All-A-Board Youth Ventures

Over the last 12 years, hundreds of at-risk Toronto youth have left behind unemployment and poverty using skills learned at All-A-Board Youth Ventures, a private charity that creates small businesses to employ young people in an on-the-job training experience.

All-A-Board has an amazing success rate—the vast majority of its participants find full-time employment, go on to another youth program, or often back to school. “Approximately 85 percent turn their lives around,” says the program’s executive director, Tom Freeman. “Kids’ attitudes change very quickly. Issues like housing and debts suddenly get cleared up. They’re working. They’ve got money in their pockets. You can’t underestimate the difference that makes.”

Youths between the ages of 17 and 24 who face employment barriers like criminal records or a history of addiction or abuse are eligible for the program. Unlike many transitional employment programs, young people accepted at All-A-Board must sign a one-year contract to work at River, a restaurant owned and operated by the charity in Toronto’s west end. Once accepted, participants can be trained either as servers or kitchen staff. In addition, they must complete a Life Skills Program that arms them with practical tools for apartment hunting, handling bank accounts and searching for work.

Since its launch in 1997, the program has continued to grow, creating more success stories each year. Some graduates have gone on to work in high-profile Toronto restaurants like Lobby, Brassaii Bistro Lounge and 360 The Restaurant in the CN Tower. Others have gone to college or university to train in social work, technology and law enforcement. Success breeding success 
all around.

—Leah Macpherson