BizGo Receives National Innovation Award

Lutherwood is pleased to announce that its innovative BizGo program was recognized in the “Innovations with Special Population” category of the National Youth Employment Innovation Awards at the Futures Youth Employment Conference.

“It is an honour to be recognized for our work in the field of youth employment,” said Rebecca Roy, Assistant Director for Lutherwood’s Employment Services. “BizGo teaches at-risk youth valuable entrepreneurial and business skills for school credit. These skills increase their confidence and employability when they enter the job market.”

BizGo, an entrepreneurial awareness pilot project, helps young people at Lutherwood’s Children’s Mental Health Centre discover their “inner entrepreneur” through an ‘expose, explore, experience’ learning model. The program provides an introduction to entrepreneurship through a series of experiential workshops which focus on small business concepts ultimately leading to the research, development, marketing and sales of a specific hand-crafted product. Students can earn a school credit for their participation.

The National Youth Employment Innovation Awards were established in 2011 to recognize innovative programs and practices from across Canada that lead youth to employment and career development success. A national committee of judges reviewed submissions and selected the winners. The awards were presented at the Futures Conference, the largest professional development event for leaders in youth employment www.firstwork.org/futures. Funds for the national awards program are provided by the Counselling Foundation of Canada www.counselling.net

Lutherwood is a not-for-profit organization that provides a wide range of children’s mental health, employment, housing and family counselling programs. Lutherwood annually serves more than 22,500 people in Waterloo Region and Wellington County.