My name is Enda and I’m the Program Coordinator for the Street Youth Job Action (SYJA) pre-employment program at Directions and FSGV. Today, I want to share a bit about a youth I worked with this year, Kate*.
Kate joined SYJA at the beginning of April 2024 with the aim of securing stable employment. She had recently found housing in one of Vancouver’s youth assisted living services, but she felt this was precarious. Kate had recently left her family home as it had become unsustainable.
Kate attended SYJA every day and quickly demonstrated her determination by progressing into our Team Lead position in no time. Throughout those weeks, Kate was applying for countless jobs with no success.
We connected Kate to SYJA’s pre-employment case manager who helped Kate identify her goal: to resume education. With this support, Kate applied for a grant to fund her education that would also cover housing and living expenses for the duration of her courses. While awaiting deliberation, Kate and the pre-employment case manager worked on resumes, cover letters, and job search strategies. Kate spent her weekends visiting places she had applied to in order to follow up with a hard copy of her resume. Despite no employers reaching out, Kate remained hopeful about college in the fall. She attended all the weekly Life Skills workshops SYJA facilitated, always eager to learn new things and practice her interview skills. After what felt like an impossibly long wait, Kate was informed that her grant application had been unsuccessful.
Kate refused to let this slow her down. Despite a growing repertoire of unsuccessful interviews, Kate persisted and applied for a physics bridging course in Langara College with a plan to continue on to study physics in undergrad at Simon Fraser University. She was determined, but wasn’t sure how she’d afford it. As the Langara College offer day drew nearer, Kate’s health raised some issues and her phone stopped worked, both factors that massively affected her job search. Kate began formulating a new plan; to continue with SYJA and apply directly to Simon Fraser University next year. With no job offers after almost 5 months, ongoing health concerns, and no phone to contact employers, she was beginning to accept that her education would have to wait.
I’m so proud of Kate. The SYJA team rallied. We had all seen how hard she worked and the dedication she had. We were unwilling to accept that she would have such a hard time finding work and accessing the education she wanted. We connected Kate to medical services and free eye care and sourced a used smartphone for Kate so that she could resume her job search.
Shortly after, Kate met with her case worker at the youth assisted living service and they gave her the greenlight to move into their more long-term housing program, a feature of which was education funding. In the same week, Kate got the news that she was accepted into her course in Langara College. The following week, Kate heard back from two recent interviews and was able to choose between the two offers.
Today, Kate is working part-time while studying to pursue her ambition of becoming a physicist, no doubt at the beginning of a wonderful career. She’s taking step after step toward a brighter future.
Every day I meet youth like Kate. Youth who dream of more for themselves, but hit barrier after barrier along the way. SYJA and the other programs at Directions make sure they have a helping hand when they need it most.
Please consider making a donation today to ensure youth like Kate have the support they need, when they need it.
*Please note that this is not a picture of Kate, whose name has also been changed for privacy.