Supporting Winnipeg’s First-Generation Students

Northpine Foundation has invested in Gonzaga Middle School’s graduate support program to improve post-secondary enrollment and meaningful employment for first-generation students from Winnipeg’s inner-city neighbourhoods. Many students enter middle school two to three grade levels behind in reading and math, facing barriers like poverty, housing instability, food insecurity, and limited access to stable adult support. Without intervention addressing both academic and non-academic challenges, students often disengage in high school and do not graduate.

Building on a successful existing model, the venture expands staffing to provide intensive support through high school, post-secondary, and up to age 25, including credit completion planning, post-secondary application support, tutoring, regular check-ins, and supports for application fees, transportation, work-related expenses, childcare, and basic needs.

The initiative aims to support students to secure scholarships, bursaries, and student aid, while providing guidance on program selection, budgeting, and external funding sources to sustain post-secondary enrollment and employment retention.