Who We Are:
A Journey of Empowerment and Hope
At Youth Now on Track Services (YNOT), we are the beating heart of community support, providing unwavering dedication to the youth and families within our community. Originating from a powerful vision to fill the void in grassroots services for low-income families and new immigrants, YNOT stands as a shining beacon of empowerment.
Initially launched in 2006 within the African Christian Network, we started with the laser-focused aim of tackling the complex issues that confront youth involved in legal conflicts. In 2009, we took a significant leap and became an independent charitable organization, cementing our promise to be the pacesetters of social justice in our community.
Our Impact:
Nurturing the Pillars of Our Community
For over 17 years, we've been tireless advocates and community support pillars in Toronto. A community’s strength lies in its youth, and we've committed ourselves to fortify that strength. From dealing with financial difficulties and single-parent challenges to combating street violence and navigating immigration issues, we are your partners in overcoming adversity.
Our Approach:
A Holistic Model for Change
Prevention is at the core of our strategy. We believe that by taking a proactive and collaborative stance, we can alleviate the burdens of daily stress, counteract negative peer pressures, overcome educational obstacles, and mend the frays in our social fabric.
Our holistic approach addresses the diverse issues our youth encounter – from making moral choices in an often-complex world to thriving despite biases injustice, and compromised mental well-being.
Join Our Movement:
Be a Catalyst for Change
YNOT is more than just an organization; we're a movement fighting for a brighter, more equitable future. By working together, we can face challenges, demolish barriers, and carve out opportunities. Our upcoming job training workshops represent yet another exciting initiative underlining our commitment as one of the premier for youth empowerment.
Stand with us on this empowering journey and witness the extraordinary change that blossoms when passion aligns with purpose. Together, we are sculpting a future where dreams soar, potentials are met, and communities flourish.
We do this by providing programs and services such as after school programs and home-work support, mental health workshops, restorative justice and mentorship programs.
| 2006: |
The Youth Now On Track Program was Launched for the Restorative Justice of the 15 youth. |
| 2011: |
The partnership with the Toronto Fire Service lead to the beginning of the Family Day. The event brings together lots and lots of toys, jolly kids and their hard working parents. It is the time of celebration, spreading of the warm wishes in the cold December; it is in honour and appreciation for the love families. |
| 2012: |
Toronto Police Department started sponsoring the Annual Dinner to encourage the preventive programs of YNOT and as reminder to the community that the justice will always prevail. The youth of YNOT are presented with awards for their leadership and contribution to the society. |
| 2012: |
The staff of the Catholic School Board contributes more than $60K worth of resources annually by volunteering and providing the school building for the YNOT programs. The support has helped us increase our services in the community and broaden our programs. |
| 2013: |
From here the BBQ Fundraising initiated and it is as fun as it sounds! The Brick has been hosting and donating the food ingredients for the BBQ where the community gets together, enjoys the food and raises fund for the community programs at YNOT. |
| 2014: |
The Christmas Drive 120 people |
| 2015: |
Summer Camp started with the 50 Campers and increased to 83 Campers by 2019. |
| 2016: |
Empower Children For A Greater Tomorrow was introduced. |
| 2017: |
We could better support the youth in our community as ECGT expanded into new programs. We were able to expand and offer additional services thanks to funding. |
| 2018: |
As a result of the need in the community, Counselling on school behavior and parental support was introduced. |
| 2019: |
We established a monthly workshop to support and aid the community's youths in functioning to the fullest extent after the introduction of mental health support. |
| 2020: |
New Immigrant School System Navigation Support began to provide essential support to new immigrants to help them understand the system. |
| 2021: |
We got supported by Tropicana for capacity building which helped us build capacity by hiring more staff and training board members and volunteers. Towards the end of 2021, we got a financial boost from the Ontario Government for the ECGT due to the potential it had an impact made thus far. This helped broaden the age range of participants, which we now serve ages 5-25. This financial assistance also enabled us to get a more convenient office space, which gave us room to hire more staff. The After-School Program also expanding to serve more kids, youth, immigrants, and low-income families. |
| 2022: |
Due to the success and impacts of the programs introduced, Tropicana gave more funding to get cyber security training, social media development skills, and website rebranding. |
| 2023: |
We introduced the Youth Skill Development Program, we began with Piano lessons and hope to expand to more skills like baking, guitar, coding, STEM Etc. |
|
