“Youth are not just our future ; they are our here and now.”Max Keeping

Sadly Max passed away on October 1st, 2015 but his legacy lives on

Vision

An Ottawa where all youth drive remarkable positive change. (For themselves & others)

Mission

To engage, encourage and empower youth to spark change (for themselves) and take action in our community (for others).  

By tailoring programs that meet youth where they are at, Youth Ottawa gives youth opportunities to achieve their goals and, in turn, empower other youth.

Purpose

We all need an opportunity. That’s where all amazing things begin! 

Our Results

For over 26 years, Youth Ottawa has provided youth across Ottawa with resources, training and support to build the skills, confidence and strategies they need to succeed and help build a better community for themselves and their peers.

Our Civic Programming produces hundreds of youth-led social and environment projects, while our Artistic and Mentorship Programming is breaking ground in creating opportunities and finding performance stages for emerging young artists to access in schools and communities, and our Social Enterprises are helping to close the youth unemployment gap.

Today our programs reach over 8,000 youth per year, giving them ongoing, project-based and mentor-supported learning activities, helping remarkable youth empower other remarkable youth.

Mission

All youth have the creativity and potential to spark extraordinary change — to use their skills and take action in their communities. We believe in empowering youth by investing in them, giving them trust, opportunities, and resources so they can build skills that they can show the world.

By tailoring programs that meet youth where they are at, Youth Ottawa gives youth opportunities to achieve their goals and, in turn, empower other youth.

Our Results

For over 20 years, Youth Ottawa has provided youth across Ottawa with resources, training and support to build the skills, confidence and strategies they need to succeed and help build a better community for themselves and their peers.

Our Civic Programming produces hundreds of youth-led social and environment projects, while our Artistic and Mentorship Programming is breaking ground in creating opportunities and finding performance stages for emerging young artists to access in schools and communities, and our Social Enterprises are helping to close the youth unemployment gap.

Today our programs reach over 8,000 youth per year, giving them ongoing, project-based and mentor-supported learning activities, helping remarkable youth empower other remarkable youth.

Our programs & impact

Download our full program book for a deep dive into our programs! Interested in bringing any of these programs to your classroom/community? We can make that work! Visit our contact page and send over an email and we’d be happy to discuss!

Our Staff

Jesse Card

Executive Director (He/Him)
jesse.card@youthottawa

Bryanna Kearney

Post Production Supervisor (She/Her)
[email protected]

Louisa Marino

Communications Manager (She/Her)
[email protected]

Alyssa O'Grady

Special Events Coordinator (She/Her)
[email protected]

Wendley Pierre

Lead Photographer & Facilitator (He/Him)
[email protected]

Vanna Noun

Community Outreach & Classroom Facilitator (He/Him)
[email protected]

Ben Bergeron

YAM Coordinator (He/Him)
[email protected]

Jemila Jreivine

ACI Classroom Facilitator (She/Her)
[email protected]

Justin Scriver

Facilitator & Editor (They/Them)
[email protected]

Spencer Johnston

SEP Classroom Facilitator (He/Him)
[email protected]

Colin Ziraldo

Lead Cinematographer/ Facilitator (He/Him)
[email protected]

Adam Halawa

Community Developer(He/Him)
[email protected]

Jesse Card

Executive Director (He/Him)
[email protected]

Louisa Marino

Communications Coordinator(She/Her)
[email protected]

Alyssa O'Grady

Special Events Coordinator -Operations Manager(She/Her)
[email protected]

Jemila Jreivine

ACI Classroom Facilitator (She/Her)
[email protected]

Ben Bergeron

YAM Coordinator (He/Him)
[email protected]

Spencer Johnston

SEP Classroom Facilitator & Content Creator(He/Him)
[email protected]

Wendley Pierre

Lead Photographer & Facilitator (He/Him)
[email protected]

Colin Ziraldo

Lead Cinematographer & Facilitator (He/Him)
[email protected]

Bryanna Kearney

Post-Production Supervisor(She/Her)
[email protected]

Justin Scriver

Facilitator & Editor (They/Them)
[email protected]

Vanna Noun

Community Developer & Facilitator (He/Him)
[email protected]

Adam Halawa

Community Developer(He/Him)
[email protected]

Our Board

Ben O'Neil

Co-Chair (He/Him)
ben.oneil@youthottawa

Linda Newman

Director (She/Her)
[email protected]

Molly Ensom

Director (She/Her)
[email protected]

Christian Robillard

Director (He/Him)
[email protected]

Fahd Alhattab

Director (He/Him)
[email protected]

Rashid Timbilla

Board Member (He/Him)
[email protected]

Alia Farhat

Director (She/Her)
[email protected]

Linda Newman

Director (she/her)
[email protected]

Fares Elsabbagh

Director (he/him)

Christian Robillard

Director (he/him)
[email protected]

Severin Cesar Ndema-Moussa Jr.

Director (he/him)
[email protected]

Rashid Timbilla

Board Member (He/Him)

Alia Farhat

Director (She/Her)
[email protected]

Ben O'Neil

Co-Chair (he/him)
ben.oneil@youthottawa

Molly Ensom

Director (she/her)
[email protected]

Fahd Alhattab

Director (he/him)
[email protected]