There’s a lot of talk about the need for manufacturing jobs to keep Welland’s youth in town.
“But no one’s doing a lot of coming to the table,” said the city’s economic development officer, Dan Degazio.
Rather than just talk about the perceived problem, Degazio wanted to do something about it.
He teamed up with Deanna Villella, manager of the Job Gym, a John Howard Society program, to create a bursary to help local students get the education they need to land jobs at Welland’s emerging industries.
Through events like the Mayor’s Charity Ball and a golf tournament held last summer, he said $6,000 was raised to establish the bursary. None of that money came from taxes, Degazio stressed.
With the donation from the city and Job Gym, Niagara College obtained a $10,000 grant from the Ontario Trust for Student Support, bringing the total bursary to $16,000. The interest from that $16,000 will be used to provide $500 awards to deserving Niagara College students every year for perpetuity.
“There will always be money there for a kid to go to school,” Degazio said. “It’s ongoing.”
The City of Welland Economic Development and John Howard Society Bursary will be provided to students from Welland enrolling in manufacturing- or technology-related programs at the college. The money is also earmarked for the first person in a family to attend post-secondary education.
By providing the bursary to children whose parents didn’t attend college, Degazio said it might help inspire them to do so.
“It helps them realize that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
Villella said the Job Gym is interested in more than helping young people find employment.
“We want to see them continue to go to school, and of course, one of the best schools around is Niagara College, and that’s where we want to send them and what we want to support,” Villella said.
Sean Kennedy, the college’s vice-president of student services and community relations, congratulated the city’s economic development department, as well as Job Gym and the John Howard Society, for thinking “outside of the box” by raising funds for the bursary.
“It’s really an investment in our future,” he said.
Although a college education is less expensive than for other post-secondary institutions, he said it can still pose a hardship for many families.
Degazio and Villella hope to continue raising funds in the months head to be able to offer an additional bursary next year, he added.
More information about the bursary will be made available at the college, as well as at high school guidance departments.
