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Jan Lim

Toronto, ON

Jan is a second-year anthropology master's student from Vancouver, BC who is currently living and working in Toronto, ON. They're passionate about education equity and founded Starts With One Toronto with their peers to advocate for, and create community programs which address, anti-racism and socioeconomic equity in schools, alongside other social issues affecting students.

Community E-Learning Initiative

The Community E-Learning Initiative is an academic support program for newcomer families in Toronto who are low-income. Currently, there are many refugee and immigrant families in Toronto who have educational support needs. The E-Learning Initiative matches volunteers in high school and university with families, to provide at least 1 hour of free tutoring each week. We also host in-person events to bring together volunteers and participating families with advocacy projects and initiatives to advance equity in education in Ontario. We also purchase laptops and other technology for families and volunteers to use, within our program, to reduce the technology gap which affects low-income families.

http://swocanada.org/learn

About this Project

Communities Served

My project will involve and/or impact the following communities:

  • At risk youth & children
  • Refugees & newcomers
  • LGBTQ2+ Community members
  • Racial or visible minorities
  • Multi-barrier populations

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

When it comes to community impact projects, the UN has created 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These are the Sustainable Development Goals associated with my project.

  • SDG 1: No poverty
  • SDG 3: Good health and Well-being
  • SDG 4: Quality education
  • SDG 5: Gender equality
  • SDG 10: Reduced inequalities
  • SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities
  • SDG 16: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

How the project works

We work over 40 families in our E-Learning Initiative. We hire volunteer tutors to meet the academic needs of these families over the summer, which include English language tutoring, tutoring for young children, helping teenagers transition from high school to university. We also fundraise to meet their technology needs (i.e., laptops for schoolwork). Throughout the school year, we match students with our tutors and we host community events to provide an in-person support system and network for the families who take part in the initiative.

Project Impact

We were able to increase the reach of our programming to a total of over 40 first-generation, low-income newcomer families (i.e., 46 families and 84 students). Our organization now consists of over 100 dedicated youth volunteers (i.e., 42 administrative team members and 86 volunteer tutors). Additionally, we hosted two community events to achieve our goal of sustainable operations and empowering families and youth to advocate for themselves in the education system. First, we hosted our annual Community Picnic in August. Families and students enrolled in our programs were able to meet each other (to help develop support systems, which is especially impactful for newcomer families), and learn about the education system through printed brochures and semi-structured discussions about the barriers they may face. Through our second event, the Education Justice Coalition’s Community Cafe, youth were empowered to network with the team and learn about current news, research studies, etc. in the education advocacy space in a casual, welcoming environment. One attendant was even able to join the team and support the anti-Black racism project, finding a fulfilling project to create positive change in their community! One student of the students was able to meet their goal of entering the top Canadian university in Toronto. This was an incredible achievement for them, as well as our team, given that this student arrived just five years ago from Syria on refugee status, and, at the time, was receiving low grades in high school due to lack of English language ability.

Project Mission

Our project's mission is to provide academic support and social support for newcomer and low-income students in the GTA through online tutoring and in-person events.

Project Team

Our team consists of students of all ages (i.e., 15-25) in the Greater Toronto Area who are passionate about education equity and predominantly refugees, immigrants or second-generation immigrants themselves.

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