Actua Receives $12 Million in Funding from the Government of Canada's CanCode Program

OTTAWA, July 26, 2019 /CNW/ - Today, Marco Mendicino, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities and the Member of Parliament for Eglington Lawrence announced that Actua will be receiving $12 million dollars as part of the second phase of the Government of Canada's CanCode program.

"After an incredibly successful delivery of phase one of CanCode funding, Actua is thrilled to be a recipient of phase two," said Jennifer Flanagan, CEO, Actua. "This funding will provide additional support to our network to engage hundreds of thousands more youth, including 35,000 Indigenous youth, in deep-impact, face-to-face coding and digital skills building experiences."

Over the two-year period, Actua's 38 university and college-based network members, as well as its outreach team, will engage a total of 850,000 youth through coding camps, clubs and workshops across every province and territory. The funding will also support the engagement of approximately 15,500 teachers in professional development and training opportunities.

Today's announcement took place at a local STEM camp delivered by Actua's network member Engineering Outreach at the University of Toronto. Local youth ages 7-13 participated in exciting, hands-on coding activities solving problems with block programming.

"Technology has transformed our everyday lives in many ways, including the skills we need to excel in the working world. Learning digital skills and coding, and how technology can help drive innovation, will help open so many doors to our next generation. Giving the opportunity for all children to become tech savvy and learn coding is not only important to ensuring they are setup up for success, it will also help strengthen our economy for many years to come," said Marco Mendicino.

"Young Canadians will drive our economic success for years to come. By investing in resources that teach them digital skills and making higher education more affordable, our government is helping them transition successfully from classrooms to research labs, shop floors or boardrooms," said The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, who oversees the federal government's CanCode program.

Actua's CanCode funding will be matched by several of its corporate supporters including Google Canada, Microsoft, Suncor, and TD Canada.

About CanCode:  CanCode is a two year $60 million dollar program starting in 2019-20 to support opportunities for Canadian students (kindergarten to grade 12) to learn digital skills including coding, data analytics, and digital content development. This investment is in addition to the $50 million from Budget 2017, for a total of $110 million. This investment will also support initiatives that provide K-12 teachers with the training and professional development they need to introduce digital skills and coding related concepts into the classroom. CanCode aims to equip Canadian youth, including traditionally underrepresented groups, with the skills they need to be prepared for further studies, including advanced digital skills and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) courses, leading to the jobs of the future.

About Actua: Actua is Canada's largest science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) youth outreach network representing 38 university and college based members. Each year, Actua's growing network of member organizations reach over 250,000 young Canadians in 500 communities nationwide. Actua focuses on the engagement of underrepresented youth through specialized programs for Indigenous youth, girls and young women, at-risk youth and youth living in Northern and remote communities. Its national InSTEM program reaches over 35,000 Indigenous youth per year in over 200 Indigenous communities. Actua's major funding partners include: Government of Canada, Google Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, RBC Foundation, Suncor Energy Foundation, TD, Microsoft Canada, Finning Canada, Imperial, Toyota Canada Foundation, GE Canada, Mastercard, CIRA and Lockheed Martin Canada. For more information about Actua, visit actua.ca.

SOURCE Actua

Kristina Martin, Director of Communications, Actua, 111 Murray Street, Ottawa ON K1N 5M5, Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone], E­mail: [email protected], Web: www.actua.ca