Helping Youth Travel the Road to Success

Some say the longest journeys begin with a single step. But for many young people just setting out in life, finding the right direction to point their feet can be overwhelming. Most lack work experience and don’t have the right contacts to find their first jobs. Many others are recent arrivals to Canada, trying to become established in their new country.

Organizations like the Coalition of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA) are aware of the challenges young people can face as they try to carve out a niche for themselves. So, with support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), CASSA is finding ways to help youth get off on the right foot and stay true to course on the long path to success.

“CASSA wanted to find ways to help young people in marginalized communities develop leadership skills and feel empowered,” says Soni Dasmohapatra, CASSA’s community development and youth co-ordinator. She explains that, with help from OTF, CASSA was able to organize a series of workshops to show youth how to find jobs, explore important issues and give voice to their creative passions. The program is targeted, but not limited to, Toronto’s South Asian community.

By consulting with individuals and groups in the community, CASSA was able to identify key areas that would be interesting to young people and that would help them develop their skills. Once these were identified, CASSA created a program offering a variety of training workshops for youth, including: communications; media; arts and culture; education; research and writing; facilitation and workshop development; advocacy and volunteering.

At the same time, the program staff at CASSA canvassed the community, looking for companies that would be willing to partner with them and offer short-term, voluntary work experiences and internships. Temporary placements for young people were found at radio stations, private advertising companies and community organizations. They received practical, hands-on work experience in fields that interested them, doing work that excited them.

“Young people were able to volunteer to work with people they liked and who shared many of the same issues they faced,” says Dasmohaptra. “They also had a chance to really examine their goals, decide how to present themselves and make themselves marketable.” In return, CASSA asked the participants for a four-month volunteer commitment to the organization. The youth could then continue to develop skills and leadership abilities while helping others get started on paths of their own.

One of the most successful initiatives CASSA sponsored was a photojournalism project done in collaboration with Corrections Canada. Several CASSA protégés participated by creating posters to mark South Asian Heritage month in May, 2006. The project was so well received that the posters were displayed throughout the city and for a full week at Toronto city hall’s rotunda.

Accomplishments like these can spell huge gains in self-confidence and self-esteem – qualities that youth from disadvantaged communities often lack, and that can keep them from even trying to reach their potential. “They want to be leaders – confident and engaged in Canadian society in positive ways,” says Dasmohaptra. And they can be. The work that CASSA is doing is paving the road that can take them there.