Caldwell First Nation has signed memorandums of understanding with Fanshawe College and the Greater Essex County District School Board to expand access to adult education.
The agreements create pathways for members to get their high school diplomas and explore post-secondary opportunities.
"This is formalizing an agreement with each of those institutions to say we are working together to make sure that people from Caldwell who want to do this academic upgrading, we have an agreement that we're going to work together to support that individual," said Chief Nikki van Oirschot.
She said it's a commitment to the individual and the community as a whole.
"The more we invest in our people, it's just a stronger community we're building. We want to build opportunities, we're building houses, we're building infrastructure, we're building businesses, and we want to build in opportunities for our community to participate and be involved in that," said Chief van Oirschot.
Both educational institutions have made a commitment to Caldwell First Nation to help adult learners in an inclusive and culturally respectful environment.
"It's a commitment to ongoing meetings, partnerships, reviewing our successes, sharing our challenges and really working together to make sure it's a success for the students who make that commitment," said Katherine Krakowski, Manager of Get Set Employment Services and Dual Credit programming at Fanshawe College.
