The Province’s investment allows Mohawk to expand City School beyond its two current locations in downtown Hamilton and the city’s North End and also launch a mobile classroom next year.

City School serves as basecamp on the journey to post-secondary education, bringing Mohawk into priority neighbourhoods throughout Hamilton. City School offers tuition-free college credit courses and workshops taught by Mohawk faculty and staff.

Putting a college education within reach of everyone in the community is a strategic priority for Mohawk.

Read the full press release here 

Several years ago, she was working as an adult educator and preparing to start a family. But when she was pregnant with her first child, she got laid off. After her maternity leave, she and her husband crunched the numbers and realized that the jobs she was looking at didn’t pay enough to cover the cost of child care.

She now has two kids, ages three and five, and is eager to return to the workforce. So when she read that City School by Mohawk College was partnering with Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) for a month long Introduction to Health and Wellness course, the decision was a no-brainer. “When the opportunity came along, and it was free,” says Skarrat, “I jumped.”

CITY SCHOOL BY MOHAWK

City School by Mohawk is a community-based initiative that aims to break down barriers to education and employment. It works with community partners to develop specialized training programs that encourage gradual steps to a postsecondary pathway. Their two campuses at the Eva Rothwell Centre and the Hamilton Public Library’s central branch aim to make education accessible to all young people...read more

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:

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.

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Contact:
Jay Robb
Director of Communications,
905-979-8893
jay.robb@mohawkcollege.ca

Related:
Video: City School off to a great start at the Eva Rothwell Resource Centre

Mohawk is offering Introduction to Postsecondary Experiences in partnership with McMaster University and an Early Childhood Education course in health, safety and nutrition for young children. Participants who successfully complete the courses will earn credits that can be used towards a Mohawk diploma.

To register, drop in at the Eva Rothwell Centre (460 Wentworth St. North), go online at www.mohawkcollege.ca/cityschool or call 905.526.1558 ext. 416.

CitySchool by Mohawk is also offering a free three-week Art of Creativity learning lab in February and an Empowering Women through Story speaker series in May.

In addition to drop-in career counseling, Mohawk offers free workshops on how to write resumes and cover letters, search for jobs and prepare for interviews. Mohawk also hosts an open table the first Tuesday of every month at 541 Eatery and Exchange on Barton Street from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.

CitySchool by Mohawk opened at the Eva Rothwell Resource Centre in the Fall of 2015 as part of the college’s ongoing commitment to make postsecondary education accessible to all Hamiltonians. Mohawk plans to open five additional CitySchools over the next three years in collaboration with community partners and in consultation with neighbourhood residents.

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For more information, contact:

Jay Robb, Director of Communications, 905.979.8893, jay.robb@mohawkcollege.ca