Mission "Our goal is to create a safe, positive environment in which there is always room for and movement towards improvement and growth. We take great pride in our programs at Loyola Center, we promote respectful treatment of others and a strong sense of belonging. Our participants, parents, staff, volunteers and guests are ambassadors who invite others to visit the center based on their own experiences and to become a part of the Loyola Family. Every individual is encouraged to take on the challenges of personal growth, while contributing to the growth of Loyola Center." The Loyola Center provides educational, cultural, social recreational and community programs to the children, adolescents and adults of the community. We aim to ensure the needs of the community are met through providing access to quality programming, delivered in partnership with educational institutions, community organizations, and programs and services offered by various levels of government.
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History Starting in the early 1970s as a grass roots organization, The Loyola Association for the Development for Youth was formalized in 1998 as a charitable non-profit organization with a primary focus on children (4-17) of the surrounding community. The Association consists of volunteer parents and community members, who reflect the common shared goals and aspirations of providing quality programs. We have always aspired to provide programs that will allow participants to develop skills such as cooperation, leadership, independent thinking, and healthy interpersonal relationships with others. Over the years the Loyola Center has offered sports and recreation services, as well as played an integral role in the continued positive development of the community that surrounds us. Working with other community partners, the Association seeks to ensure a good quality of life and access to resources for its member families.
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Our Youth Over 600 youth registered at the Loyola Centre annually. Our participants represent cultural communities from all over the world and more than 30 languages are spoken in the homes of our members. The majority the youth are between 6 and 15 years old and come from the “disadvantaged” areas of NDG (Benny Farm, Fielding-Walkley and Westhaven). Most of our members live within one kilometre of the Loyola centre and walk, cycle and transit. We work closely with a variety of partner organizations on multi-faceted interventions. We actively collaborate with the CSSS-Cavendish, the neighbourhood schools, and other community organizations. We receive financial support from many of our partners, which enables us to offer low cost programs to meet the needs of families in difficulty. We estimate that every year 40% of our youth participate in free programs, and an additional 20% make request to waive payment for programs, unable to pay the registration fee of $30 - $60 per 4 month session. There is a significant population of families living in our sector who do not have permanent citizenship status including refugees, asylum seekers, foreign students and foreign workers. Furthermore, a considerable percentage of the new immigrant population does not speak French. 26.3% of new immigrants only speak English (compared to 10.1% in Montreal) and 2.9% speak neither English nor French (compared to 2.5% in Montreal).
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