2016 Stepping up annual report

Stepping Up in 2016: Executive summary

In the past year, Stepping Up informed the design and delivery of government initiatives for youth across all seven themes identified in the framework. These initiatives created opportunities that promote well-being; support families, friends and caregivers; recognize diversity; and help youth get the education and employment opportunities they need to reach their full potential.

What the numbers say

Ontario launched, expanded or enhanced 82 strategies, programs or initiatives for youth since the release of the 2015 Stepping Up Annual Report .

The Premier’s Council on Youth Opportunities met six times to voice the experiences of vulnerable youth and share its insights on government programs and policies. The council hosted Listening Tours in ten communities across the province to learn about issues important to youth.

Twenty-five provincial ministries collaborated to support youth and capture progress in the 2016 Stepping Up Annual Report .

The Stepping Up website had more than 5,350 unique visits in the last year, and the 2015 Stepping Up Annual Report , Executive Summary and Inventory of Youth Programs 2015 were downloaded 2,500 times by community organizations, youth workers, parents and other allies.

Supporting youth well-being

Ontario supported programs and services across all seven themes of youth well-being this year. Highlights include:

Health & wellness

• The Healthy Kids Community Challenge reaches almost 40% of Ontario’s population including municipalities, Aboriginal Health Access Centres and Aboriginal Community Health Centres.
• The Ontario First Nations Health Action Plan was launched and includes Indigenous youth life promotion, crisis coordination and support components.
• The Mental Health Innovation Fund supported 34 projects to help postsecondary students get access to mental health services faster.

Strong, supportive friends & families

• Free dental care for eligible children and youth aged 17 and under was provided through the new Healthy Smiles Ontario program, as part of the Poverty Reduction Strategy.
• Student income from scholarships, bursaries and fellowships became exempt from a household’s rent-geared-to-income calculation as part of the Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy.
• The One Vision, One Voice practice framework was launched. It supports culturally appropriate services for African Canadian/Black children, youth and families involved with the child welfare system.

Education, training & apprenticeships

• The Specialist High Skills Major program was expanded to serve an additional 2,000 high school students. The program gives students the chance to focus on a career path while meeting the requirements of their high school diploma.
• A Renewed Math Strategy was introduced to help support students across the province achieve better results in mathematics.
• eCampusOntario, an online portal, was launched in fall 2015. It currently offers information on over 15,700 courses and 760 programs, most of which are delivered online.

Employment & entrepreneurship

• The Youth Job Link program and the summer component of the Youth Job Connection program were both launched as part of the renewed Youth Jobs Strategy.
• To strengthen rural communities and encourage youth opportunities, the province held a Rural Ontario Summit on the theme “Building the Future.”
• An interim report was published on the changing nature of the workplace ( Changing Workplaces Review Special Advisors’ Interim Report ). It includes a range of options to better protect youth and other vulnerable workers while supporting business.

Diversity, social inclusion & safety

• Through the Ontario Indigenous Children and Youth Strategy, Indigenous communities and the government continued to build stronger bonds and improve services to meet the needs of Indigenous children and youth.
• Ontario continued to collaborate with the federal government, community partners and others to support settlement and integration of newcomers to Ontario. Efforts included taking action to welcome thousands of Syrian children, youth and families.

Civic engagement & youth leadership

• The Election Statute Law Amendment Act, 2016 includes amendments to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to add their names to a provisional voter register.
• Youth volunteers at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games were recognized with PREB-Ontario certificates, a legacy initiative of the Toronto 2015 Games.
• The Premier’s Council on Youth Opportunities provided input on the development of the Strategy for a Safer Ontario.

Coordinated & youth-friendly communities

• The Youth Mentorship program and Restorative Justice and Conflict Mediation program were launched to support the Enhanced Youth Action Plan.
• The Sport Pathway Initiative supported the 2016 Ontario Aboriginal Summer Games that were co-hosted by the Aboriginal Sport and Wellness Council of Ontario and the Six Nations of the Grand River.

2016 profile of youth wellbeing

Data was updated for 34 indicators and 14 outcomes.

• ▲ 16 indicators showed small changes in the desired direction.
• ▲ 17 indicators showed small changes against the desired direction.
• 1 indicator showed no change.

