A portion of The Dan Patterson Legacy fund will support merit-based scholarships to help attract and retain the best and brightest to Niagara College, strengthening Niagara’s workforce and our community.

Currently, only 19 per cent of Niagara’s workforce has attained a post secondary credential, in comparison to the provincial average of 29 per cent. Two out of five younger residents (aged 25 to 34) haven’t continued past high school.

At the same time, there is an enormous need in Niagara’s burgeoning high-tech and knowledge-driven industries for educated, highly skilled workers, leaving our region in a situation in which there are many “people without good jobs, and good jobs without any people”.

Merit-based scholarships can support specific areas of pressing industry need to attract the best and brightest high-potential students, whose qualifications and talents make them a good fit to address the skills needed in these industries.