The Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship has received a $1 million pledge from the Government of Ontario to start a digital literacy and coding pilot project.
The government will donate the $1 million over two years and will match a donation that was made by the Chair of the Canada Infrastructure Bank Janice Fukakusa and her husband Greg Belbeck.
The Digital Literacy and Coding project will give youth access to updated education and training to help them find jobs in the ever-changing job market. The project will mainly focus on young people between the ages of 12 to 15 and will start its testing in five cities across Ontario.
The program will support up to 1,000 youths and will focus on groups that are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)-based fields.
“Once refined, it is a program that can be scaled and replicated across the country, and that, by definition, is a good return on the initial investment,” said Janice Fukakusa, in a blog post on the Brookfield Institute’s website on April 9th.
The Brookfield Institute finds that both formal education and after-school programs have there own challenges with curricula and financial barriers. So ideally this program can help children move away from the 20 percent of jobs that may be at risk of being automated in the future and closer to jobs in STEM fields.
The first six programs will take place in five cities at the following locations:
- Toronto Public Library – Centennial Branch
- YMCA Toronto – YMCA Academy
- Hamilton Boys and Girls Club
- London Boys and Girls Club
- Belleville Public Library
- YMCA Sudbury
Source: The Brookfield Institute Via: Techvibes
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