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Youth Program Coordinator

Ottawa Innercity Ministries (OIM) – Ottawa, ON
Full-time | $52,000–$62,000 per year, commensurate with experience and qualifications.​

About OIM

Ottawa Innercity Ministries (OIM) is an interdenominational Christian charity that mobilizes volunteers and builds partnerships to serve Ottawa's inner-city community — meeting spiritual, emotional, social, vocational, and physical needs, and addressing the root causes of poverty and homelessness with compassion.

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Mission: We come alongside individuals experiencing poverty or homelessness, demonstrating the message of Christ in action and word.


Vision: Flourishing communities where people are valued, shown dignity and respect, and given the opportunity for an improved quality of life.


Values: Dependence on God · Respect and dignity for all people · Belief in people’s potential.


Value Proposition:

  • OIM offers consistent, persistent, compassionate, psycho-social, and spiritual support through the delivery of practical goods, food, clothing, bedding, and essentials, in addition to referrals and advocacy, every day in our community.

  • OIM offers the Ottawa Christian community avenues of ministry to the inner-city community that enables them to fulfill the calling of Matthew 25.

  • OIM is the only outreach agency that is daily ministering the gospel on the streets of Ottawa.


What sets us apart: We lead with strengths, not deficits. Instead of defining people by addiction, mental illness, or homelessness, we see and serve them as image-bearers with God-given potential — a philosophy that shapes every OIM program, including our youth work. Flourishing, in OIM's Theory of Change, means more than the absence of crisis: it is a young person actively contributing, connected, and hopeful — not only stabilized.

How This Role Advances OIM's Theory of Change

OIM's Theory of Change names four co-equal long-term outcomes — no one is a means to another. The Youth Program Coordinator (YPC) is the primary steward of all four for OIM's youth:

  • A. Dignity & stability — street-engaged and at-risk youth are treated with consistent dignity and experience greater safety and stability in education, employment, mental health, and housing.

  • B. Potential & agency — youth grow into their potential as leaders, contributors, and agents in community and church life, through the active discovery, mentorship, and mobilization of their gifts (Asset-Based Community Development).

  • C. Spiritual growth & dependence on God — youth have voluntary, non-coercive opportunities for spiritual encounter, prayer, and Christian community, offered by consent, never as a condition of participation.

  • D. Mobilized church — churches, businesses, and community partners find durable, concrete avenues to serve alongside youth programming, moving from occasional support to sustained partnership.

This role also anchors one of the ToC’s stated preconditions: "a safe space for youth to build identity and skill," delivered through weekly, strength-based youth programming.

The opportunity

Join our team as Youth Program Coordinator (YPC) and lead OIM's youth programming — including Innercity Arts, StepUp, and Innercity Youth Fitness. Reporting to the Executive Director, you'll help street-engaged youth discover their strengths and pursue goals in education, employment, addiction treatment, mental health, and housing. You'll build referral networks across churches, business, and the social sector, and bring creativity and leadership to a growing vision for youth ministry at OIM — one that measures success the way OIM measures all of its ministry: dignity and stability gained, potential and agency grown, spiritual life voluntarily deepened, and the church mobilized alongside youth.

What You'll Do

Dignity & Stability

  • Coordinate all OIM youth programs — Innercity Arts, StepUp, Innercity Youth Fitness, and future initiatives — as a consistent, trauma-informed presence youth can rely on.

  • Support youth one-on-one, including referrals to community agencies for education, employment, mental health, addiction treatment, and housing.

  • Keep accurate statistical and financial records, and manage the ICA program budget and supplies, so programming stays reliable and well-resourced.

Potential & Agency (Asset-Based Community Development)

  • Run Innercity Arts (ICA), a twice-weekly strength-based art program featuring exhibitions/sales, artist workshops, and mentorship that showcases — not hides — youth talent.

  • Plan and execute youth program events, including the annual art exhibition, as public platforms for youth to be seen as contributors.

  • Help design new youth programs around participants' own gifts and interests, and build pathways for youth who've grown through OIM's programs to step into peer-leadership, mentorship, or advisory roles.

  • Recruit, screen, and train volunteers and personnel; supervise youth program volunteers and mentors.

Spiritual Growth & Dependence on God

  • Offer youth genuine, low-pressure opportunities for spiritual conversation, prayer, and Christian community as part of program life — always by invitation and consent, never as a condition of participating.

  • Ensure adequate volunteer coverage for each program and adjust as needed when changes arise.

  • Model and disciple youth-facing volunteers in OIM's dependence-on-God posture, so spiritual care stays consistent even as programs grow.

Mobilized Church

  • Represent OIM's youth programs to churches, businesses, and community groups, and build referral networks that create real on-ramps for congregations to serve.

  • Lead, mentor and manage Christians from the Ottawa area as co-ministers of the gospel to the youth who come to OIM programs.

  • Write grant proposals and pursue sponsorships for youth programs, as requested.

  • Pitch in on other ministry programs as needed — street outreach, drop-ins, StepUp, and more — reinforcing OIM's integrated, one-team approach to ministry.

Qualifications

Education and experience

  • Degree in social services, diploma in child and youth work, or equivalent experience. Evangelical theology training is a plus.

  • Working with street-engaged, at-risk, or homeless youth — including youth in conflict with the law.

  • Program development and strength-based, asset-based practice (seeing youth as contributors, not only cases to manage).

  • Street culture and the issues facing homeless youth/young adults; trauma-informed care.

  • Genuine alignment with OIM's mission, vision, values, and Theory of Change — able to hold dignity, potential, spiritual growth, and church partnership as equally important, not ranked outcomes.

Skills and competencies

  • Strong rapport with at-risk and street-involved youth; pastoral care ability.

  • ​Excellent written and verbal communication.

  • Administrative rigor, conflict resolution, and crisis management.

  • ​Comfortable with MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, and social media.

  • Volunteer supervision experience.

  • French/English bilingualism is an asset.

Personal Qualities

  • You are compassionate, resourceful, and self-directed, with strong planning skills, sound judgment, and a genuine service orientation. You thrive with minimal supervision, adapt easily, and bring innovative energy to a growing program — and you naturally see the young people you serve as gifted, not just at-risk.

Faith Commitment

  • You're a committed Christian who lives out biblical values in practice, in line with OIM's constitution and statement of faith — and who is ready to embody our mission, vision, and strengths-based approach in how you lead and serve youth.

Working Conditions

  • Flexible hours required, including evenings and events, to support youth programming.

How Success Is Measured

  • Consistent with OIM's Theory of Change indicators, this role's impact is tracked through measures such as:

    • Number of youth program contacts and days of program delivery (dignity & stability).​

    • Number of peer-led or co-led youth activities per year, and youth stepping into peer-leadership or advisory roles (potential & agency).

    • Youth-reported comfort with how spiritual care was offered, with no pressure felt (spiritual growth & dependence on God).

    • ​Number of new churches/volunteer groups onboarded to youth programming and moving to recurring partnership (mobilized church).

How to apply

Send your application for this pivotal role with Ottawa Innercity Ministries to: Gerry Potter, Executive Director – Gerry.potter@ottawainnercityministries.ca​

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