This feature story is part of the City of Ottawa Service Reviews: an initiative aimed at ensuring our services are meeting your needs. Visit ottawa.ca/YourIdeas today.
Imagine an Ottawa where immigrants and Black youth are given equal opportunities to thrive in a competitive workforce. One where a variety of talent and diversity contribute to our thriving economy.
During a warm, late August evening, 120 youth gathered with their families in the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne to celebrate the end of an eight-week journey that could change their lives forever.
To learn how we arrived at this point, you have to go back a few years.
Since its inception in 2020, the Neighbourhood Ambassador Program, a collaboration between the City, Ottawa Public Health, and the BGCO focused on educating youth about COVID-19 safety, uncovered valuable insights from conversations they had with young people in priority areas. Among them was a strong desire for more financial literacy programs among Black youth, and that’s where Frempon Bafi-Yeboa, Section Manager for the City’s Integrated Neighbourhood Services Team, stepped in.
Frempon regularly works in priority neighborhoods, ensuring they have equitable access to City services and programs. He’s successfully helped launch various programs to uplift the community over the past five years, and this new program was the latest example of this.
He noticed the request for financial literacy programming kept coming up and worked with his team to do something about it. “We had a duty to respond, and I think now it was how do we respond effectively," he explained “and typically to be effective, you need to engage a number of partners".
Once he secured funding through the Anti-Racism Strategy to support black-led initiatives, he reached out to Toni Jacob, executive director at the African, Caribbean and Black Wellness Resource Centre, for help. It was the right match to deliver a financial literacy program for Black youth. They then brought on the Vanier Community Service Centre to ensure there was support for the francophone community. All they needed now was a teacher.
Nigel Antoine, a software engineer turned financial advisor, was eager to fill that role. He chose to give up part of his summer knowing how important this could be for the community. “It's what I want to do, to help and give back.” he explained.
Fast forward to that late August evening, and 120 students are receiving their certificates at a City hosted graduation ceremony. Nigel could not help but smile “It was a proud moment because it’s actually something that made a difference”.
Toni was equally happy and impressed with the students “I was on cloud nine, it was such a beautiful experience, it was so heartfelt. Everybody really just came together.” she said.
Your city, your ideas!
The Financial Literacy Program is just one example of how the City is collaborating with its partners to provide innovative programs and services to residents. By empowering Black youth to feel confident and educated in their personal financial management, budgeting, and investing, we are setting the foundation for a competitive and diversified workforce for future generations of Ottawa residents.
Do you have ideas related to this or other City services that could contribute to a more diversified economy? Share your ideas at engage.ottawa.ca/ProsperousEconomy.
For more information on City programs and services, visit ottawa.ca, call 3-1-1 (TTY: 613-580-2401) or 613-580-2400 to contact the City using Canada Video Relay Service. You can also connect with us through Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.