leadership initiatives designed to encourage the participation of youth in community planning and regional issues, as well as regional business fairs.
Through its many youth initiatives, FedNor has supported some 844 youth-related projects across Northern Ontario over the past six years. The FedNor Youth Retention Strategy will be implemented immediately to build on this high level of success and ensure that Northern youth have a future in Northern communities.
FedNor’s Youth Retention Strategy complements the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy, which includes Service Canada’s Skills Link, Summer Career Placement programs and Youth Service Canada, aimed at putting out-of-school and unemployed young people back to work.
By working with organizations involved in economic development and by creating meaningful work experiences for youth, FedNor is opening doors and building futures in Northern Ontario.
Funding for this initiative was provided for in the February 2005 federal budget and is therefore built into the existing fiscal framework.
To find out more about FedNor, visit us at http://fednor.ic.gc.ca
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For more information, please contact:
Graeme Wilkes
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Andy Mitchell
Minister of State (FedNor)
(613) 947-5850
Peter Williams
Communications Officer
FedNor
(705) 670-6244 or 1 877 333-6673
Created: 2005-10-28