Our Mission

Start2Finish’s mission is to break the cycle of child poverty by providing ongoing educational support to Canada’s at risk children throughout their school years, nurturing mind, body and social health so they are empowered to succeed and become role models for change.

Our Vision

To eradicate the effects of child poverty in Canada through education

Learn About the Issue  

Each year, thousands of Canadian youth will drop out of high school. This seemingly simple and personal act alters the course of their lives forever. It’s a move that costs them their education and future earning potential. Taken collectively, it costs their community by ingraining a culture of failure. Nationally, it costs our economy through a reduced employment pool and tax base, and an enormous strain on public expenditures.

Tens of thousands of youth in Canada’s lower-income neighbourhoods have the potential to succeed in school but are unable to overcome the barriers to education that are created by poverty. Low literacy as early as grade 1 increases the risk of a child dropping out of school by 134%, Insufficient financial means, lack of positive role models in the community, absence of parental support, and integration into a new country and culture, are all barriers that can make high school graduation seem like an impossible dream.

What does it cost to leave entire communities of kids behind?

  • $307 billion – the estimated collective lifetime loss of earning potential of high school dropouts in Canada
  • $115 billion – the estimated collective loss of tax revenue from high school dropouts in Canada
  • $623 billion – the estimated collective private costs of health care over a lifetime for high school dropouts in Canada

What is the Solution?

The Start2Finish solution to child poverty is innovative and dynamic.  Our Fitness and Literacy Model is rooted in volunteerism, children’s literacy, health, and education.  Our community matrix, the engine that gives our programs sustainability, includes strong, lasting partnerships with businesses, schools and community groups, creating a “Pathway of Hope” that features comprehensive programs focused on academic achievement, physical fitness, nutrition and social interaction.  This pathway includes our annual Backpack Program, which distributes backpacks filled with school supplies to the most at-risk schools across Canada; our Running & Reading Club weekly after-school program, which empowers children to improve their literacy skills, physical fitness and social and behavioural skills, and prepares them to achieve life-long success; and our Pathway of Hope Scholarship Program, which offers post-secondary scholarships to economically challenged high school students who demonstrate significant leadership, community service and academic excellence.

Land Acknowledgement

We would like to acknowledge the land on which we work, and which Start2Finish operates, is part of the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples inhabited and cared for this land. In particular, we acknowledge the territory of the Anishinabek, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Ojibway/Chippewa peoples; the land that is home to the Metis; and most recently, the territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation who are direct descendants of the Mississaugas of the Credit. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land, and by doing so, give our respect to its first inhabitants.

We welcome you to acknowledge the land you are on https://www.whose.land/fr/

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