Message from the Minister of Children and Youth Services

Welcome to the 2016 Stepping Up Annual Report.

Our government is working to ensure that all children and youth in this province are best positioned for success in life.

We have achieved a great deal for our province’s youth. Last year, Ontario’s high school graduation rate reached an all-time high of 85.5%, and that number has continued to rise; the percentage of youth employed full-time in work related to their field increased to 89.1%; and the youth violent crime rate dropped steadily—down by 13% since 2013.

Our government has created a more responsive system to help young people thrive. We have improved access to child and youth mental health services. We worked to better support young people living in and transitioning out of the care of children’s aid societies, Indigenous child wellbeing societies, and other residential care settings. We also announced an unprecedented investment to enhance autism services to better meet the needs of children and families in our autism community.

Ensuring youth in Ontario have the opportunities they need means addressing the barriers they face, and the barriers faced by their parents, caregivers and communities. We made a commitment to address systemic racism and discrimination, and to be inclusive of gender diversity. We also welcomed and helped to resettle refugees from Syria and other parts of the world into our communities. This year, our government continued its commitment to work in partnership with First Nations people, Métis, and Inuit on recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. We will continue to work together with Indigenous communities and leaders as we implement the Ontario Indigenous Children and Youth Strategy, upholding our government’s commitment to reconciliation.

This report also highlights what we plan to do in 2017. Changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program will ensure students can go to school based on their ability to learn, not their ability to pay, by making tuition free for more than 150,000 eligible low- and middle-income students. A new, innovative employment program for people with disabilities will include a youth focus. The new Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 replaces and improves the previous law, raises the age of protection, and ensures our children and youth are at the centre of decision making. With the Ontario 2017 budget, Ontario became the first province in Canada to make prescription medication free for all children and youth 24-years-old and under. These are just a few of the significant goals we are accomplishing this year.

We have made great strides, and will continue to raise the bar for all of our province’s children and youth. As we move forward, our efforts will continue to be guided by the voices of young people, their families, and those who work to support our youth. Moving forward together we will build a future where our province’s unique and diverse children, youth, and families can grow and reach their full potential.

Michael Coteau
Minister of Children and Youth Services

Message from the Premier’s Council on Youth Opportunities

As the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Premier’s Council on Youth Opportunities, we welcome this opportunity to tell you about the council and highlight our accomplishments over the year.

Members of the Premier’s Council on Youth Opportunities provide advice on how to improve the delivery and design of government programs and services for youth, report on specific challenges and share ideas on how to best support youth.

During fall 2015 and winter 2016, the council conducted Listening Tours and met with youth across the province to learn more about the issues that matter to them. We heard from over 400 youth from both urban and rural areas across the province. Although youth were from diverse areas, they raised five common themes: the need for safe and dedicated space, better access to transportation, a voice in decision making, more opportunities for employment, and stronger outreach on supports for youth.

This year, the council also met with provincial ministries to advise on and amplify the voices of marginalized youth. We spoke about the importance of designated youth employment opportunities on large infrastructure projects, the need for affordable youth and student fares, and raised concerns about transit accessibility for people with disabilities with the Ministry of Transportation. We raised important issues about youth homelessness with the Ministry of Housing. We pushed for wider consideration of youth facing barriers to employment in the Ministry of Labour’s work to address the gender wage gap. We actively participated in “Building the Future,” the Rural Ontario Summit that was hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. We also gave critical input to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services on its Strategy for a Safer Ontario as well as youth justice and other policing issues.

Seventeen new members joined the council in May 2016, and another change in membership will take place in spring 2017. If you are a youth interested in learning more about the council or getting involved, visit www.ontario.ca/applyforpcyo. If you are a service provider or an adult ally, help spread the word about the council to youth in your community. Applications to the council are open year-round. We hope you, or someone you know, will consider applying and help council members identify and provide advice on issues and solutions important to you and others in your community.

