Boundless

Alternative Education For Vulnerable Youth

SOME BACKGROUND

Since 1984, Boundless has served over six thousand vulnerable youth on a series of five-day outdoor adventure challenges in a year round capacity.

These programs have evolved substantially in the past three years. In 2004, we were certified as an independent secondary school. Our expanding collaborations with education programs and social welfare agencies have yielded a new crop of Boundless staff and teachers. Major capital investments have improved our camp facilities.

These advancements have presented some incredible opportunities.

We have learned through recent pilot projects that longer programs, meshed with the delivery of city-based activities, result in more enduring positive outcomes for our youth at risk clients. This awareness has spawned our new alternative education program.

OUR PROGRAM’S MISSION AND ITS RATIONALLE

There are many ingredients to characterizing a young person as being “at-risk”. Failure to attain a high school diploma looms very large on a continuum of risk factors. Volumes of research have confirmed that if a young person gets their high school diploma, their risk of engaging in future violence and criminality drops dramatically.

OUR MISSION IS TO SUPPORT YOUTH TO FINISH THEIR HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION.

HOW WE ACCOMPLISH THIS

We accomplish our goal in close partnership with school based programs, children’s mental health agencies and Children’s Aid Societies. We use outdoor adventure, team building, academic tutoring and mentorship as our tools.

Our hope is to augment the curricula of existing school based programs. This means to galvanize youth, in and out of their regular classrooms, into becoming mutually supportive teams, more closely aligned with their teachers and their peers. We motivate youth by giving them a forum to accomplish amazing feats. We help them experience learning as a joyous activity. We issue them high school credits as a bonus.

DETAILS OF OUR PROGRAM

The program is delivered from September to March so it can built into the school year’s activities
We partner with existing school based programs
We work with groups of 10-15 students. We do not accept individual referrals
These students must be vulnerable (see criteria below)
We prefer to work with existing classrooms, but may make exceptions based on the needs of our school-based partners
Each cohort goes on TWO 5-7 day outdoor adventures (details below); one in the Autumn and the second in the Winter
Each cohort receives pre-trip team building primers
Between trips, Boundless teachers visit the student’s classrooms for up to a few days a month, providing more team building, tutoring and academic mentorship (details below)

COLLOBORATION WITH SCHOOL BASED PROGRAMS

We partner with school programs run by agencies in the children’s mental health and child welfare sectors, and by programs run by Toronto and Catholic District School Boards (section 23 classrooms for example)
These programs must send at least one staff member to accompany their cohorts on both outdoor adventures. We can accommodate more than one staff member if appropriate. This staff member will serve as our chief liaison throughout the duration of the project
Our partners play a leading role in the intake process, assisting Boundless staff with background information about students (if necessary) and the completion of intake forms (including a medical form which must be signed by a physician)
Boundless takes care of all the logistics relating to the outdoor adventures, including transportation to and from Toronto, along with providing all the specialized clothing and gear necessary for the excursions

DETAILS ABOUT THE 5-7 DAY OUTDOOR ADVENTURES

The adventures are based at our 600 acre wilderness basecamp in the Ottawa Valley
The first adventure, delivered in September or October, includes activities such as climbing, canoeing, eco-challenges, ropes course, wilderness survival and a comprehensive array of team-building, social and life-skill challenges
The second Winter adventure builds upon team building and learning themes established throughout the autumn, and introduces new activities like snowshoeing, skiing, winter survival, ice fishing and a wonderful array of outside activities
Transportation, gear and all logistics are provided by Boundless

CITY-BASED ACTIVITIES

We are deliberately vague about the content of the city-based activities. This is because our school-based partners play a figural role in defining what these activities may entail. We strive to fit with existing curricula, and serve to support our partners’ long term agenda with their students.

Perhaps, some programs may want our staff to work directly in the city classrooms. Or perhaps field trips are in order. In a nutshell, here is a sample of what city-based activities could look like:

Pre-trip team building in Autumn
Field trips building upon educational themes defined by our partners and students
The provision of tutoring to individual students, or other forms of academic counselling
Mentorship
"inter-adventure" team building, delivered between outdoor adventures one and two
Each class could avail themselves of up to a few days of month of Boundless teacher support

BOUNDLESS CAN ISSUE MINISTRY APPROVED CREDITS TO STUDENTS

If invited to do so by our partners, Boundless can issue a full credit for participating in our alternative education program. These credits could include:

Leadership and Peer Support
Outdoor Education (Phys Ed Credit)
Coop Credit
Fitness and Recreation Leadership
Visual Arts
Drama

BOUNDLESS STAFFING

Boundless shall provide six to eight staff per outdoor excursion, equaling roughly a 1:2 staff:youth ratio.

Our staff hold an impressive array of outdoor, river and wilderness safety certifications that exceed industry standard. One third to one half of our staff are teachers, holding their Bachelor of Education degrees.

COSTS

Most of the cost of our program is subsidized by the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services and by a wonderful host of private sector sponsors.

The balance of costs to our partners is $5000 for each GROUP of 10-15 youth for the entire partnership. This includes BOTH outdoor adventures and ALL city based activities – everything is included.

LIABILITY INSURANCE

Boundless holds $5,000,000 per occurrence third party liability insurance, and would be pleased to co-list your agency on our policy if asked to do so

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT STEVEN GOTTLIEB, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AT 416-658-7059 OR AT boundless@on.aibn.com
OR
SEAN GUISTINI (GUS), PROGRAM MANAGER, AT 416-466-7958 OR AT sean_guistini@hotmail.com