Smartsaver Community

Now that school is in full swing Career Trek programming has started! This means, we will soon have a new group of young people which with we can share our knowledge of education savings! Career Trek Inc. is a not-for-profit organization that provides hands-on, career exploration programming to inspire career and educational potential in young people throughout Manitoba.

Participants in Career Trek have the opportunity to learn about over 80 careers, try out various occupations and experience post-secondary. In addition, Career Trek connects families to education savings resources, such as the Canada Learning Bond and Registered Education Savings Plans. Through the Education Savings Program at Career Trek, we help families overcome some of the financial barriers associated with post-secondary education and encourage families to start saving for their child’s education after high school.

How is Career Trek doing this? We connect with various school divisions, schools, Career Trek program participants and family members, as well as other community members about education savings resources. We facilitate workshops on post-secondary student budgeting, the Canada Learning Bond and RESPs. We assist families through the process of applying for Social Insurance Numbers and Birth Certificates. We help families learn about RESPs, and facilitate the opening of RESPs. Career Trek also offers scholarships and awards for post-secondary education!

Meet Haydee, a past participant from the M Program (Career Trek’s young mother’s program). She has three children and decided she needed to start saving for their education after high school. Haydee and her sister decided to come to Career Trek to start an RESP for Haydee’s children. While there, Haydee’s sister quickly realized that her daughter was also eligible for both an RESP and the CLB – so she signed her up too! Both Haydee and her sister had not known that their children were eligible for the CLB, but meeting with Career Trek and using our Education Savings Resources opened up the opportunity.

Career Trek’s Education Savings Resource Program hopes to inspire families to plan for the future and assist young people across Manitoba on their own Career Trek!

By Danielle Hollinger
Education Savings Coordinator, Career Trek Inc.
careertrek.ca

The Leeds Grenville Poverty Reduction Alliance and partners have been working to promote the Canada Learning Bond for families in Leeds and Grenville to help reduce economic barriers to higher education.

As part of our promotion, local organizations hosted a Financial Empowerment Day at the Employment and Education Centre (www.eecentre.com ) in Brockville. It included representatives from Service Canada who provided social insurance numbers and volunteers who staffed a bank of computers to help families sign into the Leeds Grenville Start My RESP url.  Additional partners included Community Income Tax (www.volunteercentre.ca), Credit Counselling and Employment Services.

We will continue to promote the Canada Learning Bond at community events and festivals in the summer. The Brockville Police host weekly free movies (brockvillepolice.com/news/) in a downtown park during the summer months and along with movies and popcorn, families will also be provided with information on the Canada Learning Bond.

We know there is a correlation between education saving and education outcomes and we want all the children in Leeds and Grenville to have the opportunity to be the best that they can be. Our goal is to ensure that the over 8000 eligible children in Leeds and Grenville receive the Canada Learning Bond and build a bright future through higher education.

Loretta Corbeil
Chair, Leeds Grenville Poverty Reduction Alliance