June 10, 2004
Although FLYE Magazine focused on young entrepreneurs, it wasn’t just these entrepreneurs that realized they could spread their wings farther than they ever expected.
The idea for the magazine was developed primarily by the entrepreneurial task force of YouthStart. The Pathways Skill Development and Placement Centre was the host organization and Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) provided the funding as a Youth Service Canada (YSC) project.
There were two primary goals when starting the “Young Entrepreneurs Magazine Project”. The focus was to “provide six months of work experience and job skills training for youth aged 16 to 29,” said Lisa Plancke, Editor of FLYE Magazine, “while creating a work product that served the greater community.” Plancke added, “Goals were also set to serve youth with risk factors or barriers to employment, to create a magazine to showcase young entrepreneurs, and to provide resource listings to help young people who were considering entrepreneurship.”
As part of the Youth Employment Strategies, FLYE Magazine allowed young participants to gain “valuable employment experience in research, writing, interviewing, editing, graphic design, digital photography, market research, business planning, and teamwork skills,” said Plancke. “There were layers of benefits that were likely to unfold in these young people’s lives over a period of time.”
Both Lisa Plancke and Paul Hubert, Executive Director of Pathways, worked with the youths involved in the making of the magazine. Towards the end of the project, the focus moved towards career planning, resume updating, and networking, allowing the young people to use their experience to find other careers that they enjoyed and they had prepared for through the creation of the FLYE Magazine.
“Working for FLYE Magazine was not an easy job,” said Plancke. “We set our standards high and expected a great deal from each participant. There were times when I was sure we pushed for growth in areas that were very uncomfortable for the participants, but they all learned what it was like to be respected, to be pushed to explore their full potential, and to create a product they could be tremendously proud of.”
The youth also had the opportunity to meet with publishers from other local youth magazines, as well as the education reporter from the London Free Press. They were provided with feedback and encouragement all along the way. Upon completion the magazine was distributed, free of charge, to a number of different schools, employment agencies, and business organizations in the London and Middlesex area and the response was “overwhelmingly positive,” said Plancke.
Plancke adds, “even though completion rates in programs like these are often fairly low, ours was close to 100%.” That is definitely something to be proud of.