The Sunshine Coast Community Foundation (SCCF) is taking a leadership role in bringing together stakeholders in young adult employment, a crucial area identified in last October's Vital Signs report. A workshop on Friday, May 14 kicked off this important initiative.
Faced with an aging population and a lack of resources for employing, housing and entertaining adults in the 19 to 35 year range, the workshop zeroed in on challenges and opportunities that exist in our area.
The Sunshine Coast now has the distinction of having the oldest average population in Canada and ranks a full 10 years above the provincial average age, resulting in alarm bells being sounded by several sectors of the Coast.
The Vital Signs project, produced by SCCF, pointed to a dearth of opportunities for young people resulting in families having to leave our area to succeed. A committee of SCCF directors, Don Basham, Gerry Tretick and Barrie Wilbee headed up by Dale Eichar, the recently retired CEO of the Sunshine Coast Credit Union, met with other community leaders and conceived the idea of the workshop to come up with recommendations to work on attracting, employing and retaining young adults on the Coast.
Facilitated by John Talbot, the jam-packed day began with presentations from six people with different perspectives on the issue.
JM Boyd, a young entrepreneur led off the panel. A father with three children under the age of five, Boyd ranks quality of life as his number one priority.
"When I moved here I had one little girl and I really wanted to be near her. The friendliness (of Roberts Creek) attracted us. I could build a career or build a family," he said.
Previously he had commuted to Vancouver, now Boyd, like many young adults, is under employed. He works from home at a couple of different ventures and supplements that with part-time work at Smitty's Oyster House in Gibsons.
Boyd listed as a challenge the fact he didn't grow up here. He also said he was often questioned as to why he chose to move here. Friends told him "it was where you go after you're done not when you're starting out."
Boyd suggested branding the community under the "flag of the Sunshine Coast" rather than the individual communities that compose the Coast would go a long way to attracting new business. He said the Coast is the right fit for the technology industry.
The second speaker, September Dixon grew up on the Sunshine Coast. She left after high school and came back. She's now the human resources manager for the credit union with its 100 employees.
Dixon considers herself fortunate to have had the opportunity to grow her career locally and raise her family here.
She sees housing prices as a major challenge for young adults.
"It's a tough market to break into," she said.
Another roadblock for many young families is the lack of secondary employment for spouses or partners. And, Dixon said, the recent economic downturn had an effect on employment opportunities for everyone.
She sees recreation, public transport, the hospital, quality schools and safety as potent draws for young families. It's necessary to make young people feel welcome and give them the chance to be part of a vibrant community, she said.
Local realtor, Kenan MacKenzie was the third speaker.
MacKenzie grew up on the Coast and in addition to a varied work background he was a Gibsons' councillor for several years. He echoed Boyd's idea of a united Sunshine Coast community. He also expressed concern about the lack of affordable housing. He said, in 21 years, the price of one lot went from $10,000 to $140,000.
"This stops young people coming here. We're not competitive with other parts of B.C.," he explained.
A longtime volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, he would like to see more housing initiatives for young families.
He also pointed out the lack of entertainment aimed at young people.
"Where do you go to meet the love of your life?" he asked.
MacKenzie suggested that bringing international students to the Coast would be one way to keep schools open as well as provide a secondary source of income via home stays. He also said B.C. Ferries should provide passenger-only ferries to shorten the commute of local residents.
Fourth speaker Arnold Skei, owner of Sechelt Plumbing, has 18 to 20 employees -all through an apprenticeship program. At first he said, it was a challenge to get employees, but once the value of the apprenticeship program was realized it became easier. He pointed to School District No. 46 programs such as Ace-It Carpentry and Culinary as ways to draw and retain young people.
Sarah Hook, a young professional, also grew up on the Coast. After eight years in Toronto, she came back to the Coast. In an act of faith, she purchased a house before landing a job. For the past three years she's worked for the Sunshine Coast Regional District finance department. At night and on weekends she moonlights as a youth programmer. For Hook, the number one concern is not enough for young people to do.
"It's hard to stay here. I have no pets, no children. There are the newly weds and the nearly deads and then there's the rest of us," she said.
She too sees quality of life as a primary draw.
Bob Hoy, the owner of Marketplace IGA in Gibsons, was the final panel speaker. He first came here at age 21 to help his father for three years launch the Gibsons' store. He met his wife when she installed tills in the store. After several years operating a store in Squamish he came back to head up the store in Gibsons.
"I can not think of a better community to raise your family in," he said.
In an informal poll of the many young people he employs, disadvantages turned out to be a lack of retail shopping, the ferry schedule, no nightlife, not enough post secondary education and a lack of a bowling alley.
He suggested that an app for the many means of modern technology young adults thrive on would be a way to attract them.
There are success stories in his own store of managers who started out at minimum wage and worked their way up, but more are needed, he said.
After the presentations the rest of the day was spent in break out groups. Each of the six groups brought back areas of concern and opportunity (most echoing the six panelists) to the assembly.
Next up is to convene a task force to tackle the concerns raised from the meeting, prepare a draft plan on ways to attract, retain and employ young adults and finally, hold a second community workshop this fall.
