Youth development and inclusion

Effects of Student and Family Background Characteristics on Post-Secondary Education Access, Persistence, and Completion and Labour Market Outcomes in British Columbia

This project examines how a range of student, family, neighbourhood, and schooling characteristics are related to 1) access to college and university, 2) completion of a postsecondary education (PSE) credential, and 3) labour market outcomes of students originally enrolled at the K-12 level in British Columbia (B.C.). The study will also provide a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the barriers to PSE young people may face, especially those belonging to under-served groups. The intent is to provide evidence on how PSE experiences differ and contribute to later employment and labour market outcomes in order to support policies that aim to improve access to higher education, the completion of a PSE credential, and subsequent labour market outcomes. SRDC is using data from the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform (ELMLP) including: B.C. K-12 enrollment data; enrollment records from all publicly funded colleges and universities in Canada through the Postsecondary Student Information System; trades registration through the Registered Apprenticeship Information System; and student and parental tax records from the Canada Revenue Agency’s T1 Family File (T1FF). Linking these datasets together through the ELMLP generates a longitudinal data file that can identify the relationship between socioeconomic and K-12 schooling background and PSE schooling and labour market experiences and outcomes of young people who attend school at the K-12 level across B.C.

Start-end date: November 2022 - March 2024
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Strategic evaluation and learning support for the Future Skills Centre

Over the past four years, the Future Skills Centre (FSC) has supported the development, refinement, or expansion of approaches to developing skills for workers from a variety of backgrounds and in a variety of sectors. These innovation projects are required to mobilize knowledge and evidence among key stakeholders, institutions, and decision-makers for the purposes of improving policies and practices in Canada. SRDC is developing a mix of retrospective and prospective evaluation approaches for a subset of up to 18 of these projects, dependent on the timelines and stage of development of each project. These involve quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis using document and data review, interviews with project partners and their FSC liaisons, implementation evaluation, and theory of change or logic model development. SRDC’s learning and evaluation framework is designed to capture what has been learned from these projects for the future development of the skills ecosystem in Canada.

Start-end date: October 2022 - September 2023
Sponsor: Future Skills Centre

Barriers to training and employment for youth with disabilities: Research synthesis

This project is producing a research synthesis of findings from SRDC’s past and current research projects concerning skills gaps, learning needs, and systemic barriers to employment faced by youth with disabilities. Funded by Skills and Employment Branch (SEB) at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), the project involves creating a database of relevant SRDC projects that involve primary data collection, secondary analysis, and literature reviews of academic literature that have been undertaken by SRDC researchers in the past decade. The analysis of this database will equip ESDC’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) with a better understanding of the existing evidence of the barriers faced by youth with disabilities in Canada.

Start-end date: July 2022 - October 2022
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Evaluation of the Increasing Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Information project

Centre for Sexuality (C4S), in partnership with community stakeholders in Alberta, is co-creating and launching updated Relationship and Sexual Education (RSE) curricula, aimed at increasing access to sexual and reproductive health information, resources, and care in Alberta. SRDC is supporting the evaluation of the Increasing Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Information project, which encompasses four distinct population-specific strategies supporting equity-deserving groups in Alberta: youth, 2SLGBTQ+, Indigenous youth and communities, and people with developmental disabilities. Building on and tailoring C4S’s RSE program, C4S will work with communities (and community advisory committees) to develop responsive program and training materials, implement these, and evaluate associated project processes and outcomes. SRDC will provide developmental evaluation support, supporting the co-design and implementation of evaluation tools across all four strategies, and for the project as a whole.

Start-end date: June 2022 - March 2024
Sponsor: Centre for Sexuality

Mentor Canada: Organizational evaluation and performance measurement

SRDC will support Mentor Canada to develop an organizational performance monitoring and evaluation framework. Building on Mentor Canada’s strategic plan for 2022-2025, and its objective to broaden and deepen access to quality mentoring in Canada for youth, particularly equity-deserving groups, SRDC will work with Mentor Canada to design a responsive set of tools to monitor progress against key performance indicators.

Start-end date: March 2022 - March 2023
Sponsor: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada

Youth Engagement Initiative

BGC Canada’s Youth Engagement Initiative is creating spaces and opportunities – both in-person and online – that support youth facing barriers to reach their potential, while ensuring that they are not further marginalized by the ongoing impact of the pandemic. The project, funded by Employment and Social Development Canada, has three components: it enhances and expands the Raise the Grade program (supported by RBC Future Launch) with academic supports, career discovery, mentoring, and other activities at 40+ BGC Clubs across Canada; it expands BGC Canada’s COVID-response pan-Canadian virtual programming, including support for young Canadians in accessing Club-based virtual programs and services; and it is developing and launching a Youth Hub, a multi-purpose platform for Club staff and youth that will enhance program access, quality, and youth member experience. As evaluation partner, SRDC will assess the successes and opportunities of the Youth Engagement Initiative to support access to services, skills development, and other supports, while developing insights into how the combined in-person and online programming plays a role in expanding and deepening youth engagement.

Start-end date: January 2022 - October 2023
Sponsor: BGC Canada (formerly Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada)

Skills for Success Implementation Guidance Development

The launch of Skills for Success in May 2021 leverages the core strength of the Essential Skills framework while tightening the alignment with modern labour market needs, with a greater focus on a range of socio-emotional skills. This project’s main objective is to produce a document outlining key principles and emerging practices to guide the implementation of Skills for Success, reflecting the Government of Canada’s commitment to create and update training programs, resources, and assessment materials, facilitate training participation of vulnerable groups, and build the capacity of stakeholders who serve these populations. Our approach will combine environmental scan and literature review with the involvement of an expert advisory panel representing training and sectoral organizations with nation-wide networks, to develop three broad kinds of content: i) identification of learning needs for underrepresented groups (e.g., Indigenous people, racialized Canadians, persons with disabilities) and key sectors; ii) guiding principles for the design of tailored training and assessment tools to align with identified learner and sectoral needs; and iii) implementation examples and approaches from early adopters of Skills for Success. These will be synthesized into a final report to facilitate tool customization and program implementation aligned with the unique learning needs of groups underrepresented in the labour market, as well as the job performance needs of major sectors of the Canadian economy.