Nataleah Hunter-Young, Chair
Premier’s Council on Youth Opportunities

Tina Yuan, Vice-Chair
Premier’s Council on Youth Opportunities

Ontario’s profile of youth wellbeing

The 2016 Profile of Youth Wellbeing includes 20 outcomes and 57 indicators selected to create a picture of how young people are doing in Ontario. The indicators in the profile include publicly reported population-level data and administrative data from government programs. Ontario-based data is used wherever available. Indicators reflect many different data sources and should not be directly compared with one another.

The profile helps tell the story of the government’s priorities for young people as it tracks progress in improving outcomes for youth. It is part of the ongoing commitment to better understand the needs and experiences of youth in our communities. Ontario is using the profile to inform policy and program design for youth that is grounded in evidence.

Incremental changes

The 2016 Profile of Youth Wellbeing demonstrates continued incremental changes in outcomes for youth.

Thirty-four indicators in the 2016 profile were updated with new data from existing sources. Of these, 16 indicators showed small changes in the desired direction, 17 showed small changes against the desired direction, and one indicator did not change.

The profile is now in its fourth year, and trends are becoming increasingly clear for several indicators. For example:

• The high school graduation rate has climbed steadily from 82% in 2010–11 to 85.5% in 2014–15.
• The total youth violent crime rate has continued to drop from 1,507 per 100,000 youth in 2011 to 1,031 per 100,000 youth in 2015.
• The proportion of youth who are not in education, employment or training (NEET youth) remains relatively stable, at 9.5% in 2014 and 9.6% in 2015.
• The proportion of youth who feel lonely grew from 19.7% in 2010 to 24% in 2014.

Changes to the profile are expected, and small changes year over year may not be statistically significant. They are influenced by many factors and should be considered in the context of the individual data (e.g., source, sample size, type and time of data collection). A description of each indicator and data source is available in the Appendix.

What’s changed in 2016

INDICATOR SUMMARY
Number of indicators updated: 34
Number of indicators unchanged: 23
TOTAL: 57

A living profile

Gaps continue to appear in tracking progress for youth; the indicators are only as good as the data available. This year, data was available in six of seven theme areas, and two indicators were removed because data sources were no longer available. That is why this profile is a living resource. Ontario continues to search for meaningful sources where existing data can be improved.

Youth facing barriers to success

Ontario continues to look for data that will help us better understand and represent the experiences of youth facing challenges, and support improved outcomes for them across the province.

• Research shows that injuries are more likely to happen among new workers—of any age—in their first month on the job^{footnote 1[1]}. Studies also show that the risk for job-related injury is higher among young workers—defined as those aged 15 to 24—than it is among older employees^{footnote 2[2]}.
• Engagement in arts and culture, particularly for at-risk youth, is linked to improved social and problem-solving skills and higher academic achievement^{footnote 3[3]}.
• In 2016, Ontario expected to receive almost 18,000 resettled refugees from all sources, a figure four times higher than average annual arrivals over the 10-year period from 2005 to 2014^{footnote 4[4]}.

Ontario’s profile of youth wellbeing, 2016

Legend
▼ Decrease since 2015 report
▲ Increase since 2015 report
− No change in data since 2015 report
∙ No new data since 2015 report

Note:
A blue arrow means that the indicator has changed in a positive direction.
A red arrow means that the indicator has changed in a negative direction.

Health & wellness

Ontario youth are physically healthy.

• ∙ 76.7% of youth are a healthy weight.
• ∙ 68% of youth are physically active.
• ∙ 41.3% of youth consume at least five servings of fruit or vegetables daily.
• ▼ 87.6% of youth are attached to a primary care provider.

Ontario youth feel mentally well.

• ▲ 5.6% of youth are experiencing anxiety and/or depression.
• ▲ 34% of youth are experiencing elevated psychological distress.
• ▼ 12.4% of youth had serious thoughts about suicide in the past year.

Ontario youth make choices that support healthy and safe development.

• ▲ 8.6% of youth smoke cigarettes.
• ▼ 17.6% of youth have recently consumed excessive alcohol.
• ▼ 29% of youth have used any illicit drug.
• ∙ 2.6% of youth have had a sexually transmitted infection.

Strong, supportive friends & families

Ontario youth have families and guardians equipped to help them thrive.

• ▲ 6.3% of families live in deep poverty and are struggling to afford housing.
• ∙ 10% of Ontario families experience food insecurity.
• ▲ 14% of children and youth live in low-income households.

