Final Needs Assessment Report: Identifying barriers faced by Ottawa Somali Youth in accessing post-secondary and vocational opportunities

In 2016, with funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Seed Grant program, The Somali Centre for Family Services of Ottawa (SCFS) invited Carleton University’s Centre for Studies on Poverty and Social Citizenship (CSPSC) to partner on the completion of a needs assessment focusing on the barriers faced by Somali youth in accessing post-secondary education, and employment training and opportunities. In carrying out this research, the SCFS’s main objective was to address social and economic exclusion locally by inviting Somali youth (age 19-30) from the Ottawa area to engage in the\ud conceptualization and design of resources that could best support their participation in educational and vocational programs