STORY AND PHOTOS BY DANA BOYINGTON
Single mothers are getting the chance to go back to school with a little help of Sheridan College and some local charities.
A new project dubbed Homeward Bound Halton, offers many services to help single mothers with their education and living expenses as they work towards their educations. This program was – created by Woodgreen Community Services and is offered with the help of charity Home Suite Hope as well as Sheridan. It began this month, at the Trafalgar Campus.
Dr. Jeff Zabudsky, President of Sheridan is hopeful that Sheridan’s initiative will have a “profound impact.”
“Throughout the program each family will be housed with a furnished apartment and will receive funded child care,” he said. “The best way too get on your feet is to get well educated.”
Based on a similar program running in Toronto, Homeward Bound Halton assists women as they become more self-supporting and change the lives of their children.
Sheridan interviews prospective candidates to make sure they are ready to enter post-secondary school and to connect them with programs that interest them most. Homeward Bound and the Oakville Community Foundation then pay for these women to get an education.
“Sheridan will be assisting the women who are not too far from graduating by a ‘bridge’ program, that will give them the certain amount of credits needed for what they want too do,” says Zabudsky.
The college will also be providing applicants with all the services available to students, such as the counseling program or IT services.
“Through our IT program, we are also providing [them] with laptops and all of the other services of the college,” says Zabudsky.
The Oakville Community Foundation has been raising funds for about 20 years. It originally approached Sheridan with this idea.
“This project was brought to my attention by the CEO of Oakville Community Foundation, a wonderful organization that raises funds around Oakville to build a better and stronger community,” says Zabudsky.
Home Suite Hope will provide the women with a roof over their head that is close too the school.
“As a single, younger mother, I personally would love too have an opportunity like this,” says Rebecca Fawcett, 19, a GTA single mother. “It can be hard trying to get a job without much of a education, and this project sounds like it’s giving these women a chance.”
According to the project’s a press release for every dollar spent transforming a vulnerable individual into a self- supporting citizen, the community gets back four dollars back.
“This is the first time we are working with Homeward Bound,” says Rossana Gorys,
Sheridan’s acting senior manager of special projects.
“Hopefully, with the help of Sheridan it can become a success.”