Message from the Executive Director

Welcome to Serve!, and our unique approach to working with diverse and at-risk youth in Toronto. Since our inception in 1993, thousands of youth and community partners have been positively impacted by the Serve! experience.

Serve!’s strength is found in our 4 unique and distinctive pillars for youth involvement: personal development, team development, community service and for our older youth financial assistance – all on the platform of experiential and reflective learning.

Our program components are life-changing for many of our youth because they have never participated in anything like it before in their lives. Using anti-oppression and cultural competence learning, targeted education and awareness, social responsibility and problem-solving, one-to-one support, youth-for-youth public education resources and team initiatives, and a bursary program supporting educational and career goals, Serve! transforms lives.

As an organization, Serve! is dedicated to continuously assessing ways to improve, and participates regularly in internal and external review and benchmarking. The 2009 Donner Canadian Foundation Awards survey resulted in a composite score of 8.1 for Serve! (average 7.3, high performer 9). The TTC Group’s 2009 Core Capacity Assessment resulted in an overall score of 233 (where 230+ is considered strong). In addition, Serve! is well on its way to developing a Balanced Scorecard to provide a regular report on our areas of strength and areas for improvement (target Spring 2010). Our focus on continuous improvement assists us in our aim to provide the highest quality programming possible.

With a passionate and dedicated staff, and unparalleled community support through our donors, community partners and volunteers, we are guided by our vision: To see all youth have an opportunity to change their lives through engagement in their own communities.

Please join us in bringing more Serve! to more youth!

Alison Caird

Executive Director