"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
Our Vision
An Ottawa where all youth drive remarkable positive change for themselves & others.
Our 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.
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.
Our Staff
Jesse Card
Executive Director (He/Him)
Adam Halawa
Community Developer & OYC Coordinator (He/Him)
Shawn Batten
Communications Director (He/Him)
Molly Buccini
Graphic Designer (She/Her)
Our Board
Ben O'Neil
Chairman of the Board (He/Him)
Molly Ensom
Director, Secretary (She/Her)
Fares Elsabbagh
Director (He/Him)
Rashid Timbilla
Director (He/Him)
Holly Ralph
Director (She/Her)
Cesar Ndema-Moussa
Director (He/Him)
Brandon Chatreau
Director (He/Him)
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!
