Afton Aikens
Jan 24, 2010

Young people and employers in Halifax may soon have access to a new tool that will make it easier to connect with one another.

The Greater Halifax Partnership, an economic growth organization, presented its strategy to link youth to employers on Friday at the Nova Scotia Community College Waterfront Campus.

The initiative, called the Y2E Framework, was created to provide the two groups with the information they need in order to build and maintain business relationships with one another.

These connections will be made through an online database. But Y2E is more than that, says project manager Cynthia Giles.

"Y2E makes the right connections, between the right information and the right people, at the right time," Giles said.

The goal is to capitalize on employment services and programs that are already in place in Halifax, not to replace them.

Paul Kent, CEO of the Greater Halifax Partnership, says as youth leave Halifax and as the workforce ages, the city will face a "massive challenge to find talent."

"We [want to] retain this capacity that [youth] represent...not only retain it, [but] put it in the position where it can flourish and grow and contribute to the kind of society that we all want."

Y2E will focus on "priority youth" - those between the ages of 15 and 30 who face obstacles such as lack of access to information, a criminal record, no high school diploma or recent immigration status.

One NSCC student who has been involved with Y2E since research for the project began in October 2008 says it has great potential to help Halifax's labour market.

Amy Stockhall is a "priority youth." She's a 25-year-old single mother who was in an abusive relationship and had legal trouble in the past.

Stockhall is currently enrolled in NSCC's Academic and Career Connections program. Her education is funded by the Nova Scotia Skills Development Program.

"[Since Y2E], I don't really feel so much at risk anymore. But I go back to [those] days and I think, look where I've gotten now," Stockhall said. "[It helps] young people [who] live in negative environments...and they're actually going to be given an opportunity to succeed."

Stockhall plans to continue her education at NSCC to become a licensed practical nurse.

"I love it there. I can't wait to come back," she said.

Krista Hall, the project's communications co-ordinator, says Y2E is the result of a business need in Halifax.

"NSCC has been sitting on our business reference group, kind of from two perspectives, as a business...but also as an educational [institution]," Hall said. "I think universities will definitely get behind [Y2E] and see it as an avenue where they can really reach students."

The idea behind Y2E is to have youth and employers register online where they'll be screened, assessed, matched to job opportunities and then connected to one another. Once established, the relationship will be monitored to ensure success.

The research stage of Y2E was funded by Service Canada. There is currently no funding in place to launch the full project.

"We're still working on the numbers," Hall said. "[Initial] funding...will probably come from government, but [for] ongoing sustainability...we really want to engage the business community."

"But full operation, we think can happen in a year," she added.

Diane Wooden, a human resources consultant for the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation, says the NSLC is interested in Y2E because "traditional recruitment methods" don't always attract enough applicants.

"We also...have a huge corporate responsibility [and] social responsibility to the communities of Nova Scotia and certainly felt that we had the resources to participate and contribute," she added.

Hall says Y2E is a "new idea for Halifax."

"It's not being done anywhere in Canada to this extent where you can actually take a person who doesn't even know what they're interested in and match them to a local job," Hall said.