Episode Summary
Jeffrey Schiffer, President and CEO of Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada, joins host Imran Mian to talk about the young people growing up in and from Canada’s child welfare system, a cause he connects to his own mother’s time in care. On any given day about 61,000 children live in out-of-home care, and more than 5,000 age out every year, often without anyone in their corner for mental health, education, or career guidance. Schiffer argues these youth have the capacity and the hope; what they are missing is people and opportunity. He explains why education and employment are the most reliable routes out of intergenerational poverty, what the foundation has learned from its Youth Works program and new venture fund, and why AI and automation make early exposure, mentorship, and internships more urgent than ever for youth in and from care.
- Name: Jeffrey Schiffer
- Role: President and CEO, Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada
- Dr. Jeffrey Schiffer is a nationally recognized executive leader with more than 15 years of experience driving innovation and measurable outcomes for children, youth, and families. He joins Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada as President & CEO after serving as Chief Impact Officer, where he played a central role in shaping the Foundation’s new strategic plan, Impact Framework, and national approach to outcomes-based philanthropy and social innovation. Jeff brings not only deep professional expertise but also a personal connection to the mission, with members of his own family having experienced the child welfare system. A former Executive Director of Native Child and Family Services of Toronto, he holds a PhD from Columbia University and is known for bringing people, evidence, and bold ideas together to create lasting change.
Key Takeaways
Youth in care have the capacity and the hope. They lack connections and opportunity.
Most successful people can trace their path back to parents, peers, professors, and neighbours who opened doors. Schiffer’s first job was washing dishes at his neighbour’s restaurant. Kids in care rarely have that kind of network to lean on, and their outcomes reflect it.
Every sector has a part to play.
Child welfare systems were designed to keep kids safe; they were never designed to provide everything kids need to thrive. Schiffer believes government, business, philanthropy, organizations, and community have to work on the problem together, with philanthropy acting as a nimble catalyst that tests and de-risks what works so it can be sustained and scaled.
Education and employment break intergenerational cycles.
They are the two evidence-based pathways out of poverty and toward prosperity. Scholarships help youth finish high school and reach post-secondary, while executives and organizations can contribute just as much through exposure, mentorship, internships, and career pathways.
AI is closing the traditional doors into the workforce.
You cannot get a first job washing dishes if a robot is doing it, or as a cashier once self-checkout takes over. Schiffer says there can be no digital divide for youth in care: as they enter high school they need safe, healthy exposure to AI and social media, and a view of careers in sectors like tech and banking.
Wraparound supports keep students in school.
When the foundation reviewed 10 years of scholarship data, it found that most students who did not finish left in their first year of post-secondary, after a mental health crisis, a missed rent payment, or a shortfall in food or books. Mentors, peer support, and a safe place to stay matter almost as much as the scholarship funding itself.
Episode Highlights
Missing the People and the Opportunity
Schiffer was the first in his immediate family to earn a university degree, going from the University of British Columbia to a PhD at Columbia University. He is quick to credit the parents, peers, and professors who carried him there, and the neighbour who gave him his first job. Youth in care face the same road without that network, which is why the foundation works to supply the people and openings they are missing.
“They are not missing the capacity and they’re not missing the hope, they’re missing the people and they’re missing the opportunity.”
They Didn’t Know They Could Work at a Bank
Looking back across more than 30 years of foundation scholarships, Schiffer noticed that a large share of recipients chose to study social work. When he asked why, the answer was simple: a social worker was the mentor who helped them get back into school, so it was the career they knew. That pattern is why he puts exposure to a wider range of careers at the centre of the foundation’s work.
“They didn’t know that they could work at a bank. They didn’t know that they could work at a company like yours or help support the AI revolution. That exposure simply wasn’t there.”
Partners Who Do the Work
The RBC Foundation provided the funding that created Youth Works, a national employment readiness program that has helped almost 4,000 youth since the program started. Schiffer’s point is that funding gets a program started, but once youth are job-ready they need somewhere to go. The strongest corporate relationships extend into internships, summer placements, mentorship, and eventually hiring.
“We tend to think of the corporations that are supporting us not as donors, but as partners. We are in it with them doing the work.”