Start-end date: December 2021 - September 2022
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Improving student success in Surrey School District (Phase 2)

SRDC is undertaking qualitative fieldwork, working with the school district’s own data and with Statistics Canada’s Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform to undertake a study focused on understanding student transitions and success within the Surrey School District education system. The aim is to develop key indicators in partnership with the district and answer questions with respect to student transitions through the K-12 system in Surrey, including the needs of those who leave education prematurely, to the extent the data allow.

Start-end date: July 2021 - June 2022
Sponsor: Surrey Schools

Safe, stable, long-term: Supporting LGBTQ2S+ youth along the housing continuum

LGBTQ2S+ youth face distinct barriers when it comes to securing long-term, stable housing, including discrimination and violence as well as a lack of tailored housing options and services. Yet, the literature on the subject is underdeveloped: data on LGBTQ2S+ housing and employment is limited, with the National Housing Strategy (2018) pointing to significant gaps in housing research on the needs of LGBTQ2S+ youth. This project aims to address these gaps, guided by the following research question: what are the barriers and facilitators of access to stable, safe, and long-term housing for LGBTQ2S+ youth? To address this question, we are bringing together a cross-sectoral team of experienced stakeholders in the field, including the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (COH) and MENTOR Canada, to engage in a three-phased project of research. The first phase will include a literature review, environmental scan, and analysis of existing datasets to provide an overview of the existing housing environment for LGBTQ2S+ youth. Phase 2 focuses on qualitative data collection with LGBTQ2S+ youth with experiences of housing instability and housing service providers working with LGBTQ2S+ youth. Phase 3 runs parallel to phases 1 and 2, and involves the development of an advisory group to ensure that methodologies and findings are grounded in community contexts, and that results are shared back effectively and inclusively with communities on an ongoing basis.

Start-end date: June 2021 - September 2022
Sponsor: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Literature review on promising practices in online youth development programming

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many programs to shift to online delivery, including the Pathways to Education (Pathways) program run by Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre. This program provides academic, social, financial, and one-to-one supports to high-school students living in low-income neighbourhoods in Ottawa’s west end. While there are challenges and limitations to online delivery of such supports, there may also be advantages in terms of program accessibility. To inform future Pathways program planning, SRDC will conduct a targeted scoping review of academic and gray literature on promising practices using online tools for engaging and supporting low-income and racialized youth outside of school. In keeping with the mandate of the Pathways program, the focus will be not only on academic support and tutoring but also social emotional learning/skills development and positive youth development more broadly. The project goal is to provide an overview of promising practices in online youth programming, both as a summary of evidence as well as key principles to guide future programming.

Start-end date: April 2021 - June 2021
Sponsor: Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre

The Two-Eyed Seeing Network

While Indigenous youth could provide a significant source of local labour to industry in BC, they are often disengaged, not well networked, and left out of conversations about the future of skills and training. Focusing on sectors with high future demand (clean technology; clean energy; natural resource extraction and processing; marine shipping; the built environment; and manufacturing), the Two-Eyed Seeing Network will work to bridge the gaps between the needs of industry and the potential Indigenous workforce of tomorrow. The network includes participation from Indigenous communities, Industry leaders, workforce and social development organizations, and education and training providers all working together to establish a viable pathway to future work for Indigenous youth that meets the needs of, and is relevant to, both Industry and Indigenous communities. Network partners will work to determine the critical elements to bridge gaps, remove barriers, and engage communities in workforce development, to enable successful labour force participation for Indigenous youth.

Start-end date: April 2021 - May 2023
Sponsor: Construction Foundation of BC

Youth Program Navigator Pilot

SRDC is conducting ethnographic studies on targeted youth facing barriers using a variety of qualitative research methods (observations, interviews, conversations) to learn how ESDC Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) funded programs may better connect to hardest-to-reach youth. While YESS is intended to help young people, particularly those facing barriers to employment, get the information and gain the skills, work experience, and abilities they need to make a successful transition into the labour market, this project is concerned with optimal outreach to youth who face additional barriers to accessing services. Policy makers recognize the need to identify potential touchpoints in youths’ daily lives for YESS outreach. The project draws on SRDC’s prior experience working with vulnerable youth and knowledge of the youth ecosystem and understanding of vulnerable communities. Deliverables include reporting on results of the ethnographic study and a collaborative workshop to apply study results and develop program delivery recommendations.

Start-end date: February 2021 - June 2021
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Evaluation of the Family Capacity Advocate program

The Family Capacity Advocate program delivered by the Britannia Woods Community House (BWCH) supports families who have a loved one from the ages of 12-25 that are involved in some capacity with the justice system and/or engaged in criminal activity. BWCH is a community-based agency that focuses on providing responsive supports for children, youth, and families who live in fixed and low-income communities, through an equitable and strength-based lens. The Family Capacity Advocate supports siblings, parents, and caregivers using a holistic, coordinated, and equitable approach. Services include counselling, mentorship, crisis intervention, and resource navigation support. SRDC is supporting BWCH in planning and conducting an implementation and outcome evaluation of this new program. SRDC is conducting qualitative key informant interviews, and developing data collection tools and an information management system. Evaluation-capacity building is an important focus of this work, as SRDC and BWCH work together to plan a sustainable approach to ongoing program evaluation efforts.

Start-end date: January 2021 - December 2021
Sponsor: Youturn Youth Support Services + Britannia Woods Community House

Embedding Evaluation into the SmartICE Technology Production and Employment Readiness Program at the Northern Production Centre

The Technology Production and Employment Readiness Program at the SmartICE Northern Production Centre (NPC) in Nain, Nunatsiavut, offers young Inuit (between the ages of 18-30 years old) a paid, six-week training and employment opportunity. Trainees learn to assemble and test the SmartBUOY, a stationary sea-ice thickness sensor intended for use across Labrador, Inuit Nunangat, and the circumpolar-arctic. In this project, SRDC is working closely with SmartICE to integrate evaluation into regular program activities at the NPC to minimize intrusiveness for staff and trainees and ensure sustainability over the long term. The goal is to consistently collect and track implementation and individual-level outcome data. SRDC will also work with SmartICE and its partners to identify and develop a plan to assess meso- or community-level outcomes of interest, including social, cultural, community, economic, and environmental outcomes. Community stakeholders will be engaged in this process to ensure that the selected outcomes are meaningful and that the evaluation approach is acceptable and appropriate for Nain.

