Media Release: First Social Innovation Research Grant For Mohawk Will Study Impact of City School in Priority Neighbourhoods
HAMILTON: The Government of Canada is investing in Mohawk College’s pioneering community engagement project.
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada has awarded Mohawk a $239,986 grant from the Community and College Social Innovation Fund to study the City School by Mohawk’s effectiveness in improving high school graduation and postsecondary participation rates among young people from Hamilton’s priority neighbourhoods.
This is Mohawk’s first social innovation research grant from the SSHRC. Mohawk was among the 22 Canadian colleges and institutes to receive $7.4 million in funding from the SSHRC, a federal research funding agency that promotes and supports postsecondary-based research and training in the humanities and social sciences.
Mohawk’s grant will fund a three-year research study of City School, led by Dr. Alan Bourke, a professor of Humanities and Social Sciences with the college’s School of Liberal Studies. The project will be carried out in partnership with the City of Hamilton, the Hamilton Community Foundation, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School, the Hamilton Wentworth Catholic District School Board and the Eva Rothwell Resource Centre.
QUOTE:
“Mohawk is committed to putting a college education within reach of everyone in our community. Through City School by Mohawk, we’re removing barriers by bringing our college into neighbourhoods. With funding from the Government of Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, we’ll measure how well we deliver on our commitment and identifying ways to further strengthen City School by Mohawk.”
FAST FACTS:
- The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council disburses more than $345 million in funding annually to support more than 8,300 research project.
- City School by Mohawk offers tuition-free college credit courses and workshops.
- City School is the first initiative of its kind among Ontario’s 24 colleges and is part of Mohawk’s access strategy. Mohawk’s College in Motion team meet with youth throughout the year at Hamilton high schools and community centres.
- Mohawk’s first City School opened in October 2015 at the Eva Rothwell Resource Centre in North Hamilton.
- The second City School opened in June 2016 at the Central Public Library in downtown Hamilton, in partnership with the Hamilton Public Library and the City of Hamilton to serve at-risk youth from the Jamesville neighbourhood.
- 30 -
Contact:
Jay Robb
Director of Communications,
905-979-8893
jay.robb@mohawkcollege.ca
Mohawk College educates and serves more than 29,500 full-time, part-time, apprenticeship and international students at three main campuses in Hamilton, Ontario and learning hubs across Hamilton through City School by Mohawk, and at the College’s Centre for Aviation Technology at the Hamilton International Airport. Mohawk is among the top five colleges for applied research in Canada. It has been named one of Canada’s greenest employers seven years in a row, holds a GOLD STARS rating from AASHE for sustainability achievements and is home to the country’s largest and first institutional building to receive dual certification for Zero Carbon Building Framework design and performance for The Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation. More than 135,000 people have graduated from Mohawk since it was founded.