CCAS Fails Economics 101

August 28, 2009 permalink

Former CCAS ward Navena has been granted a scholarship to study economics at McMaster University. The problem? It is for $2000. How much of a university education can she get with that? A less fortunate student got $1500. In 2006 another CAS charged taxpayers $8260.56 to care for a healthy teenager for two weeks.

expand

collapse

Hope for former Crown wards

By BRETT CLARKSON, SUN MEDIA, Last Updated: 27th August 2009, 4:53am

Nevena is thinking of becoming a family lawyer. David wants to be a paramedic.

The students are just two of 97 former Crown wards who last night were the recipients of post-secondary scholarships awarded by the Hope For Children Foundation.

The scholarships, valued at a total of $195,000, were given out to young adults who were formerly in the care of the Catholic Children's Aid Society. The ceremony took place at Hart House at U of T.

Nevena, 18, will be studying political science and economics at McMaster University in Hamilton this fall with the help of her $2,000 scholarship. Ultimately she wants to attend law school and work in family law -- a career inspired by her experience with the Catholic Children's Aid Society.

For Nevena, school was a distraction from her tumultuous family life. She became a Crown ward at 16 after enduring an abusive family life. And although the scholarships provide an obvious financial help, they're also a morale booster, she said.

"There's a lot of children that know what they want to do and have goals and don't know how to achieve them," Nevena said. "These scholarships not only help financially, but really do help them have confidence in their goals and believe that there's somebody looking out for them."

David, 22, will be attending the paramedic program at Humber College in the fall with the help of his $1,500 scholarship.

"It helps a lot because it's basically impossible to go to school full time and pay your expenses," David said.

All of the scholarship money is donated by individual and corporate donors, said Mary Bowyer, executive director of the Hope For Children Foundation.

BRETT.CLARKSON@SUNMEDIA.CA

Source: Toronto Sun