Start-end date: January 2021 - September 2021
Sponsor: SmartICE + Social Enterprise Research

‘Hash It Out’: Community-based research on IRER youth cannabis and mental health

The purpose of this project is to explore the relationship between cannabis use and mental health and wellness from the perspectives of youth within immigrant, refugee, ethnocultural, and racialized (IRER) communities in Ottawa. SRDC is partnering with the Centre for Resilience and Social Development and Dr. Saida Abdi (University of Minnesota School of Social Work) to carry out this work. The project is based on a participatory, community-driven approach. A youth research coordinator is leading the research team, and IRER youth are engaged as co-researchers. The project is aligned with an experience-based co-design methodology, which includes conducting qualitative interviews and focus groups, and hosting community engagement events. Through this research, people with multiple perspectives – youth, family/supports, and service providers – are brought together to share their experiences and identify solutions for action and policy change.

Start-end date: January 2021 - March 2022
Sponsor: Centre for Resilience and Social Development

Environmental scan of research on digital literacy among youth in the area of substance use (cannabis)

Qualitative research has found that youth in search of cannabis related information online often find conflicting or confusing information. With youth increasingly using online resources as their main source of information, there is a need to ensure that youth are supported in developing their critical thinking and appraisal skills so that they can judge whether a resource is credible. SRDC is conducting an evidence review and summary of digital literacy research and resources related to substance use, particularly cannabis. The results of this review will support the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction in making recommendations for programs or resources targeted at youth that can improve their digital literacy when encountering online information about cannabis.

Start-end date: November 2020 - March 2021
Sponsor: Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction

Evaluation of the Girls' Fund

Since 2006, the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s Girls’ Fund has supported dynamic programs and networks for girls aged 9-13, investing in programming where girls can develop critical thinking, leadership, and relationship-building skills. In its most recent grant cycle, the Canadian Women’s Foundation selected 19 organizations to run multi-year funded projects, with a particular emphasis on programming for girls facing multiple barriers. These include girls programming, mentorship programs, and national or regional networks.

The Canadian Women’s Foundation is interested in leveraging strategic learning to support grantees’ projects, as well as maximize impact at individual, program, and sector levels. In partnership with the Foundation and grantees, SRDC is designing and implementing an evaluation strategy for the Girls’ Fund, grounded in an intersectional feminist, anti-oppression, and participatory approach. This will include developing and deploying youth surveys, conducting interviews with grantees, reviewing grantee program reports, authoring annual issues briefs, and supporting knowledge mobilization and capacity development.

Start-end date: October 2020 - August 2024
Sponsor: Canadian Women’s Foundation

Skills Compass

Young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) are at risk of becoming socially excluded, with low income and lacking the skills to improve their economic situation. Indigenous youth, and youth who are newcomers to Canada, may face additional barriers to becoming engaged in employment or education. Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) is leading a pilot project to address potential barriers faced by Indigenous and newcomer NEET youth through a pre-employment training program, wraparound supports, and employment placements. SRDC as the evaluation partner is responsible for developing the evaluation framework and data collection instruments, measuring outputs and outcomes, integrative data analysis, reporting findings, and participating in knowledge mobilization.

Start-end date: October 2020 - March 2023
Sponsor: Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan)

Supporting Vulnerable Children and Youth During COVID-19 Through Safe and Accessible Digital Programming

The Boys and Girls Club of Canada is committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for children and youth where they can experience new opportunities, overcome barriers, build positive relationships, and develop confidence and lifeskills. With the pandemic shifting programming online, Clubs are faced with the need to ensure that child and youth safety is prioritized, and any risks mitigated. Sixty Clubs across Canada have been funded to receive training and monitoring supports for virtual program delivery, to conduct outreach and ensure families have access to online programming. SRDC as the evaluation partner will be tracking the numbers of children/families accessing virtual programs, outcomes of the online contacts, and any challenges faced along the way. Findings from the evaluation of virtual programming at participating Clubs will support a national initiative led by BGCC and the Canadian Teachers’ Federation to curate resources and identify best practices in online safety for vulnerable youth.

Start-end date: September 2020 - March 2021
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

CreateAction: Inclusive Social Innovation

CreateAction: Inclusive Social Innovation — This project is evaluating the role that six-month work experience opportunities in the social innovation, social finance, and social enterprise sectors can play in supporting youth who are either not in employment, education, or training (NEET). The project is being led by the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet) in partnership with SRDC and the National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC). The project aims to recruit
100 Indigenous youth, new immigrants, young people living in poverty, those who identify as LGBTQ2S+, young people with disabilities, racialized youth, youth in rural/remote communities, and official language minority youth. SRDC is supporting the project design, coordinating tailored supports to participants, and leading the project’s evaluation activities. The evaluation is examining how the placement opportunities facilitate the transition of young people to secure employment in the labour market through the development of skills, workplace experience, professional networks, and tailored wraparound supports. It is also examining how hosting the youth placements will support the capacity and sustainability of innovative social purpose organizations across Canada to hire youth facing barriers from the communities they serve, connect to regional Social Innovation and Social Finance ecosystems, and leverage investments of the Investment Readiness Program and Social Finance Fund.

Start-end date: August 2020 - March 2023
Sponsor: Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet)

Soft Skills as a Workforce Development Strategy for Opportunity Youth — Scoping Report and Service Delivery Model

Shifts in the economy are changing the landscape of skills needed for employment success, and among employers, there is growing recognition of the need for soft skills in the workforce. With more than a quarter of a million young people in Canada facing multiple barriers to finding sustained employment, there is demand for innovative approaches that equip youth with the right skills for employment success. However, to date, there has been little systematic research on effective approaches for operationalizing soft skills development within employment settings, particularly for opportunity youth (i.e., youth who are not in school or employment).