A Circumstance, Not a Conclusion
Asked for the one idea he hopes listeners keep, Schiffer returns to equal opportunity. Where a child starts out, or the world they are born into, should not decide where they end up in life. Each Canadian has a chance to help build a country where kids in and from care have the same opportunities as everyone else.
“Being in care is a circumstance. It’s not a conclusion.”
Executive Questions
What drew Jeffrey Schiffer to work with youth in and from care?
The work is professional for Schiffer, and it is also deeply personal. His mother had a difficult upbringing that included time in the child welfare system, and he saw firsthand how that involvement affects a family. She went on to rise above a very hard childhood and build a successful life, and her example helped shape his own path. He has since spent about a decade and a half speaking directly with young people who have been through child welfare across generations.
What happens when young people age out of care in Canada?
About 61,000 children live in out-of-home care in Canada on any given day, and more than 5,000 age out every year. Schiffer notes that by the time a family becomes involved with child welfare, the child has usually already slipped through the cracks of several government systems. At 18, or shortly after, many leave care without the supports most Canadians take for granted: someone helping with mental health, education, or a career direction. That gap feeds a pipeline toward homelessness and incarceration.
What is the biggest misconception about youth in and from care?
That they are not succeeding because they lack potential or drive. Schiffer says most successful people can look back and see they did not get there alone; he points to his own parents, peers, and professors, and to a first job washing dishes at a neighbour’s restaurant. Kids in care rarely have those connections. If anything, he sees exceptional resilience in them: by the time they are fifteen, many have faced more than most people do by sixty-five, and that experience produces creative problem solvers.
What can executives and organizations do beyond making a donation?
Schiffer encourages those with the capacity to donate, because funding changes lives. Beyond that, organizations can offer exposure, mentorship, internships, and career pathways. The foundation’s Youth Works program, which runs with six partners across four jurisdictions, has helped almost 4,000 youth build employment readiness skills since it started, and it needs employers ready to host summer interns or mentor individual youth. A newer initiative is focused on Toronto’s tech sector, with a goal of raising $1 million and creating educational pathways and placements for youth in care.
How are AI and automation changing the picture for youth in care?
The traditional entry points into the labour market are disappearing. Youth unemployment is rising, and first jobs such as dishwashing or cashiering are increasingly automated. Schiffer argues that a scholarship toward a degree that may not match the emerging labour market is no longer enough on its own. The work has to start earlier, as kids enter high school, with no digital divide: youth in care need to learn to use AI and social media in safe, healthy ways and to see the full range of careers available to them, including in tech.
What does a strong partnership between business and a nonprofit look like?
It is a true partnership, with both sides doing the work. Schiffer points to the RBC Foundation, whose funding created Youth Works, and to other supporters including BMO. Funding is what starts a program, but after a few years of preparing youth for employment, they need opportunities to step into. Corporate partnerships that extend into internships, summer placements, mentorships, and hiring are what let the foundation stream job-ready youth into sustainable careers.
Why do education and employment matter so much for long-term outcomes?
Research consistently links more years of education to higher income and a better standard of living, and Schiffer wants to change family trajectories, not only individual lives. Through a new venture fund created with the Northpine Foundation, the foundation applied a venture capital style approach to 10 years of scholarship data. It found that most students who did not graduate left in their first year of post-secondary, for reasons such as a mental health crisis, losing housing after a missed rent payment, or lacking food and books. Wraparound supports like mentors, peer resources, and a safe place to stay turned out to be almost as important as the scholarship itself.
What would success look like five years from now?
Schiffer wants the foundation to be a central, sustainable institution that can say every year how many resources it has for how many kids, backed by a large group of corporate partners ready to stream youth into career pathways. That would complete the through line from high school to post-secondary, into early career, and then into long-term careers. With roughly 5,000 young people aging out of care each year, he sees no reason each one should not have access to a scholarship and a job placement.
Full Episode Transcript
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[00:00:00] Jeffrey Schiffer: I think that the people who have been in the most hardest circumstances in life have the most resilience and innovation, right? They are driven to be able to solve problems, to find the creative way around a barrier, to drive towards solutions, and to make things happen. And so I think generally across Canada, we should be supporting kids and youth, to grow up healthy and well and make Canada prosperous.
