Youth Ottawa

For over 20 years, Youth Ottawa has provided youth across Ottawa with resources, training and support to build the skills, confidence and strategies they need to succeed and help build a better community for themselves and their peers.

Their mission is that All youth have the creativity and potential to spark extraordinary change — to use their skills and take action in their communities. We believe in empowering youth by investing in them, giving them trust, opportunities, and resources so they can build skills that they can show the world. 

By tailoring programs that meet youth where they are at, Youth Ottawa gives youth opportunities to achieve their goals and, in turn, empower other youth.

The Opportunity

Youth Ottawa has been operating their Civic Engagement classes and workshops, free of charge, for many years in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB). 

This includes:

This said, in order to reduce their annual dependency on grants, they needed to somehow turn these products into a revenue generating social enterprise.

The Process

Youth Ottawa came to the SEP to find partners who could help them set the path forward.  They were partnered with the teams at Innovation by Design, CSED and KarmaDharma to help them with:

Impact

Youth Ottawa has set a clear vision and put into motion a way forward which has already resulted in: