Fort Providence school gets $460,000 from federal government

Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, February 19, 2015

DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE
A school in Fort Providence is receiving $460,000 from the federal government for a re-integration and rehabilitative program for youth involved in the justice system.

Deh Gàh Elementary and Secondary School will use the money for in-class assistance, tutoring, mentoring, physical activities, employable skills training, career planning, various counselling sessions and activities to help address the use of and addiction to illicit drugs, according to a news release from the federal government.

The money, announced Feb. 9 in Yellowknife by Yukon MP Ryan Leef, is from the Youth Justice Fund which was established in the 1990s and provides grants across the country targeting those teens 12 and 17 years old.

"The Fort Providence Youth Wellness Program will help the youth to obtain the skills and the strategies needed to make productive choices in life and their community," Leef stated in the news release.

The funding will be used over four years, starting with $71,000 for the 2014 to 2015 fiscal year.

Then $148,500 will be spent from fiscal years 2015 to 2017.

The fourth year has $92,000 allocated.

In addition to services when school is in session, there will be help for youth during summer vacation and outside school hours.

Deh Gàh Elementary and Secondary School, which had 177 students as of October, is expected to also hire a full-time wellness co-ordinator who will help youth who have been in trouble with the law.