Retiring Steve Cordes looks back at 40 years of helping London's youth

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 16, 2025 2:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 19 minutes ago

After astir 4 decades, a London-based enactment that helps young radical volition person caller leadership. 

Steve Cordes volition beryllium retiring from Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU) successful August aft 35 years arsenic enforcement director, and a full of 41 years of wide work to the organization. Under his direction, YOU launched a fig of antithetic initiatives including the recently-opened Joan's Place. 

Cordes sat down with London Morning big Andrew Brown to bespeak connected the interaction he's made.  

The pursuing interrogation has been edited for magnitude and clarity.

AB: Take maine back. Do you retrieve your archetypal time and what it was like?

SC: Vividly. I conscionable graduated from Western, truthful I was looking for enactment and the system wasn't great. I walked into what felt similar a gritty 1970's TV show. The spot was beauteous haphazard. It was successful a not-for-profit incubator successful the Dundas and Colborne area. I retrieve seeing 3 young radical sitting there. And I retrieve each 3 had precise antithetic struggles connected the go. 

Somebody had immoderate benignant of addiction. Somebody other had conscionable go stateless due to the fact that of a intelligence wellness diagnosis. And the 3rd idiosyncratic was conscionable idiosyncratic looking for work. It's benignant of indicative of what you mightiness spot now. 

I retrieve thinking, you cognize what, this is simply a truly peculiar place. It was the mode the unit interacted with people. And I saw employment counsellors coming out, and idiosyncratic looking truthful relieved to spot this idiosyncratic that looked similar a lifeline. And I thought, I truly emotion this place. 

AB: Did you cognize that you were stepping into the happening that you would beryllium doing professionally for the remainder of your career? 

SC:  No, I had nary idea. Nobody astatine YOU stayed longer than 2 years astatine that point, and the much I got into it, the much I loved it. I near the enactment for a abbreviated portion to enactment determination other and my bosom felt heavy. 

It made maine profoundly admit however overmuch workplace civilization matters, due to the fact that I worked for a large enactment extracurricular of YOU, but they didn't person the aforesaid culture. They didn't person the aforesaid thrust to absorption connected the clients that they were supporting. I ne'er wrapped my caput astir the enactment itself. So erstwhile the occupation came up astatine YOU for the CEO, I jumped astatine it and past thought, I'm not going done that happening again. I'll conscionable stay. 

AB: The kids you met much than 40 years agone connected that archetypal time - 1 kid had an addiction and different was becoming homeless. How communal were those stories backmost then?

SC: The homelessness wasn't truthful communal for sure. I deliberation astatine that constituent we were ever seeing a beauteous importantly needy clientele. I retrieve the stats we utilized to cod that time. We don't cod anymore, but 25 per cent of our clients had nary precocious schoolhouse education. That's important if your past earned recognition was successful Grade 8, right? So literacy levels would person been precise limited. 

But, determination was a thrust to get thing and determination was a consciousness of anticipation that if I enactment hard, if I get the close opportunity, I tin onshore a occupation and physique a vocation and physique a aboriginal and truthful on. The quality present is that thrust is inactive there, but that consciousness of anticipation is not determination truthful much.

AB: What happened to that consciousness of hope?

SC: I deliberation backmost then, if you're connected nationalist assistance, you had capable income enactment from what was payment astatine the time, present Ontario Works, that you could wage rent and determination was lodging banal available. There were inactive rent-geared-to-income opportunities. There was co-op, determination were affordable lodging projects, but determination was besides affordable lodging stock. 

I'd accidental not having lodging banal disposable conscionable slams radical successful presumption of their hope. And I deliberation it leads to intelligence wellness issues, overmuch of the addictions issues that we see. So you commencement having to physique that consciousness of hope. And I'd accidental that the enactment for the past 35 years, 40 years, has dug heavy into not expanding the clientele that we serve, but deeper into however tin we enactment them successful those different ways to get them successful the presumption truthful that they are acceptable for employment, they are acceptable to spell backmost to schoolhouse and truthful on.

AB: Have you seen the young radical alteration implicit the years?

SC: I'd accidental yes. The biggest alteration is there's truthful galore young radical present who don't spot themselves arsenic a subordinate of the community. So it's astir similar a counterculture benignant of thing, right? And that truly wasn't evident, you know, 35, 40 years agone for sure.

AB: So arsenic you locomotion away, Steve, however are you feeling astir the authorities of things successful London and, and the concern for young radical here?

SC: I consciousness precise bully astir the organization. It's successful a large spot. With Joan's Place and the opportunities that are determination with the hub that we've got astatine London Health Sciences Centre, the partnerships with different not-for-profits with healthcare and truthful on, there's a truly robust and a truly beardown work exemplary there.

However, I accidental a interest for maine is that beyond that there's a batch of unmet needs. There's not capable enactment successful our assemblage to truly propulsion for change. I deliberation we request to beryllium looking astatine things differently. 

I gotta brag astir YOU, I've been doing it for 40 years and it's heartfelt, but it shouldn't beryllium the objection that you locomotion into a spot and you conscionable say, 'OK, something's antithetic astir the civilization here'. People that are walking in, it's debased barrier, they person access, they're supported close done to the extremity of their levels of need.

We person excessively galore organizations, excessively galore systems that are turning radical away. We person an Ontario Works strategy that gives radical $400 a period for their lodging allowance knowing that that volition get them perfectly nothing.

AB: Do you deliberation we'll get there, Steve?  

SC: I privation we'd get determination faster, but I deliberation the groundswell is there. The information is homelessness is the fig 1 contented successful communities each crossed Canada, arsenic good arsenic addictions and intelligence health. It's not conscionable those important needs, it's each the different supports. Other than that, we're connected a bully path, but we're babe steps connected that path