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Youth Employment Summit

Young person speaking out at the podium during the Youth Employment Summit

The Youth Employment Summit was an opportunity for young people and agency stakeholders to voice ths challenge of unemployment, and the strong correlation with youth violence...both of which are at crisis-levels in Toronto.  

On August 6th, TNGCS and partners Toronto Youth Cabinet, The Neighbourhood Organization, U of T's School of Cities, Toronto Community Housing and First Work convened at City Hall to welcome 200 attendees to the Youth Employment Summit. We brought to light key barriers and challenges with youth employment in today's landscape and its connection to rising youth violence.  

Delegates included 130 Black, Indigenous and newcomer youth from every ward of the City of Toronto and young people from Toronto Community Housing. We also welcomed 55 stakeholder partners from nonprofits focused on income security and employment, youth-serving organizations, private sector partners and decision-makers.   
  
Mayor Olivia Chow was there to lend her full support to the event and the initiatives it represents. She believes strongly in the fight to improve young people's access to employment and reduce youth violence and is standing alongside us to advocate for the creation of 10,000 new summer jobs for marginalized youth in 2025.  
  
The Globe and Mail ran a story about the summit, which featured comments from our Director of Community Programs, Serena Nudel, who described the importance of providing meaningful opportunities for youth to combat violence and conflict.

You can also read a CBC story about the Youth Employment Summit.
 
We’re calling on our community to support in the following ways:  

  • Connecting us with youth who would like to share their voices via a social media video campaign  

  • Connecting us with youth who would be able to complete a postcard outlining what a summer job would mean to them in 2025   

  • Connecting us with youth who would be interested in deputing on October 1st   

  • Having your agency sign on to the joint statement  

  • Connecting with your city counsellor to advocate for a City of Toronto summer youth employment program  

 Please email Serena Nudel at serena.nudel@tngcs.org if you’d like to get involved.