[00:00:26] Imran Mian: Hello, and welcome to another episode of Behind the Growth. I'm your host, Imran Mian. Today, I'm joined by Jeffrey Schiffer, President and CEO of Children's Aid Foundation of Canada. Jeffrey has spent his career advocating for young people, especially those growing up in and from the child welfare system.
But what struck me during our prep conversation wasn't just the work he's doing, it was the passion behind it and his belief that every one of us can play a role in creating better opportunities for the next generation. Jeffrey, thanks so much for being here today.
[00:01:05] Jeffrey Schiffer: Thanks for having me. Happy to be here.
[00:01:07] Imran Mian: Wonderful. Before we jump into today's topic, I'd love for our listeners to get to know the person behind the role.
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey? What brought you here, and what inspired you to dedicate your career to this important work?
[00:01:24] Jeffrey Schiffer: Yeah, for sure I can. I think, listen, I've got a professional interest in this work obviously, but it's also deeply personal for me. my mom had a pretty tough upbringing and spent some time in the child welfare system, and so I personally understand the impact that involvement in child welfare can have on a family.
the other thing I'll say is that, you know, my mom was one of the folks that was able to get through a really brutal childhood, and rise above that and move on with her life and become quite successful. and having that example, you know, for me around in my life, certainly helped me move forward in ways that, have helped to get me to where I am today.
Yeah.
[00:02:00] Imran Mian: Absolutely. something you said during our conversation really stayed with me. You mentioned that most Canadians don't realize how many young people leave care without the support systems that many of us take for granted. Can you paint that picture for us and our listeners?
[00:02:17] Jeffrey Schiffer: Yeah, I I think there's a lot of things about kids in and from child welfare that most Canadians don't understand. I think people don't realize that by the time a family becomes involved with child welfare, that child has already been failed by multiple government systems, right? it's often a child is slipping through the cracks between education and child welfare and health and education.
Uh, you know, and by the time these kids reach their 18th birthday, or shortly after, they're often aging out of a system, without all of the supports that we take for granted as Canadians. There are about 61,000 kids in Canada living in out-of-home care, each day, any given day, right?
Over 5,000 aging out every year. And when they do so, they don't have, you know, someone in their corner supporting them with mental health, with education, mentoring them, towards, career trajectories, right? They've kinda gotta figure it out all on their own. Um, and I think that's why there's this– well, I know that's why there's this pipeline, right, towards homelessness, incarceration, things that none of us would want for our kids in Canada.
And, I think we can do a lot better
[00:03:18] Imran Mian: 100%. what are some of the biggest misconceptions people have about youth in and from care?
[00:03:26] Jeffrey Schiffer: I think there's a big misconception that kids in and from care aren't succeeding, maybe because they don't have the potential, you know, or they don't have the gusto or the capacity to get to where they need to be in life, right? And I, I think that most people that, have enjoyed success in their life can think back to how they got there and recognize that they didn't do it alone, right?
nobody builds a life alone, and kids in care shouldn't have to do it on their own, right? We need people to step in and to help them, right? So, let's use myself as an example, right? I was the first person in my immediate family to get a post-secondary degree, right, to get a university degree. And I didn't just get an undergrad at the University of British Columbia, I went all the way to Columbia University in New York, and I got the PhD, right, in anthropology and education.
I'm proud of that, but I also know I didn't do it by myself, right? I did it with the support of my parents backing me to go do that. I did it with phenomenal peers together at Columbia University. I did it with professors who took mentorship roles in my life and helped me get through where I needed to go, right?
And, I know that we're gonna start talking about not only education but also employment. I also think about my first job, right? you know, and my neighbor, I remember my neighbor owned a restaurant, right? So my first job was walking across the yard to my neighbor, asking him if he had anything available, and getting a job washing dishes, right?
do-doing the hard, kind of grueling work of washing dishes, right? But, the reality is that kids from care don't have a neighbor, that has a restaurant or aren't connected to people in the same way, to be able to get those types of support as they move through education and employment, and so their outcomes are quite different.
