Pathways to Education

LOOKING FOR GRADE 9 STUDENTS

The average highschool student will deal with stress form school, homework, tests, exams, and trouble with making new friends.  Good thing we have Pathways where you do homework, have fun, make new friends and learn new studying techniques.  Pathways is not only helpful but very fun.

Nicko (Student)                     

North Hamilton Community Health Centre was the driving force in bringing the award-winning Pathways to Education Program to Hamilton. Pathways, the innovative stay-in-school program designed to reduce poverty and its effects by lowering the dropout rate among high school students from economically disadvantaged communities and increase their participation in post-secondary programs, has been established in two neighbourhoods in North Hamilton for the 2009/2010 school year.

What makes the Pathways program work is its comprehensive and integrated approach structured around four pillars of support: academic support through tutoring in core subjects, social support through group and career mentoring by positive adult volunteers, financial support through post-secondary scholarships and bus tickets/food vouchers, and counselling and personal support from a Student-Parent Support Worker.

First created and implemented in Regent Park (Toronto) by the Regent Park Community Health Centre in 2001, Pathways has seen the dropout rates in the area fall from 56% to 10% and the post-secondary participation rate has increased from 20% to 80%. A proven effective model, this success has led to two other programs in Toronto, as well as one in Ottawa, Kitchener and Montreal.

 The need for such a program in North Hamilton was evident after North Hamilton Community Health Centre identified that the drop out rates for students living in the North End of Hamilton is approximately 45%. Through collaboration from the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board, the Hamilton Wentworth Catholic District School Board and Mohawk College, among others, the Health Centre worked with Pathways Canada to gain the full approvals necessary to launch the program in Hamilton.

The Health Centre is actively recruiting students entering Grade 9 and living in the North Hamilton neighbourhoods of Keith and Bennetto to register for the program, as well as enlisting volunteers from across Hamilton to serve as tutors and mentors.

This website is filled with information about Hamilton Pathways to Education.  To sign up as a student or for more information use our online Sign-Up Form in the Student Central section of this site, or check our Contact Us page for more ways to reach us.  To volunteer, look under the Volunteer section for much more!

For information on Pathways to Education Canada, visit this site: www.pathwayscanada.ca.