ESTEVAN - The Estevan Public Youth Centre (EPYC) has taken another big step forward with the hiring of its first executive director.
The board for the youth centre announced Friday that it has hired Juli Dzuba for the role. An Estevan native, Dzuba comes to the EPYC with almost eight years working with non-profit organizations.
She has spent nearly seven years with the Envision Counselling and Support Centre.
“Through her interviews, she showed a strong passion for working with youth, as well as taking on this unique challenge to bring a youth centre to the city of Estevan,” the EPYC board said in a news release.
Dzuba said she wanted to work for EPYC because she is a huge fan of spending time with youth, and she saw some things lacking with youth in Estevan. EPYC can help fill that gap.
“Part of my role as executive director will be to build the centre within the community, so we will be working on and focusing on creating the space, and finding a space to run programming,” Dzuba told the Mercury.
She will be tasked with creating the programming for youths and bringing in volunteers.
Much of her time with Envision was spent with youth.
“I spent a lot of time in the schools and working with groups and in students presentations,” she said.
Dzuba has volunteered with youth organizations as well, serving as a coach for the Junior Coaler Rollers roller derby team, and she did other youth-related activities in Estevan.
Her first day as executive director was July 15. She is currently based out of South East Business Startup’s office, but that is a temporary location until they find a permanent site.
“The board has been amazing. I have really enjoyed getting to meet everyone and figuring out what they’ve already been working on, and the things they have accomplished already, and getting to know them a little bit better and sorting out a plan to work forward with.”
Dzuba said she is excited to be the first employee for EPYC, and to have the opportunity to create something from scratch. But she recognizes there will also be challenges.
“It hasn’t been done before (in Estevan), and there’s nothing to work off of, so I think nervousness and excitement go hand in hand,” said Dzuba.
Board secretary Patrick Fisher said they had very good candidates, but Dzuba had the social worker qualification they were looking for, and she has local roots, so she could attest to the need for programming for youths in Estevan.
“She also had experience, when she was in school in Vancouver, doing work with a youth centre there,” said Fisher. “She has a lot of passion for helping youth and the experience with a non-profit. Growing up in Estevan was a nice touch, too.”
About half a dozen people applied and the EPYC interviewed three candidates. All three individuals they interviewed would have been good fits, he said.
The EPYC board has been doing a lot of planning on the logistics, Fisher said, and on the financial side for budgeting and for policy.
“None of us on the board are programmers. We can say what we want this youth centre to look like, but we’re not the people with the experience to put that into practice. Having someone as an executive director who has that vision and can put that vision into place in terms of programming and actually working with the youth is what helps us move forward.”
Fisher compared it to a “chicken and an egg scenario,” where they wanted to ask for money, but without an executive director, they didn’t have anything to back it up. Now that they have someone in place, it’s easier to show progress with what they’ve done when they seek support.
The next step is for Dzuba to formulate what she sees as programming she can run while EPYC tries to establish a permanent building, the times that would work best for programs, and then implement those programs.
“We are hopeful to have some form of programming starting for the fall, whether that is some test nights and just starting to get our word out on what’s happening, and giving some ideas a try, and having people experience it to see what we’re doing right or doing wrong, but we do hope to have something going around the time that kids get back to school,” he said.
With the public health restrictions lifted, the programming will likely be in person.
Dzuba said when she was working with Envision, she was hearing a lot of excitement in the community to see a youth centre open in Estevan.
“Having a youth centre is something that seems to be on people’s mind, and they’re really excited to see how the project expands and opens up,” said Dzuba.
