About YES

YES believes that employment is empowerment and the cornerstone of safe and healthy communities. YES leads the Canadian youth sector with innovative programs that empower disadvantaged and vulnerable youth to become self-sufficient contributing members of society.

What We Do

In 1968, The Rotary Club of Toronto founded the first youth employment centre in Canada, Youth Employment Services YES. From that time, it has been our mission to transform the lives of young men and women…and not just for the moment, but transformed forever.

At YES, we provide young people with professional counselling and training to help them realize their potential and get back on track. Our training techniques have been so beneficial to our clients that we are used as a teaching model for other employment services across Canada. We are regularly asked by all levels of government to host international delegations from around the world to share our extensive knowledge of effective practices addressing youth unemployment.

YES was the first to both recognize and address that being out of work is often the result of factors beyond the control of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged youth. Low self-esteem, a mental or physical disability or simply being in need of bus fare to get to a job interview can all have a tremendous effect on youth employment.

At YES our mentorship approach gets to the root of these issues and offers a range of solutions customized to meet the needs of each individual. We continuously develop and deliver programs for thousands of youth each year in several of Toronto’s high-risk neighbourhoods. Since our inception in 1968, YES has helped over 100,000 people.

We proudly boasts an 81 per cent success rate helping youth find work or return to school.

In 1998, we opened Canada’s first Youth Business Centre - this coincided with our 30th Anniversary. The Youth Business Centre helps young entrepreneurs to start a business or self-employment.

2008 marked 40 years of operations for Youth Employment Services YES. Over our 40 years as service providers we’ve pioneered new, innovative programs that stay in touch with the problems and challenges that youth face daily.

YES has also opened up its Teaching Centre to students in Universities and Colleges across Canada. By providing this opportunity to Universities and Colleges, students have the opportunity to do their practicum in Canada’s first youth employment counselling centre.

Awards & Recognition:

- Proud Recipient of the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities’ Awards

  • Minister’s Award for Service Delivery Innovation
  • Minister’s Gold Award for Service Delivery Excellence
  • Minister’s  Silver Award for Service Delivery Excellence

- The National Service Award from The Rotary Club of Toronto - Power of Rotary Awards

- Mayor’s Community Safety Award - City of Toronto

Youth Employment Services President, Nancy Schaefer published Good Job! A Young Person’s Guide to Finding, Landing, and Loving a Job and Good WORK! Get a GREAT JOB or be your OWN BOSS: a young person’s guide.

It’s the best job-search book for youth in Canada. Over 10,000 copies have sold to date & it is used in the 800 high schools in Ontario.