Our Story
Help young people learn how to be patient and communicate clearly (and slowly!) with adults and seniors
History
September 2010
We test a new idea with 20 participants in Toronto, Canada, one that has a dual benefit: adults receive 1-on-1 tutoring, while youth gain a unique leadership opportunity
Feburary 2011
Our program appears on the front page of Toronto’s most read newspaper, right next to the SuperBowl results
November 2011
The organization receives an Innovation Award from the United Nations. We are the youngest organization ever to receive it
April 2013
The program begins expanding internationally, first launching in Africa (Niger, Ethiopia) and then in Europe (Spain, Poland)
September 2014
The program wins the Literacy Innovation Award, Canada’s top award in the education sector
November 2016
The organization wins the Urban Leadership Award
September 2018
Our organization’s co-founder and Executive Director is elected as an Ashoka Fellow
March 2019
Youth have provided over 150,000 hours of free 1-on-1 tutoring, equivalent to over $3m in value
June 2021
YEP publicly launches an eLearning platform for community organizations, providing training and resources to help them launch their own YEP programs
July 2023
YEP launches an apprennticeship program to turn our youth tutors into teachers. The program focuses on BIPOC youth to address low diversity in education careers
August 2023
YEP launches a microgrant program, allowing youth to receive funds to run their own YEP-style programs in their communities across Canada
Our Mission
Turn young people from educated to educator.
We believe that all youth—whether introverted or extroverted, high or low academic achieving, able-bodied or disabled—have the potential to be changemakers in their community and teach adults & seniors the skills they have.
Keys to our Success
We view youth as a solution, not as a problem
Too often, youth are treated as a ‘problem’ that need to be fixed. We firmly believe that every young person is capable of being a ‘solution’
Our programs are carefully designed to be accessible to everyone.
All young people, whether introverted or extroverted, high or low academic standing, and able-bodied or disabled, are capable, with the right supports, of being a 1-on-1 tutor. Adults benefit by receiving free 1-on-1 tutoring, in their own native language (if needed), and they learn only what they want and need to learn — whether it be language skills, technology, playing the piano, or many others
A unique, award-winning curriculum
Teaching a skill to someone isn’t always easy. Our training and curriculum materials are carefully designed, with thousands of hours of development, to make it so that children as young as 9 years old have been able to be transformed into effective 1-on-1 tutors