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The Manitoba government is investing $1 million in a new Bright Futures fund that will help disadvantaged and low-income students complete high school and pursue a post-secondary education, Advanced Education and Literacy Minister Diane McGifford and Education, Citizenship and Youth Minister Peter Bjornson announced today.

 

This new fund will enable community-based groups to work with partnering schools to provide students with a variety of supports including tutoring, increased family involvement in schools, mentoring, goal-setting, career exploration and bursaries in order to improve high-school graduation rates and increase access to post-secondary education.

 

“Identifying students who need support early in their school years and intervening often will ensure more children and their families understand the lifelong health, social and economic benefits of completing high school and post-secondary education,” McGifford said.  “Tackling barriers to education is critical to success, creating positive effects for families over generations.”

 

“Inner-city, Aboriginal and immigrant students are among those who will benefit from supports that allow them to stay in school, complete Grade 12 and attend college or university,” Bjornson said.  

 

Today’s announcement was held at Wellington School, which works with Career Trek, a successful community-based program that has worked with children, families and the education community to motivate students to stay in school and develop career goals.  Programs such as Career Trek will be eligible for greater support under Bright Futures.

 

“Today’s Bright Futures announcement is good news for programs like Career Trek, which provided me with the inspiration and clarity I needed to complete my education and further my career goals. Now I am pleased to work with the program to support students who face many of the same challenges,” said Fairy Wong, a Career Trek mentor who graduated from Wellington School.

 

The Bright Futures fund will support several pilot projects similar to Career Trek in the upcoming year. Career Trek has a very high student completion rate.  Fifty per cent of high-school graduates from the first four years Career Trek was available went directly from high school to post-secondary education.  All current Career Trek staff are post-secondary students and nearly half of them completed the Career Trek program.

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