The national organization encourages young Calgarians to live and work outside of Alberta

Katimavik National, in collaboration with the Calgary Youth Employment Centre, is looking for local employment partners to recruit young Calgarians to live and work outside of Alberta and to bring Canadian youth here.

According to the organizers, this is not only a good opportunity for Calgary youth to get to know other parts of Canada, but also for young Canadians to get a different perspective on Calgary and its people.

Katimavik's FuturePerfect program provides 18- to 30-year-olds with full-time paid work and housing in a designated Canadian city for three months, with the goal of providing them with life and work experience in a supportive environment.

The plan this summer is for the next cohort to travel to Quebec City to work in the tourism sector.

Program manager Daniel Kraus Katimavik started the program in 2022 because he realized that many young people do not have the opportunity to get a job and travel after graduating from high school and high school, especially during the pandemic.

“Some of them started university during the pandemic or graduated high school during the pandemic. They didn't get a chance to flex those wings or try something new because the world was closed to them, for lack of a better term. ” said Kraus, who lives in Calgary.

“This is a great opportunity to transition to independence and gain flexibility in the safety net of this federal program.”

Crowds at the Calgary Youth Employment Center's hiring fair. (City of Calgary Youth Employment Center)

The city's youth employment center is helping with the search and is holding an information session about the program later this month.

Tara Huxley, the city's community services, recreation and social programs coordinator, said the program is a natural fit for the work of the youth employment center.

“We want young people to have the opportunity to look beyond their own community. It builds critical thinking. It builds on the soft skills that employers are looking for,” Huxley said.

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Lost Young Albertans? Not this time

Encouraging young Albertans to leave the province, even temporarily, may not have been in the cards a few years ago.

The 2022 report and numbers before that showed young people leaving Alberta in droves, leaving many wondering what could be done to retain young talent.

But things have changed since then. For example, the Calgary Foundation's 2023 Quality of Life Report found that only 29 per cent of Calgarians aged 18-24 plan to leave the city. This is 40 percent lower in 2022 and 60 percent lower in 2021.

Kraus says there's no need to worry about young Calgarians leaving the city after participating in the program.

“Most of the youth in the program don't move to the host community,” he said.

“They go home a little taller, a little more independent, more confident in themselves and the path they want to take.”

Huxley says he's noticed that many young people who leave Calgary return home.

As shown by interprovincial migration patterns, more and more people are looking to Alberta as a destination.

“Also, every day we see young people from outside of Alberta who are post-secondary, or we hear from young people who want to come to Calgary to work for the summer,” Huxley said.

Bringing young Canadians to Calgary

That's why he's excited about the idea of ​​bringing FuturePerfect participants to Calgary.

Katimavik is looking for Calgary organizations and businesses to sign up to become employment partners to help bring Canadian youth to our city. Employers get wage subsidies through a federally funded program — and an extra set of hands to help.

“When we can have young people come and experience (Calgary's vibrancy) and leave with a different perspective on Calgary, it benefits us, our economy and the people who live here,” Huxley said.

Katimavik is asking Calgary organizations and companies to sign up to become employment partners so it can bring FuturePerfect to the city. Through a federally funded program, Katimavik subsidizes wages for employers. (Ose Irete/CBC)

Kraus, who runs the program from Calgary, agrees.

“I hope that when they come and they see how great Calgarians are, they go home with that knowledge and hopefully stop someone in their tracks when someone says something bad about Calgary or Alberta.”

Kraus says he hopes to expand the program to more cities across the country, in different industries. This plan depends on federal funding.

Katimavik plans to announce details about the summer program, including official dates, in March.