THIS IS
WHO
WE ARE.
Our Mission
To equip young people — and the educators and systems that serve them — with the capacity to act, adapt, and create in a rapidly changing world. We build future-ready learners, one student, one classroom, one system at a time.
Our Vision
A world where education systems are designed not to transfer knowledge, but to cultivate the capacity to navigate, shape, and lead within uncertainty — where every young person graduates not waiting for opportunity, but creating it.
Collingwood, ON
Recipient
BUILT ON
PURPOSE.
DRIVEN BY
PEOPLE.
Our mission and vision aren't aspirational language on a wall. They are the filter through which every decision gets made — every program, every partnership, every line of code.
The four values below are how that conviction shows up in practice. They haven't changed since day one — because they were never about what we wanted to be. They were always about what we refused to stop being.
YOU Power™ First
The young person is always the point.
Every program decision, every platform feature, every partnership we pursue is measured against one question: does this help a young person discover and step into their YOU Power™? If the answer isn't yes, we don't do it.
Community Over Transactions
Relationships, not contracts.
We build lasting partnerships with municipalities, educators, and families — because real impact lives in trust. We don't show up, deliver, and disappear. We stay, measure, and grow alongside the communities and systems we serve.
Program First, Tech Second
Proof before platform.
We spent four years building and refining our methodology in real communities with real young people before we wrote a single line of software. YPLS™ exists because the program demanded it — not the other way around.
Built with Safety at the Core
Youth-first by design.
Every program, platform, and process is designed with youth safety, privacy, and wellbeing as foundational requirements — not afterthoughts. We are committed to meeting the highest standards of compliance as we grow.
"Meta-skills — the capacity to think critically, adapt, create, and lead — are the currency of future participation. We cannot wait for an outdated system to fully collapse before we act. We can work within existing structures right now to make today's learning relevant to tomorrow's challenges and opportunities. That is exactly what we are doing."
BUILT IN
COMMUNITY.
SCALED IN
CODE.
The YOU Power Project™ didn't start with a platform. It started with a conviction — that entrepreneurial thinking, introduced early and delivered with heart, changes who a young person believes they can become.
Four years of community delivery. Hundreds of young people. Real ventures, real data, real partners asking for more. The technology followed the proof — not the other way around.
First Cohort — Fully Virtual
Launched our first youth entrepreneurship cohort with students ages 11–16. Delivered entirely virtually. Curriculum built from the ground up. Methodology tested live, in real time, with real young people.
B.O.S.S.™ Framework Formalised
Codified our four-pillar competency model — Believe, Observe, Shape/Solve, Share — as the measurable backbone of every program we deliver. The framework that had been tested live became IP-protected methodology.
Partner Programming Introduced
Expanded beyond our direct-to-student model by partnering with municipalities, EDOs, and community organisations to embed YOU Power programming into their own delivery. The community became the classroom.
Partners Asked for Data
Funders and government partners needed more than anecdotal outcomes. We began designing a measurement system rooted in our own methodology — not retrofitted from someone else's platform. The YPLI™ was born from the field, not from a whiteboard.
YPLS™ Is Being Built — Intentionally
Train-the-Trainer is live and scaling. YPLS™ is being built in active partnership with our delivery network — real educators, real students, and real partner organisations shaping every feature decision. This is what four years of proof looks like as infrastructure.
"I started this because I knew that the earlier we introduce young people to their own power, the more likely they are to carry it with them — and use it for something good."
THE PEOPLE
BEHIND THE
YOU POWER™
We are educators, technologists, community builders, and changemakers — united by a single conviction: that every young person has YOU Power™ waiting to be discovered. This is the team that shows up every day to prove it.
Jessica Flynn, OCT
Jessica founded The YOU Power Project™ from a simple, unshakeable conviction: entrepreneurial thinking, introduced early and delivered with heart, doesn't just teach young people skills — it changes who they believe they can become.
An educator by training and a celebrated changemaker by practice, Jessica spent four years building and refining her methodology in real communities with real young people before a single line of software was written. The YOU Power Project™ is the result of that patient, purposeful work.
Mark Wilkins
Architecting the technology that brings YOU Power™ to life — the YPLS™ platform, real-time data infrastructure, and the systems that scale our mission without diluting it.
Peter LePiane
Bridging impact and innovation — ensuring every program, partnership, and platform decision traces back to measurable outcomes for young people and the communities they call home.
Emily Knight
Building the community of municipalities, SBECs, and institutions that bring YOU Power programming to more young people across Ontario and beyond — one relationship at a time.
Angela Wanjira
The operational heartbeat of The YOU Power Project™ — keeping programs running, partners supported, and the team moving with purpose and precision every single day.
Juno Thiensirisak
Building and refining the YPLS™ platform and YPLI™ engine — turning competency data into meaningful, reportable insight for students, educators, and partners.
Chris Adams
With Jessica since the start, Chris brings strategic perspective and deep experience to help The YOU Power Project™ navigate growth, partnerships, and long-term impact at scale.
We're always looking for mission-aligned people. If The YOU Power Project™ feels like your kind of work — we'd love to hear from you.
RECOGNIZED.
AWARDED.
STILL
BUILDING.
Five national and international recognitions across three years — not because we chased awards, but because the work speaks for itself. This is what happens when you build something that genuinely changes young people's lives.
Education 2.0 Global Conference — International recognition for innovation in youth entrepreneurship education.
Education 2.0 Conference · GlobalNamed among Canada's top 100 entrepreneurial ventures — selected from thousands of applicants nationwide.
Bell Canada Total Mom Pitch · NationalRecognizing The YOU Power Project™'s measurable impact on youth empowerment and education in the community.
City of Barrie · OntarioFlip the Script Pitch Competition — Government of Canada sponsored, hosted in Toronto by the Canadian Women's Chamber of Commerce.
CanWCC · Government of Canada · NationalNational recognition for social enterprise, community impact, and mission-driven business leadership.
Capital Elle Business Impact Awards · NationalAwards are a signal, not a destination. Every recognition we've received points back to the same source — young people discovering what they're capable of. That's the only metric that matters.
— Jessica Flynn, Founder & CEO
THE COST
OF WAITING
IS NO LONGER
THEORETICAL.
Transformation does not require starting over. It requires activating what already exists — with better frameworks, better tools, and the courage to begin. Whether you're investing in a single community cohort or transforming a national education system, the pathway forward starts here.
Partner with us to deliver YOU Power programming in your community — or transform your education system from within. Turn-key. Proven. Scalable.
Your child has YOU Power waiting to be discovered. Give them the summer that changes how they see themselves — and what they believe they're capable of.
Media, prospective team members, curious humans — every conversation starts with listening. We'd love to hear from you.