They are not missing the capacity, and they're not missing the hope. They're missing the people, and they're missing the opportunity. That's one of the things that we strive to provide at the Children's Aid Foundation of Canada.
[00:05:10] Imran Mian: Very profound. you also said something that I really loved, that the strength of a country is reflected in how it invests in its young people. Why is that message so important right now?
[00:05:23] Jeffrey Schiffer: I think the world is becoming increasingly complicated, right? And it's a challenging place to live, you know, economy, climate, geopolitical struggle. I don't need to go through the entire list, but, I think that when we think about the future of a country, I fundamentally believe that children are our future, right?
how can we be a healthy, prosperous, successful country if we're not raising healthy, prosperous kids, that can move on to take those places in society and to really drive innovation? I think the other thing I'll say is that, you know, I've people in my family that have spent time in the child welfare system.
I've also spent, you know, a decade and a half speaking directly with kids who've been in child welfare across generations, and one of the things that always jumps out at me about these kids, is the resilience, is the complicated things they've had to navigate and struggle with, and get around, in the circumstances in which they find themselves.
and I think that some of the people who have been in the most hardest circumstances in life have the most resilience and innovation, right? They are driven to be able to solve problems, to find the creative way around a barrier, to drive towards solutions, and to make things happen. And so I think generally across Canada, we should be supporting kids and youth, to grow up healthy and well and make Canada prosperous.
I think when it comes to kids in care specifically, there is untapped potential as Canadian innovators there. By the time these kids are 15, they've faced more than most of us have by the time we're 65. You know what I mean? and so investing in these kids is one of the best decisions that I think that we can make.
[00:06:51] Imran Mian: Yeah. huge challenges. another thing I really appreciated was that you weren't really, when we had the conversation, you weren't really pointing fingers. Uh, you weren't saying government has to fix this and that, or non- nonprofits have to fix, everything. what you were saying was that all of us have a role to play.
tell us a little bit more about that.
[00:07:11] Jeffrey Schiffer: I mean, they say it takes a village, right, to raise child, and we find ourselves in the world today often doing it in nuclear families and thinking that, you know, one person or one ministry or one sector can be the solution. It's just not that simple. I think that the problem is protracted, and the problem is complicated, and it takes all of us coming together to be able to, create a better future for these kids.
I had an amazing experience, during the pandemic. I was, selected to join the Canadian Governor General's Leadership Conference. It's this conference that runs every three or four years in Canada where the Governor General will pick about 250 emerging Canadian leaders, and they mix you up in groups of people, business leaders, nonprofit leaders, people with many different perspectives, and then you get to travel around a Canadian province for about a week, and you give a presentation to the Governor General.
that was an amazing transformative experience for me, and I think what I learned is that, we need government, business, philanthropy, organizations, and community all coming together to solve the most complex problems that we face as a society. Child welfare is a perfect example. our government systems have been designed to keep kids safe.
They have not been designed to provide all of the other things that we know kids need to thrive. Safety and thriving is two very different things, right? So we have organizations delivering services. we have governments mandating them, and one of the things we're learning at the Children's Aid Foundation of Canada is that philanthropy can be this amazing catalyst for innovation, for injecting funds into a system in ways that are nimble and responsive to be able to test and prove and de-risk what works, right, so that it can be sustained and scaled later.
and while all the actors that I've just talked about are large government organizations, I think often everyday Canadians don't understand their part in that and don't understand that they can contribute to that in ways that actually not only change the life of a particular child in care but that build a stronger Canada, that ultimately build a stronger, more innovative country for all Canadians.
That inspires me. I think it's something everybody can get behind.
[00:09:13] Imran Mian: Amazing. and speaking of that, you know, leaders and how people can contribute to this cause, a lot of our listeners are executives, managers, entrepreneurs, and professionals. some might be thinking, "I care, but what could I actually do?" What would you tell them, Jeffrey?
[00:09:31] Jeffrey Schiffer: I mean, listen, I think, I would say right now that two of the most important things, for youth in and from care are education and employment. I think that part of this work is about breaking intergenerational cycles, elevating people out of poverty, and creating clear pathways to prosperity. There are two things that we know in a very evidence-based way do that for people: education and employment.
