![](\"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Nathaniel.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn 2020, our Clubs used over 700 Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) grants\u2014and more than half of those placements took advantage of the temporary program changes made in response to COVID-19, including fall\/winter extensions and part-time positions.<\/p>\n
BGC Canada was pleased to see those changes continue in 2021 and looks forward to working with the federal government on the continued evolution of the Canada Summer Jobs program.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nathaniel has nothing but positive things to say about his Canada Summer Jobs experience at BGC Dawson in Montr\u00e9al, which led to being hired permanently at the Club. He started out working at their summer camp, organizing activities and supervising the kids in his care, and he emphasizes that the supportive environment and the incredible experience has been life-changing for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis job has really refined my leadership skills and taught me how to communicate better with the kids and with my team\u2014very different from the kinds of skills I learned in previous jobs.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Nathaniel lives with his grandparents, who are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, so being able to run virtual programs was very important.<\/p>\n Plus, he\u2019s able to work part-time hours while he\u2019s in school studying Community and Recreation Training.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter my first summer working at the Club, I developed a passion for community work and it inspired me to start studying Community and Recreation. It\u2019s great to have a job that pairs so nicely with what I\u2019m learning in school.\u201d<\/p>\n For Nathaniel, the Canada Summer Jobs program was crucial in helping him find a career path and develop as a professional in his field. Chad Polito, executive director of BGC Dawson, couldn\u2019t agree more.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m grateful that the government invests in youth and their first employment experience\u2014plus it\u2019s a great way to help nonprofits. It\u2019s just hugely beneficial all around.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Chad explains that BGC Dawson couldn\u2019t run their summer camp and other programs without the Canada Summer Jobs grants. They\u2019ve counted on the funding for years to keep program costs down and more accessible for families. This past year alone, the Club was able to offer employment to 17 youth through the program, representing over 5,000 hours of on-the-job time.<\/p>\n Most importantly, the flexibility of offering the grants later in the year was crucial. With COVID-19 restrictions, the Club wasn\u2019t offering full-time summer programs and they would have lost the Canada Summer Jobs funding. Instead, they were able to move the funding to the fall and provide more programs for Club members. This was particularly important this year since the nonprofit sector has been hit hard economically by the pandemic\u2014moving CSJ positions to the fall kept program costs lower and provided services that were needed in the community.<\/p>\n Both Nathaniel and Chad strongly recommend the Canada Summer Jobs program.<\/p>\n \u201cWe get youth that are studying in a lot of different areas\u2014social work, social science, early childhood education, teaching\u2014and I can see that on-the-ground experience makes a huge difference,\u201d says Chad.<\/p>\n Nathaniel agrees and takes it a step further. \u201cYou really bond with the kids\u2014you\u2019re spending so much time with them that you develop a strong attachment. When I was going home on the last day of summer camp, all the kids jumped on my backpack to prevent me from leaving!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt has really sparked a passion to continue working in this field and making a difference for young people.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 2020, our Clubs used over 700 Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) grants\u2014and more than half of those placements took advantage of the temporary program changes made in response to COVID-19, including fall\/winter extensions and part-time positions. BGC Canada was pleased to see those changes continue in 2021 and looks forward to working with the federal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[88,850,649,1014,1015,829,69],"class_list":["post-73385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bgc-news","tag-bgc-canada","tag-bgc-dawson","tag-canada-summer-jobs","tag-government-relations","tag-montreal","tag-quebec","tag-youth-employment"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73385\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}