Pathways to Education

Documentary showcases Pathways to Education

Invisible City

NFB produced Invisible City follows two charismatic Regent Park boys as they make the transition from youth to manhood. Each runs into trouble with police, the courts, and school authorities despite having mothers whose love is palpable and their teachers heroic attempt at mentoring. With none of the privileges of wealth and all of the prejudices of poverty, with absent fathers, a landscape of half-demolished buildings, vacant lots and systemic racism stacked against them, the boys struggle to turn their lives around. Directed by Oscar-nominated Hubert Davis.

At-risk youth glimpse life on Bay Street

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"It's very cool. These are the kinds of experiences Pathways lines up for us that give us confidence..."

  • Jennifer credits the program for giving her the confidence to apply to University. Pathways to Education is a successful stay-in-school program responsible for reducing high school dropout rates at Toronto's Regent Park to 10 per cent from 56 per cent in eight years..

Pathways demonstrates dramatic results

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"Since the program was established in 2001, drop-out rates in the community were reduced from 56 to 10 per cent, while the proportion of young people attending post-secondary education increased from 20 to 80 per cent. "

In 2001, Pathways to Education was established in Toronto’s Regent Park to provide local high school students with academic tutoring, group mentoring, student and parent advocacy and support, and scholarships for all students who complete high school and are accepted into post-secondary programs. The Mission is to ensure that young people from at-risk and/or economically disadvantaged communities achieve their full potential by getting to school, staying in school, graduating and moving on to post-secondary programs.

By 2006, an independent evaluation conducted by Boston Consulting Group found that since the program was established, drop-out rates in the community were reduced from 56 to 10 per cent, while the proportion of young people attending post-secondary education increased from 20 to 80 per cent. More than 800 students are currently enrolled in the program.

Based on the success of Pathways and the potential to replicate the Pathways model in other neighbourhoods, United Way is partnering with Pathways to deepen the program in three Toronto communities and to study, analyze and track the Pathways educational model to enable further replication in other at-risk neighbourhoods.

In November 2007, Pathways Canada announced the expansion of Pathways to Education to communities in Toronto, Kitchener and Ottawa. The expansion is made possible through:

  • A strategic partnership with United Way Toronto to continue Pathway’s success in Regent Park and to replicate the model in two of Toronto’s 13 priority neighbourhoods (Rexdale and Lawrence Heights), with plans for another two at-risk neighbourhoods in the city.
  • $19 million investment by the Ontario government over four years to expand Pathways to Education to communities in Ottawa, Kitchener and Toronto.
  • $11 million investment by United Way that combines one-time funding of $10 million from the Ontario government for community-based initiatives that support education achievement for youth and a $1 million donation by a long-standing United Way donor.

This partnership is leveraging both United Way’s youth-based research and expertise and its local network of social service agencies to set-up the new Pathways locations in Toronto. As well, United Way is developing a community of practice initiative to identify and share best practices in educational attainment.

Background information about Pathways:

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