The Toonies for Tuition Initiative is gaining some serious momentum across the country. 

To help support the schools, educators and students taking the lead on building Catholic education opportunities for all students across Canada, CCSTA collaborated with the Ottawa Catholic School Board to launch online marketing materials related to the cause.

Toonies for Tuition is a CCSTA-based initiative that works to raise money in order to help offset tuition funds for families attending Catholic schools in provinces with limited or no funding to the private education system.

And the CCSTA wanted to continue to build its momentum of support from across the country.

“Last year, when the endowment fund committee convened to distribute the funds it was suggested that a short video could be a powerful tool to help school boards and schools promote their campaigns,” explains CCSTA Executive Director Julian Hanlon.

That’s where Catherine Burnham comes in. She is the Atlantic Region Board member with the CCSTA, and she’s also the Director of Development with the Divine Mercy Catholic School in Saint John, NB

She created a video that helped tell the Toonies for Tuition story.

Read more: CCSTA Launches National Toonies for Tuition Campaign Materials

With many newly elected Members of Parliament serving federal ridings across the country, CCSTA took the opportunity to connect with and showcase Catholic education’s impact in Canada.

On Feb. 4, 2020, CCSTA Board of Directors and staff hosted individual meetings on Parliament Hill with MPs from across the country, many of whom are new to the position.

The day-long Lobby Day was an opportunity to connect with politicians at the federal level.

“The Lobby Day is a key area of focus for us, even though education is under provincial jurisdiction,” explains CCSTA Executive Director Julian Hanlon. “We feel it’s very important for federal politicians to be aware of the impact Catholic Education has across Canada, including the number of students attending Catholic Schools.”

Read more: “Very Positive”: CCSTA Connects with newly elected MPs on Parliament Hill

Because our head office is located in Ottawa, our news feed has been filled with stories outlining the ongoing teacher strike action taking place across all school boards in Ontario, including the Catholic School teachers.

As we pray for a result that brings quality education and opportunities to our schools, we thought we’d go beyond the mainstream headlines and showcase some of the amazing things currently happening within Catholic schools across Ontario.

Here are some good ones:

Read more: From Strike Talks to Good News: Here's a round-up of good news pieces coming from Ontario Schools