The abuse, neglect and trauma which many children
and youth experience early in life can have a
serious influence on their education and many
require additional support. Research has shown that
children and youth who grow up in care may face
struggles in school which their non-care peers do
not. They may have multiple school moves, they are
often behind in grade levels, and they are at a
higher risk of dropping out all together.
Those children and youth who have grown up in care
and were able to complete high school and continue
to post secondary education truly deserve our
praise, admiration and respect. They pursue their
educational goals without the benefit of families to
support them financially or emotionally. Through
hard work and dedication they “beat the odds”.
One of the primary goals of the Children’s Aid
Society of Halifax Foundation’s is to provide
children in care with the encouragement and support
required to ensure them academic success and help
them establish themselves as productive adults.
Education improves the lives of all children, and
the Foundation is often the only place a child or
youth in care, or formerly in care, can turn to
receive the assistance and support they require to
fulfill their potential.
Our
objective is to increase the number of children in care who meet the academic
expectations for their age and grade level increasing
both the number who successfully complete high school
and who go on to pursue post secondary education.
Annual
Education Achievement Awards
Each year the CAS Foundation provides bursaries and
scholarships to those youth who are pursuing post
secondary education or vocational training. The
bursaries cover one-half of the cost of tuition to
attend university, community college, apprenticeship
programs or trade schools. Youth know that they can
rely on the CAS Foundation year after year until
they complete their studies, even after their care
status has ended.
The CAS Foundation also provides grants for educational
support and tutoring for children with special
needs, and
to young adults in need of extra educational
assistance because of specific learning
disabilities. As well, we support children in care who require
remedial, rehabilitative or therapeutic programs
which will enable them to function with more
independence.
Harry Kostman Memorial Scholarship
In 2005 we had the wonderful good fortune to have
a individual donor pledge $30,000 to our Education Fund,
pledging to give $6,000 a year for five years. Six
thousand dollars is approximately the cost of one
year of university tuition these days.
Our donor, a mother and a retired educator, knows
well the importance of a good education and told us that her
father, Harry Kostman believed
that providing the means to a university education
for his grandchildren was a worthy investment.
Now,
in his memory, she is following her father's fine example by
providing financial assistance to deserving young people
in care who value a higher education.
Everett
Jeddrie Volunteer Scholarship
Everett Jeddrie was a volunteer for the Children’s Aid
Society of Halifax for over 30 years. He drove children
to appointments and visited them in hospital and
participated in Christmas Daddies every year. Even when
he could no longer volunteer, he would just drop in to
our office and visit staff. Bringing a large bag of
apples he’d stop to talk with everyone, find out how
they were doing and give them an apple or two. Over the
years staff came to call him “Our Apple Man”. A
visit from Everett brought smiles to everyone’s face
no matter how busy or stressed we were. Upon his death
in 2002, the Board of Directors of the Foundation began
this fund which provides a Scholarship annually to a
child in care or formerly in care, who demonstrates the
same “spirit of volunteerism” which Everett Jeddrie
lived by, enriching all those he touched.
Amanda’s
Gift
The Children's Aid Society of Halifax Foundation
supports the Amanda's Gift Fund maintained by the
Nova
Scotia Council for the Family. Amanda's Gift
offers bursaries to young persons who were formerly in
care anywhere in Nova Scotia, who demonstrate a
commitment and a desire to pursue post-secondary
education.
Scotia Capital Stay in School Awards
The Children’s Aid Society of Halifax Foundation, in
partnership with the Children’s Aid Foundation
(Toronto), is very pleased to be able to provide the
Scotia Capital Stay in School Program to our
community, made possible through a gift from Scotia
Capital, which donates the proceeds from Charity
Trading Day each year. The fund provides for
programs which are designed to support at risk,
disadvantaged children and youth and help them to
achieve academic success and recognize their current
efforts and achievements. It consists of three
components, Stay In School Awards, Graduation
Awards, and Leap to Learning Awards.
The Stay In School Award program was established to
recognize elementary, junior high school and senior
high school students who are doing exceptionally
well in school, given their personal circumstances,
and to encourage them to complete high school and
move on to a post secondary education. The award
itself is a combination of $50 cash directly to the
student and $250 Canada Savings Bond for them to
begin saving for post secondary education.
In 2005 we received a $1,000 grant enabling us to
provide four awards. The award itself was a
combination of $50 cash directly to the student and
$200 Canada Savings Bond for them to begin saving
for post secondary education.
You can imagine the excitement we felt upon learning
in January that the CAS Foundation has this year
pledged enough funds for us to provide 80 awards of
$50 for the student, and a Bond of $250. This
benevolence has enabled us to offer these awards to
children at risk throughout the province.
As well, the CAS Foundation provided funding $16,000 in
funding to initiate the following programs:
The Graduation Awards
These awards
were established to recognize
at-risk, disadvantaged students for meeting their
immediate education goals and successfully
graduating from Junior or Senior High School. The
awards are $50 for graduates of Junior High and $100
for graduates of Senior High School.
The Leap to Learning Awards
Established to support educationally at risk
children and youth to meet their academic goals and
reach their learning potential these awards provide
tutoring for children when there are no family
resources or other funding options. The types of
tutoring supported includes: individual sessions
with professional tutors, peer tutoring, group
tutoring, and registration fees for community based
programs using volunteer tutors.
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