New Homes for The Learning Partnership’s Core Programs with Innovative National Organizations

In summer 2022, The Learning Partnership’s Board and the President & CEO reflected on our current state and our long-term ability to meet our target goals for impact on children across Canada. As a result of that analysis, we have chosen to transition our key programs to new partners that are uniquely positioned to deliver these programs nationwide over the long term and to wind down the organization.

While The Learning Partnership’s chapter is drawing to a close, the mission doesn’t end here. The Learning Partnership is thrilled to share that four like-minded national organizations are taking over stewardship of Take Our Kids to Work, Welcome to Kindergarten, Investigate! Invent! Innovate!, and Coding Quest.

• Take Our Kids to Work is transitioning to a new home with the Students Commission of Canada, who help young people put their ideas for improving themselves, their peers and their communities into action.
• Investigate! Invent! Innovate! will continue to inspire young learners from grades 1 to 8 under the lead of Let’s Talk Science, who deliver programs for students to get them interested and excited about the possibilities of science, technology, engineering and math.
• Coding Quest will carry on and grow through Pinnguaq, which delivers coding and computer science skill development as components of its Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math (STEAM) education programs for students and educators.
• Welcome to Kindergarten will continue to be provided to schools nationally through TLP’s 17-year partner, Canadian Education Warehouse, who help school boards, schools, teachers, tutors, and parents get the educational materials that are necessary for children's success.

“We are deeply grateful for all those who have supported our programs over the last three decades, and to the four incredible organizations who share our commitment to equip today’s students with the future skills and global competencies they need to become tomorrow’s change-makers,” says Debra D. Kerby, President & CEO. “This work is too important to stop, and we can’t wait to see how the impacts of these programs live on with these transformational organizations.”

Thanks to the quality of these programs, more than one million students across Canada have been able to participate in inclusive, innovation education programs during – and despite – a global pandemic.

• Take Our Kids to Work Day in November 2021 saw almost 190,000 students learn about all types of different career paths. It was the most diverse, inclusive, accessible Take Our Kids to Work Day ever, with the theme “you belong here” resonating throughout.
• The Investigate! Invent! Innovate! program inspired more than 36,000 students between 2020 and 2022 to come up with processes, products, and other creative solutions to everyday problems.
• Coding Quest helped more than 160,000 students understand and use technology and cultivate essential future-ready skills like computational thinking and coding.
• Through play-based learning, Welcome to Kindergarten supports children’s early development and, between 2020 and 2022, prepared more than 300,000 children and their family members across the country for their school journey.

The future is bright for these programs, and students in publicly funded schools across Canada will continue to have the chance to participate in hands-on, innovative, and engaging programs to become critical thinkers, collaborative problem solvers, and effective communicators.

TLP is continuing its final wind-down operations. All development and promotion of the four programs now rest with the new host organizations.