LifeCycles' Youth Food and Agriculture Work Experience Program

Have you heard about LifeCycles' new Youth Food and Agriculture Work Experience Program?

You are probably more familiar with our /Entrepreneurship Program/ that we have run for the past 8yrs. We have seen successful businesses graduates such as Wildfire Bakery with 12 employees that started from a brick oven on a driveway, organic farmer (Eric Fine) who started by borrowing land and was able to develop a business (with partners) which generated enough revenue for them to purchase their own farm, or Robin Tunnicliffe from Sannich Organics and many, many more through our programming.

What is it LifeCycles' new Youth Food and Agriculture Work Experience Program?

Our project recruits, interviews and selects 10 youth annually who show interest in gaining skills, employment and/or development of a small scale food and agriculture based business. The 10 youth will receive 6 weeks of skills development (March-April) covering the following topics: Food Security Basics, Life & Employability Skills (First Aid Certification and Basic Computers Certification), Food Service Industry: Food Safe Certification, Serving-it-Right Certification, and Squirrel Certification, Food & Agriculture: Basic Farming Practices and Basic Small Scale Food Processing. Youth receive a stipend of a value of $8/hr for a 30hr week period.

During which the youth participants will meet with potential local food businesses and farms to assess whether there is a match for a full-time 20 week Food/Agriculture Work Experience Placement. Youth receive a wage of $8/hr for a 30hr week period.

What is a Food/Agriculture Work Experience Placement?

Each youth participant will be placed, as an employee, with a food based business or farm for a full-time 20 week term. The youth participant will gain a broad range of hands-on skills from the placement to provide job experience for them to gain long term employment or to develop a small scale food and agriculture based business.

Who can apply?

Contact LifeCycles for more information
Connect with your Youth Employment Counselor to ensure this
Youth between the ages of 15-30 years
Who are not working or in school full-time
Legally eligible to work in Canadian
Not on Employment Insurance

How does a potential Food or Farm business participate in the Youth Food and Agriculture Work Experience Program?

Businesses can participate by being one of the10 selected businesses that are either producing (produce and livestock), distributing (commercial and home-based delivery), processing (milling, fermentation, preserving, catering, packaged foods, and dairy products) or in retail (restaurants, wineries, and food stores). Your business would essentially agree to have a trained full-time youth participant working as an employee with your business for 5 months (April -September) to build their food/agriculture employability skills.

LifeCycles will work with the businesses and the youth to establish the right fit and to complete the placement agreement. LifeCycles subsidies the business for the wage paid to the youth for $4/hr of a 30hr work week for 20 weeks. LifeCycles' Coordinator will provide businesses with direct support of the participant through bi-weekly or monthly visits. The Coordinator will assist businesses with all aspects of the placement agreement and payroll documentation.

Why would a Food or Farm business want to be involved in LifeCycles' Youth Food and Agriculture Work Experience Program?

LifeCycles works to continue to offer young people skill building in the local food and agriculture sector to be apart of the new labor force entering our local food sector. Business mentorship makes this possible!