Waterloo, Ontario. Strong Start is excited to announce they are the recipient of a $96,600 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, as part of the Resilient Communities Fund. Investment will contribute to Strong Start’s ability to adapt and evolve the delivery of programs and services in order to meet the emerging needs of young children and their families, all with the goal of helping children develop the essential life skill of reading.
The Resilient Communities Fund was created in 2020 to support the non-profit sector in recovery and rebuilding efforts emerging from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, to help organizations meet the needs of communities across Ontario. Through the second round of this fund, the Ontario Trillium Foundation is supporting 559 non-profits with $42M in funding. Strong Start is very proud to be one of the organizations to be included.
COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on children’s education and healthy development. Strong Start has responded to growing community needs by adapting online models for program delivery and volunteer training. Strong Start has also produced a series of new online parent resources to support at-home learning. Please visit our Parent Resources Page to learn more.
With the long absence from in-person instruction, Strong Start programs will be needed now more than ever. “Early studies are showing that young children who struggled with literacy prior to school shutdowns and isolation, are falling further behind due to interrupted support of their learning,” noted Strong Start Director of Program, Colette Moffat. Young learners will greatly benefit from Strong Start programs, not just in early literacy development but also in social-emotional recovery to build resilience. Strong Start is extremely grateful to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for their investment and looks forward to supporting recovery efforts associated with COVID-19.
About Strong Start
Strong Start® is a registered Canadian charity (82594 8060 RR0001) that helps children learn to read. Its programs involve working with children directly in addition to providing resources for families to support the development of strong literacy skills. Strong Start works through partnerships with schools, community centres, educators, and thousands of volunteers to create lifelong readers. For twenty years, Strong Start has been helping children and families across Ontario with the flagship program, Letters, Sounds and Words™. Please visit www.strongstart.ca for more information about this and other Strong Start programs.
About The Ontario Trillium Foundation
The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations. Last year, nearly $112M was invested into 1,384 community projects and partnerships to build healthy and vibrant communities and strengthen the impact of Ontario’s non-profit sector. In 2020/21, OTF supported Ontario’s economic recovery by helping non-profit organizations rebuild and recover from the impacts of COVID-19. Visit otf.ca to learn more.