The goal of the proposed project is to better define and contextualize employment-specific soft skills and to synthesize promising approaches used by leading employers and employment support programs serving opportunity youth in Canada. Based on a review of research literature and leading practice-based evidence, SRDC will develop a service delivery model that describes specific strategies, approaches, and recommendations for embedding soft skills development within existing employment and employment support programs. The model and accompanying resource guide will be validated by employers, employment support providers, and youth. Overall, findings from this project will help to emphasize and contextualize the need for soft skills and provide recommendations for ways to operationalize soft skills development for opportunity youth.

Start-end date: May 2020 - December 2021
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor

Employment Supports for Youth with Barriers to Employment

BC’s health research funding agency – the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research – has commissioned SRDC to conduct a targeted evidence synthesis on best practices for employment supports – pre-employment and ongoing – for youth aged 14 to 29 with mental health and/or substance use issues. This includes an environmental scan and literature review to document and collate what is known about best and promising practices in the field and the overall landscape of current activity in Canada and three international jurisdictions. Phase 2 will consist of a knowledge synthesis and articulating implications for policy and service delivery in BC. Through a cross-Ministry Working Group on Children and Youth with Special Needs, this work will inform policy development and service delivery planning to better support youth and their families in BC.

Start-end date: May 2020 - January 2021
Sponsor: Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research

Implementing a Virtual Recruitment and Assessment Centre for the Unionized Construction Industry

This project will develop a recruitment strategy integrating sectoral needs analysis, behavioural insights, and social marketing to reach underrepresented groups and increase their awareness, knowledge, and connection to the building trades. A social media based messaging strategy informed by how each of the targeted groups perceives benefits and barriers to entering the trades will connect prospective candidates to an innovative online assessment and matching platform which will help users determine their suitability, connect directly to a Building Trades union, and transition into the apprenticeship system with essential skills tutoring. Unions will help to inform the recruitment strategy and refine the assessment and matching process to ensure candidates have the skills and mentor/support networks to succeed. Phase II of the project will focus on optimization of user pathways and enhanced functionality and content of learning resources. As well, this phase will focus on customizing components to be more responsive to local conditions, recruitment challenges, and union-specific skills needs. Evidence on the effectiveness of these enhancements will be generated through a mixed methods approach, which will include both implementation research and an outcomes study to evaluate the success of the initiative.

Start-end date: April 2020 - September 2023
Sponsor: Future Skills Centre

Empowering Youth for Post-secondary Education Preparedness

This is a project intended to research and consolidate information about best practices to empower youth from lower-income families to be active participants in their own preparation for post-secondary education (PSE). SRDC is undertaking an international literature review of best practices for youth empowerment approaches and a Pan-Canadian environmental scan of existing community programs, services, and supports. As one product, SRDC is generating an inventory of current interventions for PSE preparedness for youth from low-income families, including interventions that address non-financial barriers to PSE.

Start-end date: January 2020 - July 2020
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Raise the Grade Phase 3

Since its launch in 2012, the Raise the Grade (RTG) program from Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada (BGCC) has provided youth ages 12-18 across Canada with academic support, career discovery, mentoring, and interest-based activities in dedicated RTG Tech Centres, all within the safe and supportive Boys and Girls Club environment. Now in 46 Clubs, RTG promotes academic engagement among young people, and aims to increase their rate of high school completion and participation in post-secondary education. With funding from RBC Future Launch and ESDC, BGCC has once again partnered with SRDC in a third project phase. This phase will see RTG expanded into five new communities and an even larger, highly trained community of RTG mentors. In addition to analysis of program implementation and youth outcomes, this utilization-focused evaluation builds on learnings from prior phases to develop and pilot enhancements to core program components through an innovative, Club-led Incubator model approach.

Start-end date: December 2019 - October 2021
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Evaluation Planning and Design: Assessing the Effectiveness of the Government of Canada's Outbound Mobility Pilot

Announced in Budget 2019 as part of the International Education Strategy, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) is piloting a program to encourage participation of underrepresented groups in outbound international student experiences. The pilot program aims to test and evaluate innovative approaches to reduce barriers to studying and working abroad. SRDC is providing advice and recommendations to ESDC in the form of a comprehensive evaluation framework and plan for rigorously evaluating the five-year pilot.

Start-end date: November 2019 - March 2020
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Follow-up survey of Willingness to Pay (Choices) study participants

This project extends SRDC’s previous study on Willingness to Borrow for post-secondary education (PSE) – a project funded by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario and the now-defunct Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. The original fieldwork used an innovative, laboratory experiment design to assess receptivity to various types of PSE financing among Canadian students in their final year of high school. The experiment took place during the 2008-09 academic year, and involved 1,248 students from 12 different schools in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Quebec. After completing the experiment, the vast majority of the original sample agreed to being contacted for a follow-up study. This project initiates the follow-up survey to track ten years of post-high school outcomes among the original participating students. The survey is to generate a unique longitudinal data set for use by CIRANO and SRDC researchers, linking activities in the final year of high school to PSE enrolment and persistence outcomes in the context of a uniquely rich set of experimental and survey data from the original study, which captured preferences for PSE, willingness to pay and borrow as well as the experimental assignment of grants and loans. SRDC’s analysis of the follow-up project dataset will explore the role of less-understood barriers (e.g., price sensitivity and loan aversion) on PSE access, completion and labour market outcomes, particularly amongst under-represented groups. It will permit baseline measures of preference, numeracy, tolerance for risk, and willingness to borrow to pay for PSE to be harnessed as predictors of later PSE and labour market outcomes, permitting policy makers to better understand who goes to PSE and why.

Start-end date: July 2019 - March 2022
Sponsor: CIRANO, Max Bell Foundation, and Employment and Social Development Canada

The State of Mentoring in Canada

SRDC is designing, implementing, and analyzing a large-scale research project around the state of mentoring in Canada. Work includes mapping the mentoring experiences of young people and capturing the landscape of mentoring programs/services in Canada. The study includes the first ever nationally-representative survey of young people’s perspectives on mentoring in Canada and a survey of adult mentors and potential mentors. It also takes stock of the prevalence, practices, and scope of youth mentoring programs across Canada with a comprehensive literature and landscape review shaped by conversations with a variety of representatives within the youth development field. Mentor Canada has published early reports, and more detailed investigations of the collected data will continue through the summer of 2021.

