Federal government announces 850k in funding for Career Focus program

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: AGATA LESNIK (FROM FANSHAWE'S CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS)
The Career Focus program assists Fanshawe graduates in finding paid employment opportunities with local companies. MP for London West, Kate Young, helped make the announcement for this new funding project.

On March 16, MP for London West, Kate Young, announced that the federal government is funding $850,000 towards the Career Focus program. The program assists in connecting Fanshawe graduates to paid employment opportunities with local companies. According to a March 16 government news release, the funding, which will be dispersed over two years, will help 50 youth from across southwestern Ontario in receiving a paid employment opportunity in the health management, administration and computers systems design fields.

“Young people looking for work are struggling to get a foot in the door. This project will connect local youth with employers to gain valuable hands-on work experience — and it is going to have a long-lasting impact on their path towards career success,” Young said in the news release.

According to the quick fact section of the news release, the Career Focus program is part of the government's Youth Employment Strategy (YES). Over $330 million is invested into YES annually to help youth gain valuable work experience and build on their repertoire of skills in order to find good employment. Growth for YES appears favourable, with the recent 2018 budget proposing an additional $448.5 million to be invested into YES over the next five years starting in 2018/2019.

Following Young's announcement, Emily Gaan, the HR and finance co-ordinator at Digital Echidna, spoke to the crowd regarding the company's involvement with the Career Focus Program. Gaan explained that the program has brought a lot of benefits to the fast-growing London-based company. “The Career Focus funding has assisted us in hiring new grads. Last year, we hired four new grads as full-time permeant employees. They are able to explore positions that they may not have known existed before and are able to use their skills from school and bring it into a real-world opportunity. It also helps us because we are able to train them and kind of retain them long-term and hopefully they will stay in London for the remainder of their career. But it is definitely a good start to get people involved in the London tech industry,” Gaan said.

Melissa Lajoie, the technical project co-ordinator and web developer for Digital Echidna, explained the benefits her internship at Digital Echidna provided her. “It is always scary when you are in school and you are wondering what is going to happen afterwards. Having the opportunity to work while you are also doing school and having the opportunity to be hired on right away was such a relief. It's amazing that these programs exist to get more people, especially women, into the technology industry.”

The announcement took place at 10 a.m. on the second floor of the T Building and snack and refreshments were provided at the event.

“As a federal Member of Parliament, I am so pleased to come to Fanshawe to make this announcement. $850,000 for Fanshawe students is so needed and I'm so pleased we where able to make this announcement,” Young said.