$720K grant awarded to St. Clair College to tackle homelessness and school nutrition programs
School nutrition and youth homelessness are two issues that will be tackled through a $720,000 grant awarded to St. Clair College by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
“The breakfast programs in my opinion are one of the most important resources that certainly our school has.” Said Mel Brown, principal of James L. Dunn Public School in downtown Windsor.
Nutrition programs are important to schools like James L Dunn. Their breakfast program feeds about 300 every morning and another 150 to 200 at lunchtime.
“We've noticed a dramatic drop in discipline issues since putting in the breakfast program,” said Brown. “We feed students every morning and it’s a chance for us to connect with them.”
The project involves the Ontario Student Nutrition Program South Region run through the VON locally.
Beckie Berlasty, program manager of research and innovation at St. Clair College, says the research group is working on creating a universal nutrition program, and hopes to roll out a pilot project by the end of the three year grant that will include help to feed and educate students.
“Understanding where it comes from. Why it's important. How it benefits them and involving families in that process too talking about what's culturally relevant for them in terms of foods,” said Berlasty who says the grant will also delve into how youth become homeless and barriers preventing them from exiting homelessness.
“That's a gap in our current programming. If we don't have accurate statistics and accurate data on those who are experiencing youth homelessness how do we develop programming accordingly.”
The research targets the 16-24 age group.
“It is eye opening that I fall into that category,” said Social Justice and Legal Studies student Sarah Wilkins. “Some of the things we’re looking at are pathways that lead youth to becoming homeless in the first place as well as some of the barriers that prevent you from escaping homelessness once they’re put into that cycle.”
Researchers are also looking at hidden homelessness like couch surfing.
“Youth maybe don't consider themselves homeless,” Wilkins said. “They don't access any of the services out there or they don't have the ability to access them in the first place.”
Family Services Windsor-Essex is partnering with this part of the project and would like to see more youth supportive housing like their new complex on the city's west end.
“So that youth are on a very short trajectory through homelessness so they become homeless, they're supported very quickly in gaining those skills they need to move on very quickly,” said Barb Iacono, housing manager at Family Services Windsor-Essex.
She hopes this research project can yield a result that will enhance programming available to youth in our communities.
“I hope we can use some of this data to do a better job supporting youth and collaborating better with our community partners.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
Government proposes new policy for federally regulated employees to disconnect from work
In their 2024 budget, the federal government wants to amend the Canada Labour Code, so employers in federally regulated sectors will eliminate work-related communication with employees outside of scheduled hours. If implemented, this would affect roughly 500,000 employees across the country.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.