Start-end date: July 2019 - March 2023
Sponsor: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada

Enhancing outcomes for vulnerable youth: trauma, mental health, and employment and skills training

Youth who have experienced trauma may be more likely to face multiple and persistent barriers to employment. However, the potential for Trauma- and Violence-Informed (TVI) approaches to improve outcomes remains largely underexplored in the employment and skills training sector. SRDC has been engaged by the Public Health Agency of Canada to build the evidence base on the links between trauma, violence, and health, focusing particularly on the experiences of racialized youth. SRDC will use this conceptual framework to develop a TVI-informed model for employment service delivery, and will validate that model with employment service providers, participating youth, and government representatives. The project team will conduct a literature review, key informant interviews, and focus groups, while also leveraging insights gained from SRDC’s concurrent work in youth employment and skills development. Project results will inform the design and delivery of such programs and potentially, outcomes for youth as well.

Start-end date: May 2019 - July 2021
Sponsor: Public Health Agency of Canada

Evaluation of the Youth and the Environment Initiative

Lawson Foundation’s latest impact area was created in response to concern about young people’s increasingly restricted and inequitable access to nature, as well as recognition of the interconnections between youth development and healthy environments. The Foundation has selected ten projects from across Canada for funding, all of which will address a double ‘bottom line’: to strengthen youth leadership & civic engagement and to encourage connection to nature & environmental action.

Lawson Foundation is interested in understanding how best to support its Youth and the Environment grantees through grant-making, convening, and connecting, and how to maximize its impact in terms of youth engagement and leadership, exposure to nature, and environmental action. SRDC is helping to develop this understanding through a developmental evaluation of the experiences and outcomes of the youth cohort. We are also helping to build youth leaders’ capacity for evaluation and leadership through co-creation of an evaluation toolkit.

Start-end date: May 2019 - September 2022
Sponsor: Lawson Foundation

Strathcona County Youth Needs and Assets Assessment

Strathcona County, located in central Alberta, is commissioning a report on how the County is currently serving the needs of resident youth, ages 14 to 29, and that identifies potential gaps in these services. The research will include opportunities for engagement and inform recommendations or potential policy directions for Council’s consideration. Yardstick Assessment Strategies Inc. is leading the research on behalf of a team of consultants. SRDC is responsible for preparing statistical profiles of youth and young adults in the County, comparator communities, and Alberta more broadly; conducting an online scan on root contributors to youth issues/challenges and how small urban and rural communities can best serve the health, social, and community needs of resident youth; and contributing to the development of a directory of service provider organizations accessible to youth and young adults in the County.

Start-end date: March 2019 - December 2019
Sponsor: Yardstick Assessment Strategies Inc.

Preliminary assessment of the scale and extent of student hunger in BC's K-12 school population

SRDC is undertaking a project to define the scope of student hunger in K-12 BC public school students. This includes the degree of occurrence, frequency, seasonality, and the location of high risk areas. It is reviewing the literature, undertaking an environmental scan of funding options available to school districts to address hunger/food insecurity, and analyzing four existing datasets. The project aims include: to understand the dependencies and factors affecting student hunger in K-12 BC public schools; to identify areas for improvements; and to provide recommendations and identify options that are having a positive or negative impact in addressing food hunger.

Start-end date: January 2019 - March 2019
Sponsor: British Columbia Ministry of Education

Sector-led Evaluation of the Early Care and Learning Recruitment and Retention Strategy in British Columbia

The Province of B.C. is making a $136 million investment in an Early Care and Learning Recruitment and Retention Strategy (R&R Strategy) for B.C.’s Early Childhood Educator (ECE) sector. This sector-led evaluation is part of a larger 10-year plan to increase the quality and availability of childcare spaces in B.C. The evaluation project will help provide continuous feedback for strategies that are implemented. SRDC is helping to develop a framework that will assess the effectiveness of the R&R Strategy. Evaluation questions include: whether there is less turnover in the skilled Early Care and Learning workforce; whether the numbers of certified Early Childhood Educators are better able to meet demand; whether careers in Early Care and Learning become more popular; and whether public confidence in Early Care and Learning is increasing.

Generally, these outcomes are being measured as trends across the Early Care and Learning system in B.C. Evaluation methods include: cross-sectional surveys of providers of early childhood education and care in B.C., and their employees; creating and maintaining a unique database of the province’s providers to include licensed and unlicensed, registered and unregistered carers; public opinion surveys; media and social media analysis; key informant interviews; analysis of micro-data from the 2016 Census; and compilation and analysis of administrative data. SRDC is collecting, analyzing, and reporting on these measures to determine whether the R&R Strategy is on track to achieving its long-term goals and expected outcomes until 2022. A sector steering committee made up of individuals involved in B.C. childcare will guide the work. The project is being led by the Early Childhood Educators of BC, with funding and approvals of project deliverables through the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training.

Start-end date: December 2018 - July 2024
Sponsor: Early Childhood Educators of BC

Enhancing employment programming for vulnerable youth

In 2017, the Government of Canada committed to renewing its youth employment strategy, part of which involves a renewal of Skills Link with more focus on at-risk youth and additional investments to increase the planned participant intake. The Government has also committed to continue improving the way it serves the needs of youth including helping understand what’s working and to encourage good program practices. In coordination with ESDC’s Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES) and youth employment branch, SRDC developed a multi-staged four-year project to both explore improvements in employment programming for vulnerable youth and to pilot test a Pay-for-Performance model for incentivizing innovation and best practices among service providers.
The first phase in year one will involve a comprehensive review and re-analysis of employment programming as part of Skills Link along with a series of consultations with providers of youth programming to document strengths in existing delivery, best practices, and any gaps and opportunities for innovation. The second phase will involve the design and implementation of a demonstration project to test a Pay-for-Performance model to incentivize innovation and best practices. The demonstration phase will span three years and will involve up to 600 youth from across Canada.

