The YMCA and the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation recently announced a new partnership that aims to ensure that more young people from Aboriginal, first generation and low-income families continue their studies past high school.

The Post-Secondary Access Partnership will provide information and one-on-one advising to students and their families from groups that traditionally do not pursue education beyond high school and will be piloted at YMCA sites in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal and Edmonton.  The Foundation will provide seed funding and training to the partnership while the YMCA will coordinate local partnerships, deliver the services and work together with the Foundation to ensure the future financial viability of the projects.

“Our two organizations share the belief that lifting barriers that restrict access to under-represented groups creates an economically healthy and equitable society,” said Scott Haldane, President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Toronto.  “Four out of ten young Canadians do not finish high school, do not go on to post-secondary education or drop out of post-secondary studies. These students generally come from First Nations communities and families where parents did not go beyond high school.”