Ready, Aim, HIRE! Centennial collaboration project focuses on youth unemployment

Ready, Aim, HIRE! is the latest initiative as part of Centennial’s School of Communications, Media & Design’s collaboration initiative, Project Fusion.  Created in September 2012, Project Fusion is an organized answer for students at the Story Arts Centre wanting and looking for opportunities to collaborate with one another.

The recently rebranded Story Arts Centre (previously the Centre for Creative Communications) in the heart of Riverdale in Toronto houses many of the creative disciplines that excel in story telling: film, journalism, public relations, advertising, children’s entertainment, book and magazine publishing, fine arts, graphic arts, interactive digital media, game arts and design.

Many of the students will be collaborating and working together once working in their chosen profession, so why not start now, building their networks and creating a real campaign to add to their professional portfolio?

At the beginning of their school year, students collectively decided to take on the issue of youth employment, particularly among youth facing multiple barriers. This topic, near and dear to their own hearts and experiences, once again aligned them with the GTA CivicAction Alliance, who mentored the group last year when they added the student voice to the important transit conversations happening around the region.  The result was The Big Race.

Compared to transit, taking on youth employment is a little like trying to solve world peace. It’s a big issue and one that cannot be solved with a clever multimedia public relations awareness campaign orchestrated by fewer than 50 students.

But it’s a start. And it’s an important voice to have in the conversation. The campaign is designed by youth, for youth, and their perspective and passion give both value and credibility to the issue.

“You’re not trying to solve world peace,” was a frequent reminder at planning meetings. “You’re trying to appeal to hearts and minds, get people talking, thinking and understanding the issues at hand better than they did without the campaign.”

Now that’s an AIM these students are READY to take on.

To see what the students have created collaboratively, check out www.readyaimhire.me. Submit your first job story! Watch for upcoming video posts filmed and edited by film and broadcast students at the Story Arts Centre. On June 4, come out to an important discussion on the issue at a Town Hall hosted by Project Fusion at the Story Arts Centre, from 6 to 9 p.m.

By Donna Lindell, Professor, Corporate Communications & Public Relations and Project Fusion Faculty Advisor