A leg up

Tylor McCrindle in a Prince Edward Learning Centre classroom.

Learning centre helps young adults get on track with community help

Not too long ago, Tylor McCrindle seemed like a lost cause. The 20- year-old wasn’t working. His only income was from the Ontario Works benefit. He was making bad choices.

Then he got a nudge from the staff at the Prince Edward Learning Centre (PELC) to enroll in their employment training program. Today, McCrindle is hard at work toward his goal of becoming a game warden.

“I’m going to talk with Mark [Despault]. He’s an ex-game warden over at Sandbanks, and he’s going to talk about experiences that he had and help me better ready myself for the Sandbanks provincial park. They have a student warden system where you go and shadow another warden, and you get paid for it, which is nice,” says McCrindle. “From there, hopefully, I become a game warden. I like being outside, I don’t like sitting behind a desk.”

Despault is one of the many volunteers who mentor students in PELC’s employment training program.

“I personally know several people who have benefited from the service,” says Despault. “The approach these dedicated staff members take by supporting [students] and helping them develop valuable life skills can often boost their self-confidence and provide them with a plan toward improving their situation.”

It’s one of many programs the centre offers, and arms users with job-specific training as well as certificates and licences in high demand in the job market, like CPR and Smart Serve. McCrindle has both now, along with WHIMIS and a new driver’s licence. Shortly, he’ll be completing a Commissionaire’s security training course.

The centre offers English, math and budgeting classes. They help students complete high school, prepare for universities and seek out professional apprenticeships. They even offer lunches for students in a program called Food For Learning.

“Once a month we have three volunteers come in and they cook a big lunch for everybody and that’s kind of like a cooking class. Pretty informal, more about hanging out and talking and cooking together. At some point we might offer cooking classes,” says PELC executive director Kathy Kennedy. “People are often hungry, especially toward the end of the month. Parents that are students here tend to feed their kids first. That’s what you do as a parent. But also, people who are younger and on Ontario Works are here and need food.”

It’s a lot, and it costs. The educational programs are funded by two provincial ministries. Hastings- Prince Edward Learning Foundation funds Food For Learning. Kennedy says the funds are spread thin.

“That’s very tight funding. People need more assistance. We could use more instructors. So that’s a tight program,” says Kennedy. “Through that source of funding, we can cover an instructor and our rent and our insurance—so the basic things it takes to keep the centre open.”

This year, PELC was added to United Way Quinte’s list of recipients. They will receive $30,000 this year, improving the academic program and connecting users to dental and mental health, along with mentors like Despault.

United Way has helped before. In 2010, PELC received $5,000. But as one of United Way’s sponsored programs, they will benefit annually.

“It’s nice to have support from the community,” says Kennedy. “United Way is special because the funds are raised by the community and they’re used in the community.”

PELC is one of 300 programs of its kind around the province. It has been open since 1996 and serves about 200 people per year. Students have been referred by Ontario Works, Career Edge, Prince Edward Collegiate Institute and through friends.

Kennedy estimates three-quarters of the students are between 19 and 25 years old—unusually young relative to other centres. Many of them, like McCrindle, come from precarious situations.

“Often [students have] been on social assistance for a while, or they haven’t worked, or their EI has run out. So having a low income is definitely making things more difficult,” says Kennedy. “Often, people don’t have access to public transportation. If you’ve lost the ability to keep your car on the road, that affects how you find jobs. It affects your ability to get to college.

“We’ve actually lost people in our program because they couldn’t find housing in Picton. If they’re not able to live with their families and they need to live independently, finding housing as a young person is very, very difficult,” says Kennedy. “We need to be a housing first community, because it’s really hard to do anything when your housing is in jeopardy. We certainly have folks in this program who have been homeless as teens. We’ve had people here studying English while they’ve been living in a tent in Delhi Park.”

While PELC can’t solve all client issues, staff does its best to help. It took some proactive outreach to get Mc- Crindle enrolled, and he is grateful for it.

“I’m glad that they kept up,” he says. “They didn’t let me go astray. That’s for sure.”