The pandemic has made it harder than ever for young Canadians to find meaningful work, especially in the non-profit sector. Enter Canada Summer Jobs: a funding program from the government of Canada that helps small charities and small businesses to hire students aged 18-30 to support their work through the summer months. Earlier this year, MakeWay applied for funding and lucked out. Using this grant, we were able to open four summer positions and take on four incredible summer students.
Throughout their time with us, our Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) students learned the ropes of the charitable sector, developed relevant technical skills, and received one-to-one mentorship to support their professional goals, growth, and learning.
“It’s been eye-opening,” says MakeWay Canada Summer Jobs student Amanda Azzi, “to see the resilience of MakeWay’s project partners”.
Not only were we excited to share MakeWay’s mission with the CSJ students, but these relationships were reciprocal; our CSJ students’ drive, creativity, and curiosity were imperative to the rollout of some of our most impactful projects this summer.
Curious about how the next generation of changemakers experienced their summer at MakeWay? Explore our work through the eyes of the four students who helped make Summer 2021 a success.
Chanel – Research Support Officer
Hailing from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Chanel Best brought her top-notch research skills to MakeWay this summer to support our team in identifying funding opportunities through the federal government. A self-described “nerd,” Chanel’s work with the event, and analysis of existing government departments, pointed to a gap in our federal agency infrastructure: she learned that Canada does not have a National Water Agency. Leveraging her background in International and Global Studies at Carlton University, Chanel took the initiative to share her findings in a MakeWay Blog Post to help raise awareness about the importance of a national water program.
Chanel was excited to join MakeWay because the organization’s mission resonated with her on a personal level and the role aligned with her academic interests. In reflecting on her experience at MakeWay, Chanel found herself compelled by her learnings on the philanthropic landscape. While she’s explored philanthropy at length in her studies, she was moved to see what can be done when organizations are able to grow the capacity of actors on the ground. Organizations like MakeWay, she noted, help grassroots organizations compete in a context that’s often dominated by international NGOs.
When Chanel isn’t supporting water projects at MakeWay, she’s been busy working on a series about, vaccine inequality (you can read her work with Kroeger Policy Review here). Otherwise, she enjoys going on runs and drives, as well as spending time with her cat Posy (the purr-fect WFH colleague is pictured below). Chanel has one year left in her degree, in which she’ll dive further into one of her many academic interests: newcomer food security in Canada.
Amanda – Administrative Coordinator
While University of Ottawa Masters student Amanda Azzi hadn’t worked in the charitable sector prior to this summer, she’s taken the opportunity in stride. A wearer of many hats (and speaker of three languages), Amanda has supported the administrative team with the onboarding of new shared platform projects and staff. A key element of her role this summer was also exploring other shared platform models to identify ways that MakeWay can continue to offer valuable solutions for our partners. The highlight of her summer position? Making infographics on Canva. Amidst the sea of emails that often characterizes administrative work, Amanda appreciated the chance to flex her creative muscles.
With a background in English and Japanese literature, Amanda brought not only meaningful perspective from her academic context, but from past job experiences. Having worked in schools and with the federal government, she was curious to explore government-NGO relations from the non-profit perspective and was surprised to learn about the roadblocks that the charitable sector faces. Despite these speedbumps, Amanda was taken by the agility required to deliver the support that our partners need to bring about community-led change.
Once she graduates, Amanda hopes to put her literature degree to work by teaching English in either Japan or South Korea. Until then, she’s looking forward to a travelling to the west coast.
Rachel – Administrative Assistant
A recent grad from the University of Waterloo, Rachel’s research skills drew her to the administrative assistant position at MakeWay. Beyond this, she was excited to be a part of the organization, as she considers MakeWay a “shining example” of progress within the philanthropic sector. Located in Kitchener, Ontario, Rachel has supported our team on a variety of different projects from reviewing Board of Director applications, to financial investment research to building web scrapers, a simple tool that eases online data extraction
While her days are filled with research, emails, and meetings, her favorite aspect of the job has been writing, running, and debugging code. She didn’t anticipate getting to use her programming skills through this experience and was thrilled for the opportunity to complement and strengthen her research skills. In her time at MakeWay, Rachel has investigated foundations’ investment policies and portfolios, investment funds’ adherence to Environmental, Social & Governance criteria, and the legal framework associated with disclosing investment information. Rachel is confident that this newfound lens will color her future research endeavors and sharpen her already critical eye.
With a degree in Environmental Studies under her belt, Rachel will be turning her attention to a graduate certificate in Geospatial Data Analysis in September. All the while, she’ll be working on graduate and law school applications and spending some quality time with her cat, Farrah.
Ally – Digital Marketing Specialist
Ally Gomberoff had long been searching for an opportunity to leverage her digital marketing skills in a way that was consistent with her passion for reconciliation and sustainability. MakeWay proved to be an ideal fit. Working alongside the communications team, Ally’s role has given her exposure to a range of marketing opportunities including developing Google Ads, drafting content to promote MakeWay’s strategy, and creating social media and blog content. With a background in education, Ally has also been thrilled for the chance to use her teaching skills to brief the communications team on the ever-changing world of Google Ads and Analytics.
The biggest takeaway for this Vancouver-based Masters student is the importance of consensus building. Doing right by all stakeholders and partners, she discovered, means slowing down and ensuring that everyone feels listened to and represented in all communications content. She’s also been fascinated by the quality of dialogue within the organization when it comes to topics like rethinking philanthropy. The conversations around reforming the charitable sector were a welcome surprise for this former teacher.
In the fall, Ally is slated to return to New York City to complete her degree at Columbia University’s Teachers College. She’s eager to apply the lens she developed at MakeWay to her studies and sustainability education work. Before she heads out east, she’s looking forward to enjoying as much BC fruit and swimming as she can!
