YES! they are 25 years old

Mayor Vic Fedeli, Yes Chair Sandro Orlando, MPP Monique Smith help Gisele Cousineau, Executive Director of YES! Employment cut the 25th anniversary cake.

Yes! Employment marked a milestone in community service Thursday as they celebrated their 25th anniversary.

Gisele Cousineau, Executive Director of YES! Employment says she is astonished by the centre’s growth and longevity.

“I think in our first year of operation we served 680 clients now like I said, we are serving over close to 5000 clients a year. So that’s a lot of people to be helping in our community find work, obtain training so we think it’s wonderful.”

“When we started it was with employment, we’ve also expanded out to the justice program such as community service orders. I find it’s an incredible growth over last 25 years, we’re very proud,” she says.

Cousineau says the primary factor for the success of the program is the success of their clients and the fact that they truly help people find success in life.

“We have moments that we truly cherish. We have clients who were told they would never find work. Some clients who are mentally challenged were told ‘you’ll never be able to find work,’ but we found them work and they are so proud to be working,” she explains.

She says staff members encounter young people with different problems and issues that can impede their success when looking for work such as an unstable home, addictions, and/or disabilities. However, Cousineau says thankfully not everyone faces such extremes; some just need support as they transition positions in live.

“We have clients who we’ve helped switch their careers because they weren’t happy in what they were doing before, and we helped them maybe look at what their interest and aptitudes were and put them off in the right direction and they’re very grateful.”

“Clients who had problems with maybe drugs and alcohol, and maybe we pointed them in the right direction or counselling and then helped them get work.”

“They’ve told us you changed our life around, so yes that does happen and that’s probably what keeps the staff going is when they get someone like that.”

Cousineau says after 25 years there is a demand for their service and she sees Yes! Employment continuing well into the future.

The agency plans to celebrate the milestone all year.