Creating Hope, Opportunity, and Results for Disadvantaged Youth

Part 1

Abstract

This paper recounts the development of the Pathways to Education Program from its origins in the Regent Park community of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Program was conceived in 2000 as a response to the seeming intractable and longstanding problem of high school dropouts in one of Canada’s most economically disadvantaged and culturally diverse communities. In the first section, the authors recount the development of the Program. Section Two documents the Program’s remarkable success in significantly reducing the dropout rate and increasing post-secondary participation through the provision of comprehensive, communitybased supports. The final section offers lessons first about the Program itself and, second, about possible implications for other social innovations. The Program’s success has led to its replication in other low-income communities across Canada.