Regent Park Pathways to Education Program

The Regent Park Pathways to Education Program is located at:
411 Parliament Street, 2nd Floor
Toronto, ON M5A 3A1
Tel: 416-642-1570

For complete program information, please contact:
Sharmini Fernando
Program Director
Tel.: 416-642-1570, ext. 262
Email: sharminif@regentparkchc.org

For the Regent Park website, please click here.

About the Regent Park Community
Regent Park is the oldest public housing project and one of the most economically disadvantaged regions in Canada. While extremely rich in diversity, it is a community that faces many race, language and cultural barriers. The numbers speak for themselves:

• Over 80% of residents are visible minorities, and for many English is a second language;
• Few families are earning more than $18,000 per year (less than 1/3 the national average);
• The region has twice the number of single-parent families as the rest of Toronto.

With an average of 850 high school age youth and no secondary schools in the community, 56% of them (twice the Toronto average) were dropping out - until Pathways came along.

Beginning in September 2001, Pathways enrolled 95% of the eligible grade nine high school students (and their parents) in the program addressing many of the challenges expressed by the Regent Park community.

Now in its seventh year, The Pathways to Education Program continues to enroll and re-enroll over 95% of the eligible grades nine, ten, eleven and twelve students as the program has expanded to include over 835 students attending over 60 different high schools.

In creating the Pathways to Education Program, the vision of the Regent Park Community Health Centre has been to transform the life chances of a generation of young people so they would become the community's future leaders. The specific objectives of the program are to increase both retention in high school and academic success of students from the Regent Park area, to give increased opportunities and encouragement for young people to pursue post-secondary education, to develop their careers, and to be part of the knowledge-based economy.

Catchment area:
The catchment area of Regent Park & Moss Park (Gerrard St. on the north, Sherbourne St. on the west, King St. on the south and the Don River on the east).

How to join:
If you are a student from the Regent Park catchment area and would like to find out how to join the Pathways to Education Program, you or your parent/guardian can contact Beryl Tang, Administrative Assistant, at berylt@regentparkchc.org or on of our Coordinators of Student/Parent Support Workers: Lana Rozitis at lanar@regentparkchc.org or Kim Outten at kimo@regentparkchc.org.

How to volunteer:
Returning and new volunteer tutors and group mentors will be invited to register and attend training sessions in September for the following school year. Please e-mail Nicki Samuel, Volunteer Engagement Specialist at nickis@regentparkchc.org indicating your area of interest and expertise and someone will contact you with more information.