Toyota Canada Foundation Announces New Funding for Actua and its Fall Maker Mobile Tour

Jennifer Flanagan (left), President and CEO, Actua and Leslie Miller (right), Board Member, Toyota Canada Foundation, at Fall Maker Mobile Tour Launch in Ottawa.


Ottawa, October 4, 2019 - Today, Toyota Canada Foundation announced continued support of Actua through a $200,000 investment. Toyota’s donation will support the engagement of underserved youth across Canada and the launch of Actua’s Fall Maker Mobile tour. The announcement was made by Leslie Miller, Toyota Canada Foundation Board Member, at a special workshop where local Ottawa students were given a sneak peek of the interactive innovation experiences the Maker Mobile will be bringing to youth this Fall.

“The Toyota Canada Foundation invests in national STEM education outreach programs focused on encouraging more youth from underrepresented segments of the population to pursue an education and career in this area,” says Miller. “We’re proud to be providing funding for Actua’s Maker Mobile program as it connects face-to-face with thousands of rural, remote and indigenous youth, engaging them to imagine and innovate, and inspiring them to consider an education and career in science, technology, engineering or math.”

Actua’s Maker Mobile is a moving maker space full of exciting technology, inspiring participants to experiment with hands-on learning and to create their own innovations. The current Maker Mobile tour will visit 20 communities and engage 2,500 youth across Ontario and Northern Quebec through meaningful and enriching digital and STEM-related experiences. A significant priority for the project is to engage underrepresented youth audiences including girls, Indigenous youth and those with socioeconomic challenges.

 
Jennifer Flanagan (left), President and CEO, Actua and Leslie Miller (right), Board Member, Toyota Canada Foundation, at Fall Maker Mobile Tour Launch in Ottawa.


“After an incredibly successful delivery of Actua’s national Canada 150 Signature Maker Mobile tour in 2017, Actua is thrilled to hit the road with Toyota Canada Foundation again to deliver more inspiring opportunities in innovation to youth,” said Jennifer Flanagan, CEO, Actua. “For Canada to develop a digitally literate and innovative workforce, we need to plant the seeds early on. Toyota’s re-investment will help Actua build STEM and employability skills that will ensure youth are prepared to lead and support Canada’s place on the world stage.”

Today’s youth represent Canada’s next generation of designers, engineers, and automotive technicians, and will be shaping the future of mobility. With that understanding, the Toyota Canada Foundation focuses on supporting programs that advance science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education programs that go beyond textbooks and tablets. Through Actua’s Maker Mobile program, the foundation will help bring hands-on makerspace workshops into remote and indigenous communities, and inspire Canadian youth to experiment, innovate, design and prototype.

The Toyota Canada Foundation funding will also support the engagement of underrepresented youth through specialized national programs including 35,000 Indigenous youth, 10,000 girls and young women in high impact all-girls programming, and 35,000 at-risk youth.

About Actua: Actua is Canada’s largest science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)   youth outreach network representing 40 university and college based members. Each year, Actua’s growing network of member organizations reach over 300,000 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 Bank Group, Microsoft Canada, Finning Canada, Imperial, Toyota Canada Foundation, GE Canada, Mastercard, CIRA and Lockheed Martin Canada. For more information about Actua, visit actua.ca.

About the Toyota Canada Foundation: 

The Toyota Canada Foundation is a private charitable foundation focused on supporting registered charitable organizations dedicated to national science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education outreach programs focused on encouraging more youth from segments of the population currently underrepresented in STEM to pursue an education and career in this area.

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For more information:                                                             

Kaitlynn Carroll, Communications and Projects Manager, Actua
111 Murray Street, Ottawa, ON  K1N 5M5
Tel: (613) 234 4137  E­mail: Kaitlynn.Carroll@actua.ca
www.actua.ca

Jennifer Okoeguale,
Consultant, Corporate Communications, Toyota Canada Foundation
(416) 438-6320 ext. 2160
jennifer_okoeguale@toyota.ca

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