FutureReady
The talent is already here. The opportunity isn't.
Youth unemployment is climbing, and it falls hardest on the young people we serve. For Black, racialized, and newcomer youth, the road to a first job is steeper and longer, lined with barriers they did not create. The ambition is there. The fair shot often is not.
But the same data points to the way through. Skills and education change the odds: a young person with a post-secondary credential is far less likely to be out of work than one without one. That is the whole idea behind FutureReady. We help young people build the skills to earn and the pathway to higher education, so they reach adulthood prepared rather than left behind. Learning and skill-building are not separate from employment. They are how a young person gets there.
You can invest in the future of youth by donating to FYI’s FutureReady Fund.
Every young person deserves a future they can build with confidence. In Toronto's York South-Weston and Oakwood-Vaughan, we make sure they can.
Two Paths, One Future
Making Post-Secondary Possible
THE PATH TO AND THROUGH HIGHER EDUCATION
We help young people picture higher education, apply for it, afford it, and stay supported once they arrive. Academic support and tutoring that close the gaps. Scholarships and bursaries that put post-secondary within reach. Mentorship from people who have walked the same road. First campus visits that turn maybe into me.
Groundwork
SKILLS FOR ECONOMIC STABILITY
Long before a first paycheque comes the skill to earn one, and learning to write a resume is not enough anymore. Groundwork builds what it truly takes to reach economic stability: financial literacy and money confidence, work-ready skills, and the entrepreneurial know-how to build something of one's own. We connect young people to employer and community partners and to real experience through placements, so they do not just prepare for the world of work, they get a foot in the door. Independence is not only about getting hired. It is about having options.
One helps youth learn. The other helps them earn.
Together, they make a young person FutureReady.
A young person cannot reach for a future they are struggling to survive.
Mental Health & Wellbeing
CARE THAT MAKES EVERYTHING ELSE POSSIBLE
No one studies for an exam or pitches a business idea while carrying anxiety, grief, or trauma alone. Many of the young people we serve are shouldering pressures no one their age should carry by themselves. We meet them with steady, judgment-free support. In small groups and safe-space sessions, youth come together to move, to breathe, and to learn real tools for managing stress and hard emotions. For those who need more, one-to-one counselling is there. When a young person feels seen and supported, they can finally turn toward their future. Wellbeing is not the reward at the end of the work. It is what makes the work possible.
Food Security
NO ONE LEARNS ON AN EMPTY STOMACH
Hunger is quiet, and it is everywhere. In a city where food has become a daily worry for so many households, too many young people arrive not having eaten enough to focus, let alone thrive. So we feed them. A warm meal, a full stomach, and the dignity of not having to ask. And we go further: youth learn to cook, to shop on a budget, and to put nourishing meals on their own tables at home. A young person who is fed can concentrate, take part, and stay, and one who can feed themselves carries that skill for life. Food security is not separate from opportunity. It is the first rung on the ladder.
Learning and skill-building only take root when a young person's most basic needs are met. That is why mental health and food security run underneath both pillars. They are not add-ons. They are the ground the whole thing stands on.
Youth Engaged
731+
Workshops Supported
154+
1:1 Sessions
1343+
Figures reflect our 2024–25 fiscal year. Updated numbers arrive with our next annual report.
We are rooted in two vibrant neighbourhoods, communities full of talent and pride that also carry real stress, and that the City of Toronto has identified as Neighbourhood Improvement Areas. Much of our team grew up here and came up through our own programs, and the young people who once received support come back to give it. That is how a community builds its own future.
Support our FutureReady Fund
Your gift helps a young person learn, earn, and thrive. Invest in education. Invest in skills. Invest in the wellbeing and nourishment that make both possible.
JOIN THE FutureReady ALLIANCE
Steady support for a young person who is counting on it.
The Future Ready Alliance is our community of monthly donors, the people who keep this work standing all year long. A gift each month, at whatever level fits your life, means a young person can count on us, and so can the next one who walks through our doors. Monthly giving is the quiet backbone of everything above.