Ontario youth have at least one consistent, caring adult in their lives.

• ▼ 91.5% of youth have at least one parent who usually knows where they are.

Ontario youth form and maintain healthy, close relationships.

• ∙ 24% of youth feel lonely.
• ∙ 74.7% of youth can count on their friends when things go wrong.
• ∙ 65.4% of youth get the emotional support they need from their families.

Education, training & apprenticeships

Ontario youth achieve academic success.

• ∙ English-speaking students enrolled in academic math meet the provincial standard.
• ▼ 82% of French-speaking students enrolled in academic math meet the provincial standard.
• ∙ English-speaking students enrolled in applied math meet the provincial standard.
• ▼ 49% French-speaking students enrolled in applied math meet the provincial standard.
• − 78% of English-speaking and 88% of French-speaking students completed 16 high school credits by the end of Grade 10.
• ▲ 85.5% of high school students graduate within five years.
• ▼ Ontario ranks 11 of 72 jurisdictions in overall mathematics achievement (PISA).

Ontario youth have educational experiences that respond to their needs and prepare them to lead.

• ▲ 14% of students are enrolled in the Specialist High Skills Major program.
• ▲ 319,204 students have Individual Education Plans.
• ▲ 36.8% of public district and 36.8% of Catholic district high school course credits are available through e-learning.

Ontario youth access diverse training and apprenticeship opportunities.

• ▲ 12.5% of youth have a postsecondary certificate or diploma.
• ▲ 21,924 youth were served through the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program.

Employment & entrepreneurship

Ontario youth have opportunities for meaningful employment experiences.

• ▼ 11.6% of students are enrolled in co-op placements.
• ▼ 61.1% of youth are in the labour force.
• ▲ 9.6% of youth are not in education, employment or training.
• ▲ 89.1% of youth who are employed full-time are in work related to their field.

Ontario youth have the skills and resources needed to develop a successful career or business.

• ▼ 1.5% of youth are self-employed.

Ontario youth are safe and supported at work.

• ▲ The annual Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) Lost-Time Injury (LTI) rate for youth employees was 0.94 per 100 workers in 2015.

Diversity, social inclusion & safety

Ontario youth experience social inclusion and value diversity.

• ∙ 78.7% of youth feel a sense of belonging in their community.
• ∙ 87.8% of students have positive attitudes toward diversity at school.

Ontario youth feel safe at home, at school, online and in their communities.

• ∙ 77.3% of youth have a happy home life.
• ▼ 95% of youth feel safe at school.
• ▲ 19.8% of youth have been bullied online.
• ▲ 98.6% of Ontarians felt “safe” or “very safe” in their communities.

Ontario youth respect, and are respected by, the law and justice system.

• ▼ 5.2% of youth participate in antisocial behaviour.
• ▼ Ontario’s total youth crime rate is 3,175 per 100,000 youth.
• ▼ Ontario’s total youth violent crime rate is 1,031 per 100,000 youth.
• ▲ 59.3% of youth believe officers in their local police force do a good job at treating people fairly.

Civic engagement & youth leadership

Ontario youth play a role in informing the decisions that affect them.

• ▲ 56.2% of youth voted in the last (2015) federal election.
• ∙ 10.6% of youth volunteer as a member of a board or committee.

Ontario youth are engaged in their communities.

• The youth donor rate in Ontario is 65%.
• The youth volunteer rate in Ontario is 69.3%.

Ontario youth leverage their assets to address social issues.

• ∙ 16.7% of youth volunteered to support a group or organization.
• ∙ 10.4% of youth volunteered in activities to protect the environment.
• ∙ 3.3% of youth participated in activities to support a political party or group.

Coordinated & youth-friendly communities

Ontario youth have access to safe spaces that provide quality opportunities for play and recreation.

• ∙ 62% of parents feel recreation opportunities in their community meet their child’s needs.
• ∙ 75.7% of youth feel there are good places in their community to spend their free time.

Ontario youth know about and easily navigate resources in their communities.

• ∙ 78% of students use social media to find information about news, health issues, or relationships.
• ∙ 10% of callers to 211 looking for community referrals are young people.