How Do We Work

To fulfill our vision, YU programs are always tailored to each unique neighbourhood and grouping of young people found in the GTA. However, our programs typically fall under the following categories:

Our Community Outreach programs find us working in schools and high priority neighbourhoods, running sports and recreational activites, neighbourhood drop-ins, day camps, as well as in homework and mentorship programs.

Our Youth Service programs give youth the opportunity to be involved in compassionate service projects locally and globally.

Our Community Resourcing endeavours provide seminars, conferences, consulting and professional counselling to help parents, families and youth workers with the tools and knowledge for understanding that helping young people.

Our Skills Training programs provide youth with “job ready” training opportunities as well as employment placements and help with life/social skills.

Our Specialized Initiatives provide special attention to homeless youth, girls involved in the sex-trade, young moms, and young leader development.

Needs of GTA Youth

• 43% of Toronto’s population reports being a member of a visible minority, which ranks Toronto as the most ethnically diverse urban centre among North America’s cities with populations over 1 million. (Toronto Community Foundation’s Vital Signs 2004 Report [hereafter, VS 04])

• Over half a million teenagers live in the Greater Toronto Area. 50% of them belong to a visible minority. (VS 04)

• Poverty rates are greatest among visible minority families. The rate has doubled since 1991. (VS 04)

• One-third of children (184,230 in 2002) live in poverty. (VS 04)

• There are still thousands of children in shelters (4,620 in 2003). (VS 04)

• The school drop out rate among Toronto youth is 30%.

• There is a strong link between guns, violence and youth gangs: 81 victims were killed as a direct result of their involvement with illegal activites such as drug trafficking and gang violence (News Release: Government of Canada cracks down on violent gun crime and gang violence, Nov. 9, 2005 http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/news.asp?id+630)

• The number of homicides resulting from gun violence is rising in Toronto: in 2004 Statistic Canada reported 172 homicides as a result of shootings (representing 28% of total homicides), which is 11 more than in 2003 and 20 more than in 2002.

• The 2002 Canadian Police Survey on Youth Gangs indicated there were 434 youth gangs in Canada (106 of them in Toronto), comprising 7000 members. Furthermore, 57% of police respondents believed that the youth gang problem was getting worse in their jurisdiction.

• Reported incidents of violent crime by males aged 12-17 has risen between 1987-1997; incidents involving females has more than doubled. (Statistics Canada 2001)

• Each year thousands of teens leave home and make their way to Toronto, accounting for approximately 50% of our country’s runaway youth. In Toronto, the best estimates tell us that there are at least 10,000 different young people who are homeless. (Report of the Mayor’s Homelessness Action Task Force: Taking Responsibility for Homelessness, January 1999)

• Approximately 80% of homeless youth come from homes of addictions and abuse. (Report of the Mayor’s Homelessness Action Task Force: Taking Responsibility for Homelessness, January 1999)

• The death rate among street youth is 8.3 times higher than youth in the general population (Stephen W. Hwang, “Mortality Among Men Using Homeless Shelters in Toronto, Ontario,” Journal of American Medical Association, April 25, 2000, 283:2152-2157)

• 40% of 14 year old girls will have been pregnant before the age of 20. (Sarah Jane Grow, “The abortion boom,” The Toronto Star, March 25, 1996)

• 65% of teenage girls will terminate their pregnancy by abortion. (Sarah Jane Grow, “The abortion boom,” The Toronto Star, March 25, 1996)

*All statistics are the most recent available at the time page was posted.

Our Strategy

It is our strategy to reach out to the youth of the GTA through working in communities within defined geographic areas and through centrally based GTA-wide programs.