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I’m pleased to share that at our successful Renaissance Gala on April 6, Niagara College announced the largest fundraising campaign in our history to a sold-out crowd of more than 700 business and community leaders and supporters.

The Together campaign will raise funds to support new and expanded facilities outlined in our Master Plan, student access, diverse and inclusive learning environments, global competencies and perspectives, and productivity and innovation. The multi-year campaign, which aims to raise $50 million, is built on six pillars: solving the skilled trades crisis, solving the healthcare crisis, empowering students to achieve their dreams, advancing a more equitable and diverse college, graduating tomorrow’s global citizens, and closing Canada’s productivity gap.

The Together campaign recognizes our unique position to lead economic, social and cultural development and innovation in our community. Niagara College educates highly skilled and knowledgeable graduates and the campaign also seeks to engage more of our 120,000-plus alumni, who are making a difference in Niagara and around the globe.

We know that we can’t do this work alone. The Together campaign calls on our community to join us in embracing this historic opportunity to build a successful Niagara.

Already, the campaign has generated significant support, including three transformational gifts announced at the Gala:

• The Joyce Family Foundation has provided an exceptional gift of $1.5 million to create the Joyce Family Foundation Healthcare and Skilled Trades Bursary program at Niagara College. The program will provide tuition and ancillary costs for several skilled trades, nursing and healthcare students through a bursary that is renewable for each year of the recipient’s program of study. This transformational bursary fund will exist in perpetuity, and directly support the urgent need for more frontline healthcare workers and skilled tradespeople.
• The McCall MacBain Foundation has provided a generous gift to launch the ConfideNCe program, a student-focused and trailblazing initiative that will address anxiety and stress for students in applied health programs, while also providing new resources to help these students’ success after graduation. This gift will help to graduate more nurses, personal support workers and paramedics.
• The Embark Student Foundation has provided a generous gift of $500,000 to help launch the Indigenous Student Success Pathways project, which aims to embolden Indigenous students and support their education and career aspirations before, during and after their postsecondary studies. Embark selected Niagara College as one of only seven inaugural postsecondary recipients across Canada, and its gift represents the College’s largest single philanthropic gift in support of Indigenous education. The gift will contribute directly to developing opportunities for Indigenous students and forwarding calls to action related to Truth and Reconciliation at Niagara College.

You can learn more about the Together campaign or contribute here. I encourage you to explore the projects and initiatives that this campaign will support as we look forward, together.