Backgrounder

From the Prime Minister's Web Site (http://www.pm.gc.ca/)

---

Pathways to Education Canada

Canada's Economic Action Plan

March 3, 2011
Toronto, Ontario

Pathways to Education Canada is a charitable organization dedicated to reducing poverty and its effects by lowering the high school drop-out rate and increasing access to post-secondary education for disadvantaged youth.

Working closely with community-based partners, Pathways provides tutoring, mentoring, financial assistance and advocacy in order to ensure that young people successfully complete high school, continue on to post-secondary programs and participate in the jobs of today and tomorrow. The program distinguishes itself by the fact that it relies on volunteers to engage with youth, and serve as mentors and role models.

The Harper Government's funding – in the amount of $20 million over four years – delivers on a Budget 2010 commitment and will enable Pathways to Education Canada to strengthen its existing programming and reach out to more students by expanding its activities to other cities.

The Pathways to Education program was first launched in 2001 by the Regent Park Community Health Centre in Toronto. Since then, the community has witnessed a dramatic rise in the number of students attending – and completing – post-secondary education. Most notably, the high school drop-out rate among program participants has fallen from 56 per cent to under 10 per cent.

In the decade since its introduction, Pathways' award-winning program has also established a track-record of reducing high school drop-out rates and increasing student enrolment at inner-city high schools in other provinces. It now operates in ten additional communities, including seven in Ontario, (Lawrence Heights, Rexdale, Scarborough, Hamilton, Kitchener, Ottawa, Kingston), as well as one in Quebec (Verdun), Nova Scotia (Halifax) and Manitoba (Winnipeg).

Approximately 3,400 students currently receive support from Pathways to Education Canada while more than 700 have graduated from its programs.

The Harper Government believes that education is key to helping Canada's youth build better and stronger futures for themselves and their communities. Support for this program is part of our Government's ongoing efforts to create the best-educated, most skilled and most flexible labour force in the world.

---

The Prime Minister's Office - Communications
[Manage my subscriptions | Unsubscribe]