Enthusiasm Meets Opportunity at Edmonton Youth Career Day

March 12, 2011

Finding answers to “What do I want to do with my life?” will be a bit easier for some youth in our city.

About 250 young people, primarily from Edmonton’s multicultural communities, explored how their budding talents and interests could be applied to the wealth of education and career opportunities in Edmonton.

Joined by about 75 parents, an enthusiastic crowd of tomorrow’s leaders attended Youth Career Day to meet with education, job consultants and social agencies to learn from exhibitors and information sessions about volunteering, scholarships and career planning.

“Youth Career Day equips our young people with the tools and information they need to set and achieve their education and career goals,” said Mayor Stephen Mandel. “By planning now, they’ll have the opportunity for a bright future.”

City of Edmonton employees participated in the second annual event to encourage youth to consider careers with the City. The City strives to build a workforce that broadly reflects the diversity of Edmonton’s people and their communities.

“Today is about learning – young people learning about themselves and the educational and career choices open to them,” explained Ahmed Abdullahi, a Family and Youth Counsellor at Queen Elizabeth High School with the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers. “Connecting multicultural youth and their parents with resources and organizations who can help them find answers and overcome barriers is what this event is all about.”

Edmonton is one of the few municipalities in Canada with a Diversity and Inclusion Framework and an Immigration and Settlement Policy.

This year’s Youth Career Day was an initiative of multicultural organizations, immigrant and settlement associations, youth-serving agencies, Edmonton Public Schools and the City of Edmonton.
 

For more information:

Ahmed Abdullahi

Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers
Queen Elizabeth High School

Title	Family and Youth Counsellor
Telephone	780-476-8671, Ext. 125

Ewar Jalal

Community Services
City of Edmonton

Title	Multicultural Liaison Officer
Telephone	780-442-6854