Youth Worker

Why Not City Missions is Christian nonprofit organization with multiple services. Since 2002, Why Not City Missions has served the community of Brantford, Ontario by providing support to homeless and at-risk youth ages 13-25. Our mission is to “Empower Youth through Relationship,” and our vision is that Brantford’s youth would have the support they need to thrive in their potential and purpose.

We seek to eliminate barriers to success and foster the social development, personal growth and empowerment of the youth we serve by providing safe and inclusive environments.

Why Not City Missions has been on a consistent growth track for several years:

• 2019:
  Expanded youth centre hours to 7 days per week up from 4
• 2021:
  Opened Charlie’s Place – a supportive housing program for young men
• 2021:
  Launched “Encounter” – an optional youth-friendly church program
• 2022:
  Opened Supportive Housing for Young Parents (SHYP) for young moms
• 2024:
  Opened second-stage SHYP housing for moms living independently
• 2026:
  Expansion of Charlie’s Place, creating more housing for young men

We use team mentorship and a responsive, trauma-informed approach to youth services. The youth who utilize our services have a few things in common: almost all live in poverty, most only have contact with one or fewer of their parents, and even fewer have a safe, consistent place to live. Some of the other challenges that plague our teen community members are bullying, substance dependency, mental illness, unplanned pregnancies, criminal activity, abuse, poverty, lost identification, and dropping out of school

We are currently interviewing for the following openings:

Position: Youth Worker
Scope: 20 hours
Location: Why Not Youth Centre Brantford

We have a skilled team of professionals looking for a team player to join them, and we’re hoping that’s you! We’re looking for someone that can effortlessly transition onto an existing team, who has a heart for service and a love for youth. This will be your chance to use your skills to help support both the youth that we serve, and the dedicated people we work with.

If you build positive relationships easily with everyone you meet, we want to hear from you.

Reporting to the Youth Centre Coordinator, we are looking for someone who will be passionate about our culture and mission, servant leadership, and building relationships with our youth. The perfect candidate will be a friendly,organized, good communicator, who works well within a team. They will have completed post-secondary education in a field related to social work (BSW, SSW, CYW, CYC, Addictions and Mental Health, etc.),

or have experience in similar fields. Please find our cultural document here that outlines our vision for our program:

This role offers 20 hours weekly, between the hours of 5pm-9pm. We are open seven nights per week and one weekend shift will be required.

• Empowering youth through relationship:
  • Develop relationships with each individual youth, calling them by name, learning topics that interest them specifically for the sake of mentorship and engagement.
  • Help youth identify new coping strategies, and how to become a healthy adult with effective strategies for well-being as well as noticing opportunities to empower and teach youth.
  • Identify gaps in youth’s lives, problem-solve crisis situations, identify next steps, navigate organizations and bureaucracy to bridge youth to services.
• Crisis management and intervention:
  • Differentiate between crisis and general challenges, quickly pick up on which youth need immediate interventions.
  • Recognize crisis situations and respond to them in a timely, safe fashion, including safety planning, calling other emergency services (including the police, FCS, ambulances, etc.) and help to end the crisis as quickly as possible.
  • Take responsibility for safety in the youth centre, including removing youth from the premises where necessary, guarding the property to ensure only screened volunteers, approved guests, and age-appropriate youth are present; initiating lock-down procedures during crisis situations.
  • Actively support crisis prevention strategies…