The government of Canada has given Parkland College $10,000 to help Yorkton youth find jobs.
Yorkton-Melville MP Garry Breitkreuz announced the new funding last week on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, minister of human resources and skills development.
"Our government's top priorities are creating jobs, economic growth and long-term prosperity," Breitkreuz said. "The Government of Canada's Youth Employment Strategy is helping youth develop the skills and gain the experience they need to get jobs now and prepare the workforce of tomorrow."
The money, which came from the Youth Awareness program went toward operational expenses for the Career Explorations 2012 fair going on at Gallagher Centre today.
Dr. Fay Myers, president of Parkland College, co-host of the fair with Good Spirit School Division (GSSD), said it is very important that local students have the opportunity to visit a large-scale career fair like this in their own region rather than having to travel to Regina or Saskatoon.
"The youth of east-central Saskatchewan deserve to have access to a wide range of options when it comes to deciding their futures," Myers said. "This valuable contribution from the Government of Canada ensures that we will be able to bring those options directly to the young people of our region."
The fair is open until 6:30 p.m. this evening. Admission is free and open to all members of the public. GSSD is bussing more than 2,000 students to the event to make sure all their secondary-age kids have the opportunity to attend.
The Youth Awareness program provides financial assistance to programs designed to expand knowledge of career and educational opportunities. It is part of the government's Economic Action Plan (EAP).
Other youth-oriented programs of the EAP are Skills Link, Career Focus and Canada Summer jobs.
Information on these and other youth employment initiatives sponsored by the federal government can be found at youth.gc.ca.
