(December 12, 2011) – The Olive Tree Foundation announced today that it will provide a grant to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto (BBBST) for the project ‘In-School Mentoring for Somali youth.’
The project will provide support, on the school premises and during the school day, to Somali elementary school children aged 10 – 12 (grades 5 and 6). The goal of the project is to mitigate the alarming High School drop-out rate that the Somali community is experiencing.
A group of Somali high-school mentors (‘Bigs’) will be matched one-to-one, with a child from their local elementary school who, for various psychosocial reasons, may be at risk of dropping out of school prematurely.
“The Olive Tree Foundation’s support will help us bring Youth Mentoring to the Somali community in Toronto’s Weston-Mt. Denis priority neighborhood,” said Shauna Klein, Director of Fund Development and Marketing of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto.
“By providing children with the support of a mentor we believe that we can help alleviate the community’s high drop-out rates, as well as, facilitate leadership development within the mentees. BBBST is grateful to the Olive Tree Foundation for recognizing the importance of this initiative by way of their support,” Klein added.
“The Olive Tree Foundation is very pleased to be able fund this important project of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto,” said Imran Yousuf, Secretary of the Foundation, in announcing the grant. “This project will help prevent young people from dropping out of school, drawing on a culturally competent approach and build a positive community among the youth based on mentoring.”
For almost 100 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto has been well known and respected for the important services they provide to children and youth in our community. BBBST has been providing mentoring to at-risk children and adhere to strict standards of child safety and are committed to the strengths-based development of young people in our community.
The Olive Tree Foundation is a philanthropic foundation that promotes community development through the collection of endowed funds and charitable contributions to fund services for the long-term benefit of the community.
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