Pathways to Education

Created by the Regent Park Community Health Centre, Pathways to Education focuses on youth in an effort to break the cycle of poverty.  The program:

• reduces drop-out rates and absenteeism,

• assists academically at-risk students, and

• increases the graduation rate. 

Pathways Kitchener

Due to its success in Regent Park, Pathways Canada was formed, and the program expanded into 5 communities across Ontario and Quebec, including Kitchener. Pathways to Education is now in its second year in the Kitchener area. The program is accessible to two communities in Kitchener:

• Chandler-Mowat, which includes Valleyview Rd, Chandler Dr, Mowat Blvd, Howe Dr, Windale Cres, and several others;
• Kingsdale, which includes Courtland-Shelley, Traynor-Vanier, Cedarwoods Cres, Connaught St, Kingsway Dr, Balfour Cres, and many others.

The program is open to any student living on one of the streets in the target areas.  In 2007, the program began with Grade 9 students, but adds one high school grade per year until all four grades are included by 2010.

Currently, Pathways Kitchener is working with more than 250 students in the two communities. Since the program began in September 2007, Pathways students:

• have achieved higher grades,
• attended school more regularly, and
• focused on the expectations and requirements of their educational plans. 

Tutoring and mentoring are now held in five locations throughout the Kingsdale and Chandler-Mowat communities, and the Student Parent Support Workers are meeting with students in over seven high schools throughout the Kitchener-Waterloo area. The program continues to grow as students, their families, and community members spread the word, and as Pathways to Education makes its mark in Waterloo Region.    

Four Supports

The program is structured around four pillars of support: 

• Academic Support is provided through tutoring in core academic subjects.
• Social Support is provided in the form of mentoring relationships and activities which are suitable to age, interests, and abilities, and are aimed toward creating a sense of community within the program, and with the community as a whole.
• Financial Support is provided through the distribution of bus tickets, which are given out as an incentive to keep students attending classes.  Students are given enough tickets to get to and from school five days per week and tickets are withheld for each day of classes a student skips.  The financial support is also offered through access to a food voucher program, and a thousand dollar scholarship which is awarded to each student for each year they successfully complete the Program.  The scholarship is kept in trust for the students until they enter the post-secondary schooling of their choice, and is then paid out to the post-secondary institution by Pathways to Education.
• Advocacy Support takes the form of the Student Parent Support Workers, who provide a bridge between the student, school, family, and program, helping students and their parents navigate the school system, while advocating on their behalf.