Pilot project aims to help more Kitchener-area students at risk of not graduating high school

KITCHENER — A new pilot project aims to support students at risk of not graduating from high school in two low-income Kitchener neighbourhoods.

Carizon hopes to launch the three-year pilot in January with 160 students in Victoria Hills and Centreville Chicopee.

“We think this is a great opportunity to take something we know works and modify it so we can reach more students,” said Carizon chief executive officer Tracy Elop.

The pilot is based on the Pathways to Education program that Carizon has been running in the Chandler Mowat and Kingsdale neighbourhoods for 10 years. It saw graduation rates in those neighbourhoods improve by 85 per cent.

Last year there was a comprehensive review of the model, which is successful but expensive to offer. As well, Carizon realized many more students in other neighbourhoods could benefit.

Youth Getting Connected focuses on key components that impact the lives of students and their academic success: the one-on-one relationship between the student and support worker, and financial assistance.

The current program also runs throughout high school, with about the same level of support throughout. But that can create a challenge for some students when they move on to post-secondary education or the workforce.

“They feel a little bit lost because they’re used to having that support,” Elop said.

The pilot will start with students in Grade 8 and take them through to Grade 10, and then be available when needed.

And now instead of every student being able to access the program, it will focus on youth identified by schools who show signs of struggling.

The pilot got annual funding for three years of $200,000 from the local Lyle S. Hallman Foundation and $100,000 from Pathways to Education Canada.

The pilot will be evaluated at the end of three years, along with similar projects being run in Hamilton and Ottawa.

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