ABACUS turns 10

ABACUS, the foundation’s education initiative is marking a decade of supporting students in Hamilton.

The initiative was launched in 2014 as a partnership with The Fairmount Foundation with the overarching goal of increasing the likelihood that young people graduate high school and access post-secondary education.

Students participate in Industry Education Council of Hamilton’s Code Club, supported by ABACUS.

ABACUS was launched with a focus on the middle school years: Grades 6, 7, 8 and the transition into Grade 9. A review in 2021 deepened its emphasis on equity-deserving communities and transitions into and out of middle school. This past summer, HCF granted almost $1.3 million from ABACUS to 28 different programs which reach more than 5000 students across Hamilton.

“ABACUS intervenes early at a crucial time in students lives,” says President & CEO Rudi Wallace. “It supports local providers in a focused way so that they can give students what they need to succeed later in life.”

HCF’s education focus was a decision based on learning from our neighbourhood-based poverty work dating back to the early 2000s. Research suggests that education is an effective upstream intervention to address and often prevent poverty for young people in the future. By targeting the middle-school years, ABACUS aims to provide youth with the resources, support and information they need to believe, early in their lives, that post-secondary education is a possible and achievable pathway.

Intervention is especially important for groups who face a network of barriers to post-secondary opportunities, such as Indigenous youth, racialized youth, youth with disabilities, low-income youth, and youth whose parents did not attend post-secondary.

ABACUS granting is funded primarily through HCF’s Community Fund, the primary source of support for its leadership work including education and affordable housing as well as emergency funding.

Read more about ABACUS here.