Start-end date: November 2018 - October 2023
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Equity in Education Collective Impact Initiative

Together, Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Center, Pathways to Education Ottawa, and stakeholders from across the city of Ottawa, have established a collective impact initiative to address the inequity in educational outcomes for youth living in low-income in the city. The long-term vision of the Equity in Education Collective Impact Initiative (EiE) is to engage stakeholders from all sectors to come together to provide tangible interventions that draw on the learnings of the Pathways to Education ProgramTM and other successful evidence-based models to inform policy and systems changes. SRDC will work with EiE to conduct a case study examining how EiE’s collective impact structure can inform student, parent, and community-level outcomes related to educational experience and attainment along the pathway to post-secondary enrolment; as well as how EiE-led initiatives influence the collective impact structure at the community level. This project is being funded by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO).

Start-end date: June 2018 - April 2019
Sponsor: Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre

Field trials and evaluation of three WISE programs in Northern Simcoe County Ontario

SRDC is implementing a four-year research study in partnership with three work integration social enterprises (WISE) that are part of a co-operative network, known as the Karma Project. These social enterprises provide a range of services and green occupations in demand in the North Simcoe county region of Ontario. The study, spanning four years, will examine the effectiveness of WISE in improving the employability and social inclusion of youth in rural communities. At the same time, it will assess changes in the capacity of social enterprises and examine variations in outcomes by alternative models of work integration.

Start-end date: March 2018 - May 2022
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Equity in Education – Student/Parent Support Worker Evaluation

Pathways to Education is a well-known model of comprehensive supports for youth living in low-income communities, designed to enhance their engagement and persistence in high school and post-secondary education. SRDC will evaluate the impact of coordinated, wrap-around, holistic services amongst existing community organizations/stakeholders for youth and their families through three pilots based on the Student Parent Support Worker position of the Pathways to Education model. This evaluation will also explore how systemic barriers manifest differently depending on cultural background, immigration history, family composition, and homelessness risk. These pilots will be implemented in three priority neighbourhoods across Ottawa and will be coordinated through a Collective Impact initiative (Equity in Education). Equity in Education is being led by the Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre and Pathways to Education Ottawa in partnership with the Ottawa Local Immigrant Partnership (OLIP) and the Ottawa Child and Youth Initiative (OCYI). These community-led projects are being funded through Ontario's Local Poverty Reduction Fund, which is administered by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Start-end date: January 2018 - January 2021
Sponsor: Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre

Raise the Grade Phase 2

Following on Raising the Grade, the Boys and Girls Club has launched a second phase of this program which supports high school students through academic support and career discovery at 35 clubs across Canada. SRDC is conducting an evaluation of the revised Raise the Grade program, including analysis of outcomes and implementation. Case studies at selected sites will allow for a richer examination of the elements of the revised program and their effects on the students and clubs who participate.

Start-end date: December 2017 - October 2019
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Evaluation of RAJO: The Somali youth and family empowerment project

RAJO is the Somali word for hope, and the name of a culturally-responsive, multi-agency project aimed at reducing violence and increasing resilience in Somali-Canadian youth, families, and communities in Ottawa and Edmonton. Project staff will work with Somali youth and families using a tiered intervention model called Trauma Systems Therapy that has been adapted for refugee communities in the US by Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) – this is the first time TST-R will be delivered in Canada, and to youth aged 12-18. Funded by Public Safety Canada, this five-year project is being led by Canadian Friends of Somalia, in collaboration with the Somali-Canadian Culture Society of Edmonton, and BCH; SRDC has been engaged as the evaluation partner.

Start-end date: November 2017 - March 2022
Sponsor: Canadian Friends of Somalia

A review of the evaluation strategy and framework for the Royal Bank of Canada's Future Launch initiative

In November 2017, RBC will introduce Future Launch, a $500 million, ten-year commitment to the development of innovative programs and supports that will help prepare young people (aged 15-29) for the future of work. SRDC is providing support to the RBC evaluation team with the development of their evaluation framework, data collection strategy, and analytic approach for the Future Launch initiative.

Start-end date: September 2017 - October 2017
Sponsor: Royal Bank of Canada

Enhancing Volunteer Recruitment and Retention

The study explores the motivations and constraints facing volunteer firefighters to support the development of an enhanced set of recruitment and retention practices, particularly in rural communities. The project is a partnership with the Community Development and Homelessness Partnerships Directorate of Employment and Social Development Canada, funded by the Canadian Safety and Security Program. The project seeks to augment existing outreach strategies and messaging to create better alignment with volunteers’ motivations and constraints through multiple methods, including behavioural-based analyses. The feasibility of the new model will be tested through a small-scale pilot.

Start-end date: January 2017 - December 2018
Sponsor: Canadian Safety and Security Program

Kid Food Nation

Canadian children are entering adulthood without sufficient knowledge to make healthy food choices. Moreover, rates of childhood obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes are increasing. In collaboration with SRDC and other partners, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada is designing and delivering a food skills and healthy eating curriculum for children aged 7-12 in select Clubs. This food literacy program will be supplemented by a national media campaign, and recipe competition and gala event for children. SRDC is evaluating the design and delivery of the initiative, as well as the extent to which food literacy and other outcomes have been achieved.

Government news release

Start-end date: November 2016 - March 2021
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Life After High School Ontario – Phase III

The purpose of Life After High School is to improve the rates at which high school students transition to post-secondary education by reducing the non-financial and financial barriers students face. The program applies lessons from behavioural economics to provide all Grade 12 students at selected Ontario secondary schools with practical support applying for post-secondary education and financial aid. Students are guided through online tools and video in the process of selecting a post-secondary program of their choice, applying for a place in that program without incurring a fee, and applying for financial aid. As options are considered for the delivery of a streamlined Life After High School program in Ontario in future years, SRDC is running the program in 69 low-transition schools in 2016-17.

