Serve! Engaging Youth For Change

Serve! began in 1993 as Serve Canada. The organization was founded in 1993 by three Canadians who had been studying in Boston. There, they had experienced a program called City Year, which engaged young people ages 17 to 24 from diverse, economic, racial, and geographical backgrounds in full-time service to their communities. Impressed by that program’s belief in the power of young people to effect positive, lasting social change, they brought the program to Toronto and used the model within the inner-city community of Regent Park.

Serve Canada initially provided what is now a six-month experiential learning program, called Experience This! which focused on building confidence, self-esteem, teamwork and life-skills in youth aged 17-24 who are out of school and out of work by supporting teams of young people in a variety of community-based activities. These activities address issues such as homelessness and poverty relief, education, the environment and community development. This program continues to be the core of Serve!’s programming.

In 2001, Serve Up The Summer and Step Up, were developed to meet the needs of younger youth living in the Regent Park community. Serve Up The Summer engages youth aged 13-16 over six weeks in July and August and Step Up is an after-school and March break component for the same age group. The success and transferability of the summer program led to it being implemented in downtown Hamilton starting in 2002. In 2006, Serve! also rolled out Serve Up The Summer to other high-need areas in Toronto including Malvern.

Over the years, Serve! has also offered a variety of projects for youth that are based on issues of vital interest to youth and the community. These include:

Hope Through Hoops
The Women’s Literacy Project
Stronger Selves, Stronger Lives (about healthy relationships and domestic violence)
Expanding Minds to End Violence (about hate motivated crimes)

In 2006, Serve Canada changed its name to Serve!. While the name has changed, the organization’s commitment to young people remains the same: to engage diverse youth in their communities in order to help them achieve goals and contribute positively to society. That is what matters most.