And there are things that we can do to be able to support kids in care along that trajectory Right? so I think donating towards scholarships so kids get through high school and get into post-secondary is one thing. But when about your listeners who are executives, who are company heads, who are leading organizations or have prominent places in them, I also think exposure, mentorship, opportunities, internships, career pathways, these are things that organizations can all provide alongside donations that allow us as an organization to have opportunities for the youth in and from care that we're supporting.
Yeah.
[00:10:29] Imran Mian: so first, though, you know, as individuals, somebody like myself, if I wanted to help out, if I wanted to contribute, whe-what are some of the actions I could take, you know, other than making a donation? Is there another pathway that I could take to make a difference in
[00:10:45] Jeffrey Schiffer: Sure. Yeah. Well, so listen, it's not a thoughts and prayer scenario. We do need resources to make this happen. So I always, you know, I try to say it with humility, but those who have the capacity, please donate because it pays dividends and it changes lives, right? I know that's not everybody's reality, but the folks that have the capacity to do so, every dollar makes a difference for youth in and from care.
Folks who don't have that capacity or want to do that and others, other things, I think, reaching out to connect to the Children's Aid Foundation of Canada about opportunities we have, like the Youth Works program, right? So since 2017, we've been thinking about how we really drive employment readiness and career pathways for youth in and from care.
we've developed a great program. It's national, Youth Works. It's six partners across Canada, four different jurisdictions. since the time that program was started, we've helped over about almost 4,000 youth with employment readiness, right? To be able to build the soft skills that are required, to get a job, right?
I think one of the things that we're noticing right now is that exposure and mentorship are key. So somebody like you right now could say I'm in an organization, I might need a summer intern, or I might be available to connect with and mentor a particular youth in care. A-and those are things that I know that we really need.
we have recently started a new initiative, and I'm so happy to be invited on this show because I know that y-you've been involved in this, and it's specifically targeting the tech sector, saying, "Who are the big companies and people in the tech sector, you know, in and around Toronto who might help us raise a million dollars?"
'Cause we know we need the resources. But more than that, who might be able to support educational pathways and placements and career development for youth in and from care? Now, you asked me a little bit, earlier about, you know, what the landscape was like for youth in and from care. I imagine we might get there, but we are in a profound technological revolution that is reshaping our culture and society, not just in Toronto, not just in Canada, but across the world.
What's happening right now in AI, in quantum computing, I think it's a type of change we have not seen, in the history of our society yet. I have profound concerns about what that means for youth generally a-and very deep concerns for what it means for youth in and from care.
As we think about the way that youth unemployment rates are skyrocketing, as we think about the way that getting your first job changes, right? You cannot get a job as a dishwasher if a robot is washing the dishes. You cannot get a job as a cashier if it's, one of those machines at Shoppers, right?
So the pathways into, the labor market have fundamentally shifted. We know that the tech sector is gonna be taking us there in striking ways, and we know that while things are transforming in that labor market, there are huge opportunities. And when you think about the resilience that youth in and from care bring, the problem-solving, the innovation, all the stuff they've had to deal with, let's get some of these kiddos employed in the tech sector, right?
to help move all of this stuff forward, to help strengthen the Canadian labor market. And so someone in your position, I think, could help us do exactly that, right? and I think many of your listeners and others in the sector might see opportunities in their own workplace and their own networks to be able to involve youth in and from care.
[00:13:47] Imran Mian: 100%. you talked about, AI and automation, how quickly the work is changing. what does that mean for young people in the care system, who are already starting from behind? You know, what are some of the ways that, we can, you know, make sure that, we give them a pathway that, leads them to a successful outcome?
