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Youth Services Bureau Annual Report

Celebrating Youth And An Exceptional Organization

In 2020, the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa celebrated 60 years of service to the local community, particularly its youth and families. Since starting with a small team of two social workers in downtown Ottawa in 1960, YSB now has well over 350 dedicated staff and 20 locations. 

Times and fashions have certainly changed over the six decades of YSB's existence, but its core work is to ensure youth's well-being has not. Every day, the Youth Services Bureau delivers services and provides a voice to youth in mental health, housing, employment and justice. 

A few years ago, we started working with the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa Foundation. Initially, we helped write and design the case for support for their fundraising campaign for the new Youth Housing Hub, which opened in 2019. We then went on to lend a hand with their signature event, SleepOUT for Youth. 

Marking a Milestone with a Special Annual Report

In early 2020 we started talking to the Youth Services Bureau about their 60th anniversary. The goal was to mark the occasion appropriately while ensuring that youth were at the centre of messaging, tone and imagery.  

In addition to social media, one of the critical communication channels during the 60th anniversary year is the annual report released as part of the annual general meeting. For the 60th, the annual report would become a custom micro-website and a limited digital print run and interactive PDF. 

“McGill Buckley brought our annual report project to life and made it everything I hoped it would be. Their creativity, attitude and design were exceptional, and they are such easy-going, thorough pros to work with.”

~ Suzanne Fraser, Director of Communications

Working closely with YSB’s Director of Communications, we interviewed staff and teams from different services areas.  We then tag-teamed the writing of the annual report’s print and web versions. Simultaneously, we designed the look and feel, poured through images, and planned the English and French versions. We also worked with our long-time developers to build the micro-website that lives within the existing YSB website. We included strategic animations to give some added oomph to the virtual AGM. Ah, design and development in the time of COVID. 

YSB’s 2019/2020 Annual Report included: