A Tale of Three Cities

Abstract This chapter offers a historical overview of the rise, reach, and fall of YouthSites in the cities of London, Toronto, and Vancouver. The national histories of youth, education, and arts provision in each country manifestly influence the organizations. The political commitments within city politics, which, of course, fluctuate over the period, are equally influential. The chapter discusses the particular kinds of influence that spurred growth—ranging from evangelical youth provision to investments in the creative technology workforce—and shows how these were supported and were equally subject to changes in funding fashions, moral panics, political concerns, and social anxieties in the United Kingdom and Canada.