Community Knowledge Centre - Toronto Community Foundation

About this organization

Mission

Where you live shouldn’t determine your success in school. But in many cases, it does. Pathways to Education Canada is a charitable organization that helps youth in low-income communities graduate from high school and successfully transition into post-secondary education or training. Pathways addresses systemic barriers to education by providing leadership, expertise and a community-based program proven to lower dropout rates. Founded in 2001, Pathways operates in 11 communities across Canada, with programs in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Manitoba. 

“We should ask ourselves why, in a country as prosperous as Canada, we have such outrageous high school dropout rates in so many communities. Pathways has shown that by tackling this problem head-on, we can reduce poverty and create an expectation of success.”  -Carolyn Acker, Founder, Pathways to Education

History of Organization

In 2001, The Pathways to Education Program™ was developed as an initiative of the Regent Park Community Health Centre. In Toronto’s Regent Park, the average family income was less than $18,000 and the high school dropout rate was an astonishing 56 per cent. The program was implemented with the mission to reduce poverty and its effects by lowering the high school dropout rate and increasing participation in post-secondary education among youth in this disadvantaged community.

Based on the program’s success in Toronto’s Regent Park, Pathways to Education Canada was formally created in 2005 and has since expanded to 11 communities: Toronto (Regent Park, Lawrence Heights, Rexdale and Scarborough), Kitchener, Ottawa, Montreal, Hamilton, Halifax, Kingston and Winnipeg.

Pathways to Education Canada is embarking on an initiative to expand our operations to up to 16 communities in at least 6 provinces by 2016. Our goal is to continue to reach out to communities that have the need, desire and capacity to implement the program all while extending our reach and serving more students at our current sites.

Over the last ten years, the Pathways program has been proven to be replicable, flexible, sensitive to local needs and work across all cultural contexts.

Accolades and Accomplishments

It’s an idea with proven impact. The Pathways program demonstrates that the dropout rate and other factors that keep youth from succeeding can be significantly improved through four pillars of support (academic, social, financial and one-to-one mentoring). Results from the original program in Toronto’s Regent Park, show that Pathways has helped to:

• Reduce the dropout rate  by more than 70 per cent
• Double the high school graduation rate
• Increase the rate of students going on to post-secondary education and training by as much as 300 per cent. More than 90 per cent of the students enrolling in post-secondary programs will be the first in their families to pursue post-secondary education

A Boston Consulting Group study has found that that every $1 invested in Pathways generates a $24 return to society by ensuring youth have the education that decreases social costs and an increases our tax base. 

“Pathways is getting results. This program succeeds where others have failed because it engages the community. It was created by individuals with a vision.”   -Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Gay McDougall, a United Nations independent expert on minority issues, highlights Pathways as one of the most outstanding educational models seen during her 2009 visit to Canada.

For three years running (2009, 2010 and 2011), Charity Intelligence Canada has named Pathways to Education a recommended charity. Recognized for excellence in addressing a social issue, cost efficiency and track record of producing outstanding results for Canadians in need.

Programs

>Pathways to Education

Pathways to Education has a vision of Canada becoming the Graduation Nation. Pathways works at the community level by delivering academic tutoring, group and career-oriented mentoring and one-to-one support. The program gives students the opportunity to earn financial support, including transit tickets, meal vouchers and scholarships for graduates who pursue post-secondary education. This comprehensive approach differentiates the Pathways program from comparable programs across the continent.

Pathways to Education

Pathways to Education makes a multi-year commitment to youth and their families. Through a force of volunteers, the program delivers after-school tutoring, mentoring and financial assistance to overcome the barriers that can stand in the way of education.

Each student is partnered with a support worker – part counsellor, advocate, confidante, social worker and mediator – who motivates and guides students and their families, brings insight that can’t be found on report cards, and hold students accountable to the contract they sign in order to participate in the program.

Pathways collectively “wraps” students with comprehensive, multi-year supports proven to be critical in helping them stay in school, graduate and make the transition into healthy, successful and contributing adults.

• Volunteers provide after-school tutoring in core academic subjects.
• Volunteers run group mentoring activities to help students with social skills, problem solving and career planning.
• Scholarships and other financial supports provide incentives and help reduce barriers to school completion. Short-term supports include transit tickets and meal vouchers; longer-term support comes in the form of a bursary toward post-secondary education.

This comprehensive program is delivered in the community – where the students live and where they are surrounded by people they trust. Pathways partners with local agencies in high-need communities and helps them build the knowledge and capacity required to run the program. Pathways enters into contracts with students, parents and schools to establish clear goals and expectations and to promote shared responsibility for success. All high-school aged youth in the community are eligible to participate in the Pathways program.

Program Impact

Pathways’ program results continue to far exceed early hopes. The Pathways program has achieved ground-breaking success across the board. In Regent Park, drop-out rates have been reduced by as much as 80 per cent, graduation rates have increased by as much as 83 per cent, post-secondary participation has increased by 300 per cent – with more than 80 percent of graduates moving on to post-secondary education and training.

Toronto Pathways sites have been successful in enrolling more than 90 per cent of the eligible youth in the program, and, as a result, have had a transformational impact not only on the specific outcomes for the individual students, but on the outlook and prospects for the entire community. Research confirms that high school dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, tend to commit more crime, have higher incidence of illness and drug use, and tend to rely more on social assistance. On the other hand, an increase in educational attainment increases the chances of improved health and economic prospects.

The Boston Consulting Group calculated that a Pathways graduate generates a cumulative lifetime benefit to society of $600,000. By 2016, Pathways expects to serve 10,000 students and alumni across Canada.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

• “The clear link between low income and poor health outcomes underscores inequality in the City of Toronto. Low income is linked to other factors, such as immigration status, family structure and educational attainment and all of these interact to create significant health inequalities between Toronto’s wealthier and poorer neighbourhoods.”
• “The youth unemployment rate surpassed 20% in June 2009, up 5% in just one year and 4% higher than the national rate. And there are almost twice as many youth gangs as in 2000.”
• “Aboriginal students are less likely to have finished high school. 29.6% of the Toronto Region Aboriginal population (15 and over) identified in the last census (2006), had yet to finish high school, compared to 20.3% for the City as a whole.”
• “Focused investment in some of Toronto’s poorest neighbourhoods may be starting to make a difference.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

Participant Vignette

Ruth Brago is one of thousands of students across Canada that has been helped by Pathways to Education over the past decade. Read her compelling story below or watch Ruth’s video above.

Ruth Brago moved to Toronto’s Regent Park from Ghana in 1997. Entering the Toronto school system was tough for her. She felt ignored by teachers because they did not know how to address her language barriers and was put into a learning disability program. As she entered high school, she continued to struggle. “The biggest challenge was getting used to high school, things like negotiating my classes, adjusting to the workload and continuing to learn the language,” Ruth says.

Pathways to Education became a source of support and encouragement for Ruth. The program provided the tutoring in order for her to get the grades she needed for college, while mentoring helped her learn to trust people outside of her family and community. Pathways did not just help change Ruth’s life, but gave her mother a new perspective on education. “My mother did not understand what it was all about … in my culture there is very little value placed on young girls pursuing higher education and careers.” The support she received from her Student-Parent Support Worker helped her to address these issues at home. Ruth now has a Child and Youth Worker diploma from George Brown College, and has gone on to receive a Child and Youth Care degree from Ryerson University.