Choices for Youth (CFY) hosted the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for our 2023-2024 fiscal year on December 2, 2024. The AGM was held at CFY’s new Social Enterprise and Innovation Hub (The Hub), giving attendees a sneak preview of how this dynamic new space will operate when it opens in 2025.
CFY Executive Director Jen Crowe welcomed the approximately 50 attendees and invited them to enjoy pizza and cookies from CFY’s Crust Craft Bakery social enterprise before the proceedings began. Once guests were seated, CFY Board of Directors Chair Geoff Davis provided an overview of the AGM agenda before inviting Jen back to the podium to review CFY’s Annual Report, which was released to the public in concurrence with the AGM.
CFY is very proud of our work last year, including supporting 1,075 youth and 126 children; housing 154 youth; and employing 86 youth across our various social enterprises. We are also proud to share that 43% of the supports we provided last year were related to mental health and that 22% of the young people supported recently moved to the St. John’s area.
Jen then invited Dionne Howe, Co-Chair of the Youth Leadership and Advisory Council (YLAC) to share an update on its activities over the last year. Kenneth Gellately from CFY’s RallyForward program then shared an inspirational story of real impact from one of their youth program participants. CFY’s Senior Director of Business Operations, Finance, and Education, Employment, and Social Enterprise Lori Whitt followed with a summary of CFY’s financials for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
CFY’s Executive Director Jen Crowe next delivered a breakdown of CFY’s five-year strategic plan, expanding upon the plan’s four key themes: stabilize, communicate, and sustain core program delivery; invest in staff and culture; invest in program and service innovation to meet youth needs; and prioritize equity, diversity, and inclusion across CFY.
Geoff and Jen next took the podium together to share some exciting news: effective immediately, Geoff Davis has stepped down as Chair of the CFY Board, with Bruce taking over as the new Chair of the CFY Board of Directors, with Sean Ryan moving into the position of Vice Chair. Bruce and Shawn accepted his new role before sharing a few words with the assembled guests. We couldn’t send Geoff off empty-handed, and Bruce presented him with a beautiful piece of artwork by a youth program participant as a thank-you for over six years of hard work and dedication as a CFY Board Member.
Finally, Dionne returned to the podium to provide an update on Newfoundland and Labrador Integrated Youth Services (IYS), which received $4.3 million in funding last fiscal year, with two planned IYS hub locations to begin development next year.
The AGM closed with a video created by CFY and partners Bell Canada that highlighted the need for and potential impact of the growing IYS movement in our province.
Written by Chris Morris
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