[00:14:08] Jeffrey Schiffer: I think exposure is so important, and I think early engagement is so important, right? It's not enough to give a kid who struggled to get through high school a scholarship into post-secondary to get a degree that might not apply in the labor market that now is emerging, which is a real consideration, right?
certain things need to be done to support youth in those situations, but we also need to be doing work way more upfront. As kids are entering high school, there cannot be a digital gulf, a digital divide. We need creating opportunities for youth in and from care to understand how to use AI, and social media, quite frankly, and in safe ways, in ways that are healthy and support their own, cognitive and social development.
and then to have the exposure to understand what career pathways might be available to them. we have been running a scholarship program at the Children's Aid Foundation of Canada for over 30 years. and when we look back at what, a lot of our recipients of those scholarships want to study, traditionally, a lot of them are going into social work.
And I remember thinking, "That's really interesting. How come so many of the kids, that we're awarding scholarships to want to go into social work?" and if you talk to them, and, it's because that's what they know. A social worker was a mentor. A social worker was the nice person that helped them get back into school, right?
And so it's natural to, want to be able to follow the footsteps of your mentors in life and replicate people that have supported you. they didn't know that they could work at a bank. They didn't know that they could work at a company like yours or help support the AI revolution, right?
that exposure simply wasn't there. so I think as the market changes, as the labor market changes, and as technology changes, we've got to be able to increase opportunities for mentorship and exposure for youth in and from care, so that they see a broader scope in front of them, and so that we can support them to get into much different opportunities than the ones maybe that they've been traditionally following.
[00:15:52] Imran Mian: For, I mean, there's a lot of companies that are stepping up, you know, in some really meaningful ways. for other listeners who might be interested, what does a great partnership between business and a nonprofit like yourselves actually look like?
[00:16:08] Jeffrey Schiffer: I think first of all, I mean, you nailed it when you said partnership, right? So we tend to think of the corporations that are supporting us not as donors but as partners. We are in it with them doing the work, right? And I think, I'd like to talk about the Royal Bank of Canada and the RBC Foundation, who provided the funding that allowed us to create the Youth Works program, right?
You get a good corporate partner or a group of partners that are able to provide resources 'cause you need funding to start programs. but when you spend a few years getting youth ready for employment, you have to have opportunities for them to step into. and so corporate partnerships go beyond simply providing resources to get kids ready for the labor market.
They then go into internships, summer placements, mentorships, and then eventually hiring, right? so I think, and we've seen this in a variety of different ways, at the Children's Aid Foundation of Canada. Royal Bank is a great example, but we certainly have worked with others, you know, BMO, a variety of other donors.
And I think right now what we're recognizing is that, we need to increase our partnerships and br-bring more people to the table so that n-after we get, youth ready, employment ready, we can stream them into placements, stream them into careers, and create sustainable futures for them.
Yeah.
[00:17:17] Imran Mian: Yeah, I mean, it's, commendable work that's being done there. the foundation has really focused on education and employment. why are those two areas such powerful drivers of long-term success? Maybe, give a couple examples of, the success stories, through the programs,
[00:17:33] Jeffrey Schiffer: Yeah. I mean, so research tells us that, you know, when you have a higher education, more years of education, you know, translates into a higher annual income, right? Which translates into a better standard of living. We know these are pathways to success. And, I think what's so important for youth in and from care is we need to recognize historically that there's been an intergenerational cycle of families involved in child welfare.
we don't just wanna change, a life, we wanna change family trajectories. We wanna break cycles of involvement. We wanna break cycles of poverty. We wanna create prosperity and innovation, for children, for their future families, and for the country. And the best way to do that i- is through education and employment.
I think it's also about where you invest and how you invest. So it's fine to say that education and employment are the two biggest pathways to prosperity. What we've tried to do at the foundation is also understand how do you get the biggest return on the investment in donor dollars and what makes the biggest difference in terms of long-term outcomes?
so recently at the foundation, we've started something which we're calling our venture fund. It's in partnership with the Northpine Foundation, and it almost takes like a venture capitalist model and applies it to how you test new models for social service. we've applied it to our scholarship program.
We took 10 years of data. We looked back at our scholarship recipients, and we said: How many scholarship recipients are graduating? How many of them are moving on to careers? What is our data telling us about what works and about what doesn't work? And what we found is that, we do have a pretty good graduation rate, but for those who are not making it, overwhelmingly, they're leaving in their first year of post-secondary.
