Street Youth Job Action
This is a story I wrote for Vancity in 2010. Part of a series of 18 stories about their grantees.
Vancity supports Street Youth Job Action, a social enterprise that provides work skills training and life skills support to homeless youth, by providing two years of funding and coaching support through our Social Enterprise Fund.
At 31 years old, Ange Myers exudes the energy of a teenager and the compassion of a dear old auntie—with facial piercings and dreadlocks.
Ange is the go-to youth worker with Street Youth Job Action (SYJA), a social enterprise initiative of Directions Youth Services Centre, that provides jobs to young people who are living on the streets.
By investing in social enterprises, Vancity believes that not-for-profits can operate successful businesses that will train and hire individuals who need skill development and support. Street Youth Job Action makes a difference in the lives of homeless and at-risk youth by giving them a chance to work. It is a hand-up not a hand-out.
Watching the SYJA crew picking up needles, washing graffiti off garbage bins or cleaning the streets around St. Paul’s Hospital, one might not see the great accomplishments each employee had to achieve to become employed by SYJA.