Start-end date: September 2016 - June 2017
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development

Development of a "How To" Guide for Integrated Mental Health and Substance Use Services for Youth and Young Adults

Only a small proportion of youth with mental health and substance use disorders actually receive treatment, in part because services designed for adults are neither accessible nor appropriate. This “How To” guide is intended to support the Provincial and Territorial Working Group and other policy makers in understanding how to create enabling environments for the development of integrated MHSU services for youth and young adults. To develop this guide, SRDC is collecting information via interviews and surveys on program exemplars in six different provinces, and work closely with the BC Ministry of Health MHSU Branch and members of the P/T WG members.

Start-end date: July 2016 - March 2017
Sponsor: British Columbia Ministry of Health

The Role of Employment Social Enterprises in Supporting Transitioning Youth

The BC Centre for Employment Excellence and its partner, the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria, are conducting a demonstration project to evaluate the role of Employment Social Enterprises (ESEs) in supporting the labour market transitions of youth facing barriers to developing their career potential. The project partners with local social entrepreneurs, employment service providers and employers to generate work placements in new or existing ESEs that focus on employing barriered youth, giving youth participants the opportunity to gain valuable work experience and skill development that is in line with local labour market opportunities. This project is designed to fill a gap in knowledge with regard to understanding the role that transitional placements in ESEs can play in improving employment outcomes for at-risk youth.

Start-end date: February 2016 - December 2017
Sponsor: British Columbia Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation

BGCC National Youth Outcomes Consultation

As part of a longstanding commitment to quality programming and continuous improvement, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada developed its Model for Success framework to describe the common features of Boys and Girls Clubs’ environments, the core programming they offer, and the desired positive outcomes for children and youth that drive these efforts. To further this work, SRDC was engaged to help BGCC develop a plan for evaluating program outcomes at a national level. This project includes background research, interviews, feasibility assessment, and development of options and recommendations.

Start-end date: December 2015 - April 2016
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Women Gaining Ground Research Study

SRDC was engaged by the United Way of Greater Toronto to inform the further development of their Career Navigator program to better meet the needs of young women facing multiple barriers to employment, by gaining a deeper understanding of the challenges and service/support needs of this group. The study includes a systematic literature and evidence review, and interviews and focus groups to identify and understand: the main barriers (environmental/external and personal) that young women facing multiple barriers are experiencing while transitioning into the labour market; evidence-informed and promising approaches for serving young women with multiple barriers; how the current Career Navigator program is addressing barriers and where there might be gaps; and how adjustments to program design/delivery can be implemented in a way that works for both jobseekers and employers.

Start-end date: September 2015 - January 2016
Sponsor: United Way of Greater Toronto

Measuring Resilience as an Education Outcome

SRDC is investigating the most appropriate means for Ontario postsecondary institutions to assess the impacts of their programs on student resilience. In addition to an extensive literature review, the study assesses how well one of the most promising existing measures of resilience (the Brief Resilience Scale) predicts student coping behaviours over a three-year period post-measurement. The project report includes the combined results and recommendations for next steps based on lessons learned from the literature and from implementing resilience measures in the field.

Start-end date: May 2015 - April 2016
Sponsor: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario

Demonstrating an enriched Kocihta eMentoring Program Model – A Design/Development Phase

The first phase of a project to tackle one of Canada’s major policy problems: too few Indigenous youth achieving successful transition into the labour market. SRDC is working with Kocihta - a national Indigenous charity founded in 2013 by the Aboriginal Human Resource Council - to develop and test an innovative program model. The model bridges career education to eMentoring with the intent to encourage Indigenous youths to identify and pursue their desired career paths, thereby enhancing their educational investments and improving their labour market outcomes. This phase of the project involves designing an enriched eMentoring program model and developing a comprehensive, detailed implementation and evaluation plan for Phase 2. The main ‘developmental’ activities include: continuing discussions with potential collaborators; developing the intervention/delivery model; finalizing the conceptual evaluation framework; developing the evaluation plan, feasibility and market research for low-cost delivery of eMentoring; and identifying potential funders for a subsequent demonstration project.

Start-end date: April 2015 - May 2016
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor

Healthy Transitions from High School — A mental health promotion and prevention initiative: Pilot Phase

This project pilot tests and refines curriculum resources designed to help students develop the social, emotional and learning skills needed to navigate the transition from high school. It builds on earlier phases of background research and program development, and includes two components: 1) evaluate the adoption, delivery, and potential effectiveness of the resources in a pilot test in a small group of Ontario high schools and 2) consultations with educators, youth, and mental health experts to fine-tune the resources and prepare for their potential delivery in a greater number of schools. As with earlier phases, this project is conducted in collaboration with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and the Ontario School Mental Health ASSIST team.

Start-end date: December 2014 - September 2017
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor + School Mental Health ASSIST

Evaluation of the Urban and Priority High Schools (UPHS) Initiative

The initiative was first implemented in the 2008-09 school year with 37 urban secondary schools across the 12 school boards receiving funding until 2013-2014. It aimed to enhance the well-being and academic success of students living in high-needs neighbourhoods by way of creating a safe and positive learning school environment. The secondary schools that participated in the UPHS worked with community partners to provide additional supports and opportunities to these students based on a needs assessment and existing services. This evaluation intends to increase our understanding of how additional supports and opportunities influenced at-risk youths’ academic success, to document effective practices in engaging students, parents, and the community, to provide recommendations in regards to the content of a program monitoring information system, and to draw recommendations for improving student outcomes at the system level.

Start-end date: February 2014 - March 2015
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Education

Understanding current employment programming and services for BC youth

This project funded five research papers that explored challenges faced by BC youth who are struggling in the labour market. The project involved a call for papers inviting researchers to submit proposals to explore youth employment barriers from a variety of angles, and to identify promising solutions for such issues as supporting youth who are entering the labour market or helping them find work that is a better match for their skills. The five selected papers covered such topics as: the barriers faced by vulnerable youth and youth living with mental illness; the value of work placements for refugee and immigrant youth; the role of employers; and the potential of social enterprises for supporting transitioning youth. The papers were presented at a June 2014 symposium in Vancouver involving approximately 80 stakeholders. The research teams also presented their findings during a series of webinars hosted by the Centre in fall 2014. The final papers have been published on the Centre’s Web site. This project was managed by the BC Centre for Employment Excellence, a division of SRDC.

Start-end date: October 2013 - August 2014
Sponsor: British Columbia Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation

PSE-related financial literacy among disadvantaged youth

This project aims to address information barriers to post-secondary education (PSE) access faced by disadvantaged youth – specifically, the lack of engaging online resources to learn about the benefits of PSE and how to afford it. Together with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada (BGCC), SRDC is conducting an evaluation project that tests the effectiveness of new, online financial literacy resources related to PSE and targeted to low-income youth. The resources are provided through Rogers Raising the Grade, a new after-school program offered at 35 Boys and Girls Clubs across Canada, and build on an existing collaboration between SRDC and BGCC. Funding for this project is provided by the TD Financial Literacy Grant Fund administered by Prosper Canada.

Start-end date: October 2013 - April 2015
Sponsor: Social and Enterprise Development Innovations (SEDI)

Design phase: Promoting mental health for youth through transitions

Building on an earlier phase of background research into student mental health issues, this project aims to design an intervention to support students through the transition from high school. SRDC met with potential collaborators, finalized the conceptual framework, developed an intervention/ delivery model and curriculum outline, developed an evaluation plan, and identified potential funders for a subsequent pilot test. SRDC also consulted with youth on design and delivery, and engaged experts as required to ensure the feasibility, scalability, innovation, and appeal of the intervention to high school students. The result is a detailed proposal to a funder to implement and test the program on a pilot basis, to learn what works to promote and protect student mental health.

Start-end date: September 2013 - June 2014
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor

Moving on Mental Health – Toronto Implementation Panel

Working with the Ministry and sector stakeholder groups to develop a report that outlines options and recommendations for system reform consistent with Moving on Mental Health, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services policy framework for child and youth mental Health (A Shared Responsibility).

Start-end date: April 2013 - October 2013
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services

Review of Employment and Training Programs

The purpose of this Program Review is to assist the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities in developing an evidence-based framework for the potential integration and ongoing evaluation of employment and training programs. To achieve this SRDC uses a comprehensive approach including: environmental scan, review of program documents, extensive discussions with MTCU staff, analysis of existing state of knowledge reviews that SRDC has conducted, key informant interviews with other ministries, value for money techniques, stakeholder consultations, policy analysis, and program design. Based on findings from the review of in-scope programs and consultations with key stakeholders as well as an analysis of the existing research on effective and/or promising approaches to employment and training services, SRDC develops high level recommendations for a potential future state of the Ontario employment and training system.

Start-end date: December 2012 - December 2013
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

Learning how to promote youth mental health through the transition from high school

With youth mental health rapidly emerging as a public policy priority, this project examines the needs of students as they make the transition from high school to post-secondary education or work. It aims to develop a plan for an intervention that will help improve students’ mental health literacy, so they are better equipped to recognize potential problems, develop effective coping strategies, and know how to use resources to promote and protect their mental health. The project involves a review of the relevant research literature, an environmental scan of existing programs, and interviews with key stakeholders, as background research to designing a potential intervention.

Start-end date: August 2012 - December 2012
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor

Raising the Grade Evaluation

This project provides evaluation support to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada (BGCC) as they develop and launch an innovative new after-school program in 25 clubs across Canada. SRDC is conducting a developmental evaluation to provide useful, timely feedback to BGCC as it fine-tunes program design and implementation, as well as an outcome evaluation to investigate potential benefits of the program for participants and clubs.

Start-end date: June 2012 - June 2017
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Multisite evaluation of the Francophone Youth Inclusion Program (YIP)

A multisite evaluation of a youth crime prevention program entitled Youth Inclusion Program (YIP). The Francophone YIP seeks to reduce the number of arrests, truancy, and school expulsions for a group of high-risk youths within the same community. To achieve its objectives, the program offers youths, by way of an individualized intervention plan, a combination of sports, education, training, and interventions on subjects such as health and drugs. The evaluation of the Francophone YIP is spread over five years and was conducted in Montreal (Quebec) and in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield (Quebec). SRDC conducted a process evaluation, an impact evaluation, a costs analysis and a relevancy evaluation.

Start-end date: November 2010 - December 2016
Sponsor: Public Safety Canada

BC Reclamation and Prospecting Teams Pilot Project

Preparation of a research design report for evaluating a culturally specific training curriculum delivered to First Nation youths in Northwestern BC using a mainly non-classroom-based teaching model.

Start-end date: February 2007 - April 2007
Sponsor: Northwest Community College

Expert advice and design options for at-risk youth and for frequent users of Employment Insurance

Start-end date: September 2001 - October 2001
Sponsor: Human Resources Development Canada

Transitions

A study to review promising school-based programs to increase student retention. The study involved reviews of the reasons students “drop out” of high school and field visits to 24 stay-in-school programs in 5 cities across BC. It recommended several promising intervention options and strategies for their evaluation.

Start-end date: January 1999 - July 1999
Sponsor: BC Ministry of Advanced Education, Training and Technology

BladeRunners and Picasso Café: A Case Study Evaluation of Two Work-based Training Programs for Disadvantaged Youth Case

The BladeRunners Partnership and the Picasso Café (Vancouver) both used work-based approaches to re-engage street youth. This case study evaluates the programs’ implementation and effectiveness.

Start-end date: August 1998 - March 2001
Sponsor: HRDC Evaluation and Data Development Branch, HRDC Youth Initiatives Directorate, National Literacy Secretariat, BC Ministry of Community Development, Cooperatives and Volunteers, and ARCO Foundation

Research Support to the HRDC Ministerial Task Force on Youth

Including the preparation of the report: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Employment-related Programs and Services for Youth (a summary of this report was subsequently published as the first study in the HRDC “lessons learned” series).

Start-end date: November 1996 - November 1996
Sponsor: Human Resources Development Canada

Evaluation Strategy for BC Benefits

Youth works and welfare-to-work components.

Start-end date: February 1996 - February 1996
Sponsor: BC Ministry of Skills, Training and Labour, Program Evaluation