Our Outreach Centre provides support to disadvantaged young people by connecting them to the resources and assistance they need to overcome barriers and challenges. With assistance from staff and volunteers, they have the opportunity to take the first steps in important life changes.
To access help, call the outreach phone number, at (902) 317-5919 or simply drop by, Mon-Fri, 830-430
CCYO serves young people aged 16-30 throughout the North Side of Cape Breton County, using an established methodology which provides both group-based and individual personal development for at-risk youth. We are here to support youth as they refocus their lives, regain control over their education, and become self-sufficient.
Impact Programs
Our vision is a community that cares deeply about all young people and young families – a community where you have many reasons to feel worthy of a good life, to remain hopeful, and to “pay it forward.” After 20+ years of front-line work, Community CARES remains rooted in this vision, and committed to the mission.
Our work falls into a body of practice known as ‘community youth development.’ We understand that the challenges facing young people are intertwined with those facing the community in which you live. Change happens best when youth and community development are seen as two sides of the same coin and young people are afforded the tools, training and trust to apply their creativity and energy to affect meaningful change in their own lives and in their communities.
This approach views all young people as competent individuals who are entitled to be recognized and heard. Every young person should experience success in everyday life. As a community, we need to think about young people as potential drivers of systems-level change. They are essential to a collective process of creating positive development pathways for all of us: individuals, families, organizations, and neighbourhoods.
With this in mind, the key themes of CCYO’s skill-building and outreach work have been:
CCYO has an informal approach, providing supportive opportunities for personal-development, in practice assisting in the work of the departments of Community Services, Health, Education and Justice, for a population that isn’t able, for various reasons, to access these services from those departments themselves;
CCYO is doing far more than just pre-employment and working with a population for whom positive results can be far less straightforward than simply securing full-time employment at the end of a program. Results can be long-term, and very difficult to quantify, but the benefits are deep-seated and result in tangible improvements in the lives of the majority of CCYO participants
Everything CCYO does is based on Youth Leadership, which means youth caring enough and taking responsibility to make things go right for their life, their family, their group, and the community;
“I have had some rough times, and I truly believe that enthusiasm is the purest form of gratitude.”
– Kyle Patterson, Outreach Worker, Connector, & Navigator
Current Programs
Past Programs
CCYO has delivered a range of skill-building programs through the past decades, via programs funded by various federal and provincial departments. Primary among these programs have been Youth Works, and Higher Ground Youth Employability, with funding from HRSDC (Service Canada) and the Provincial departments of Community Services and Education, as well as asset mapping projects, program research and development and youth literacy programs, and a number of workshops, surveys and conferences. CCYO also delivered Frontier College’s long-standing literacy and GED preparation program, Beat the Street.
Participants in all of our programs take responsibility to set goals; they collaborate with caring adults to serve their community; and they advocate for action and change around poverty, addiction, and appropriate, affordable housing.
Community Impact
How have youth on the Northside been impacted by the work of Community Cares Youth Outreach?
Some of our past participants agreed to be interviewed about their experience with us. Overwhelmingly, you gave credit to us for your education, careers, and social success. Some of you even described CCYO as having saved your lives.
This kind of feedback is precious to us, and we are sharing it now to help even more of you envision the future you might find for yourself.
Finding your way
Education & Employment
You know – we know you know – how difficult it can be to obtain employment when your education is incomplete or interrupted. We’re here to get you the rest of the way.
Almost all of our past participants claim that they received their GED because of us. About half of those interviewed had a college or university education that they said would not be possible without our support and guidance.
Wherever you are in your educational journey – wherever you got lost – we can find the thread and pull you back onto your path.
Personal Investment
Youth Ownership
It’s a foundation of our system that we believe in you and your capabilities. It’s important for you to feel control and ownership over your life. That’s why we don’t just teach you – we involve you.
Many of the graduates of CCYO programs mention the importance of having additional responsibilities while enrolled in the program. The challenges and trust of being given these responsibilities can empower you to push further and achieve more.
Other interviewees mentioned that despite a learning disability, an addiction or a criminal record, CCYO welcomed them, encouraged them, and expected them to take on responsibilities, even though their lived experience had told them they’d never be given that kind of trust.
But in our experience, trust given becomes trust returned.
We trust you.
Found family
Belonging & Acceptance
We want you to feel as though you belong. We will accept you for who you are now – regardless of who you used to be, or even who you wish you could be in the future. It’s quite telling of the challenges in our community that so many of our graduates mention how life changing this feeling was.
You already know that you can’t focus on learning if you aren’t convinced you are safe. But once you feel accepted – once you aren’t being judged – you can begin to relax your instincts and turn your focus to building new skills.
The top soft skills our participants said they gained were confidence and the ability to connect with friends and leaders in a meaningful way. And as it turns out, the feeling of belonging can be difficult to put into words. One participant could only tear up at the thought of the cohesiveness of the group and the friendships built up over time, while another interviewee said “truthfully, it’s hard to explain, because we all kind of stuck together.”
You might come in alone, but you won’t leave lonely.
Gratitude
Giving Back
Our favourite part of providing this programming is how, once you’ve found yourself and your place in the world, you tend to pay it forward into the community.
Often, we see participants donating time or resources right here at CCYO, getting their families involved, volunteering, dropping in randomly to offer help, or even just spreading the word via social media.
We are humbled, but not surprised, that our youth is this public-spirited and altruistic. The extent to which you have given back is simply proof to us that you had it in you all along.