They drop out in their first year, and they drop out for reasons you might expect. They drop out because they have a mental health crisis. They drop out because they couldn't pay rent one month and they lost their, accommodations, right? They drop out because they didn't have concrete needs like food or books, right?
and so while it's important to provide concrete resources to get people through education, wraparound supports are almost equally important. a mentor, a peer resource, a safe place to stay, right? And so I think, um, what we're finding at the Children's Aid Foundation of Canada is that getting these kids who have so many complex challenges through education and through employment is not a simple thing.
It requires a lot of people working together, and it requires a holistic wraparound support. We can do a lot of that with our partners at the foundation, when it comes to, finding delivery partners that have strong relationships with kids and can deliver workshops and, but we need the mentors, and we need the employee placements, to really get folks across the finish line.
Yeah
[00:20:02] Imran Mian: Jeffrey, if we were having this conversation five years from now, what would success look like and what would you hope has changed?
[00:20:12] Jeffrey Schiffer: I think, um, I think we have big aspirations, at the Children's Aid Foundation of Canada for being able to position philanthropy as a catalyst for change in Canada in a very difficult time, through a trying economy when we're faced with big issues and innovation is deeply needed. For me, it would be further positioning, our foundation as a central and sustainable institution that is always there to support kids in and from care that can say year after year, we know we have X amount of resources for X amount of kids, and we've got a big group of corporate partners to be able to stream folks into, career pathways, right?
it's about, I think, having, you know, the financial base, the sustainable financial base, as I just described, but then also the deep corporate partnerships to be able to complete that through line from high school into post-secondary, into early career, and then into more permanent long-standing careers.
Long trajectory there. if we have 5,000 kids aging out of care every year in Canada, there's no reason why each and every one of them shouldn't be able to have a scholarship and find a job placement, and that's a vision that I think that we can achieve together.
[00:21:22] Imran Mian: Makes sense. Jeffrey, one final question before our rapid fire round. if someone listening remembers just one thing from today's conversation, what do you hope, uh, that takeaway is?
[00:21:33] Jeffrey Schiffer: You know, being in care is a circumstance, it's not a conclusion. And I think we all need to invest in a Canada, that where a kid ends up or the world that they're born into doesn't define where they end up in life, right? and each of us as Canadians have an opportunity to be able to create that Canada and to contribute to a place where kids in and from care have the same opportunities that all other kids do across Canada in ways that change lives and build a stronger country.
Maybe that's more than one thing, but I think it's something we can all take away. Yeah
[00:22:03] Imran Mian: Makes sense. So now before we let you go, let's have a little fun. are you a morning person or a night owl?
[00:22:10] Jeffrey Schiffer: Definitely a morning person
[00:22:12] Imran Mian: Coffee or tea?
[00:22:14] Jeffrey Schiffer: Coffee
[00:22:15] Imran Mian: All right. a leader who's inspired you
[00:22:18] Jeffrey Schiffer: Oh, that's a good question. the one that comes to mind right now is, Cindy Blackstock, actually, who is, a fierce advocate for Indigenous kids across Canada, and creating opportunities and equity for them. I remember seeing Cindy Blackstock speak, early, oh gosh, a long time ago before I had even finished my PhD, and she talked about how some of the most innovative programs that we do in Canada, to create better futures for kids, have diverse groups of kids coming together so that they can learn from each other.
I think that's a beautiful statement about what this country is and how we build strong communities. So I would say Cindy Blackstock. Yeah.
[00:22:50] Imran Mian: Amazing. Jeffrey, thank you so much for joining us today. I really enjoyed this conversation because it reminds us that leadership isn't just about what happens inside our organizations, it's also about the impact we choose to have outside of them.
You showed that changing a young person's future doesn't always require a grand gesture.
Sometimes it just starts with opening a door, offering an opportunity, becoming a mentor, or simply deciding to get involved. So thank you. to our listeners, thank you for tuning in to another episode of "Behind the Growth." If today's conversation inspired you, please share it with someone in your network.
Together, we can help create more opportunities for the next generation. Until next time, this is Imran Mian wishing you all a healthy, inspired, and growth-filled day ahead.
