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The youth we support are often those who have fallen off life’s path or slipped through the cracks of society. The Margins to Mainstream program help youth rediscover their authentic self from within. We encourage youth to align themselves to their values and goals and live life authentically and not waiver in the face of mediocrity and conformity. Good luck to our student Lyondre as he climbs his way up the ladder of success. We wish him the best in his academic journey!

Please join us in welcoming our newest intern and Marketing Coordinator, Trixia Espulgar to the Pinball Clemons Foundation family. Trix is a young professional from the Philippines pursuing a career in the marketing industry. In 2020, she graduated from one of the top universities in her country, De La Salle University. To add, she interned for McCann Worldgroup and was awarded the best thesis award. Following this, she decided to step out of her comfort zone and moved to T

Check out the latest updates on You(th) Lead Conference, Graduation Season, Youth Literacy, Mentorship Update, Addressing the Social Determinants of Learning and more...

When you join the Mainstream Bursary program, you're joining a team, a community, and a family! From the staff to the mentors to the students, we all play a part in #changingthenarrative for this community. Good luck to our teammate Zebadiah, as he continues to work towards completing his degree in computer science. Don't be surprised when your kids are playing a game designed by Zebadiah in the future!

PCF helps provide that stability to every aspect of their life, to help give marginalized youth the direction they so desperately need. 💙📚 “We want to give young people the resources to control their lives, revel in independence, and change the trajectory of their families for generations.” - Michael "Pinball" Clemons

We recognize that youth that struggle with challenges carry them into their adult life. Our support continues through their career journey, as challenges do not stop after postsecondary. Our goal is to stay in contact with the youth until they are stable. Our career mentors are accelerators with an integrated social impact strategy. Their primary aim is to remove barriers from marginalized groups and drive outcomes leading to sustainable employment across Canada.

Written By: Paul VanderGriendt, Event Management Coordinator Mentorship Session Diary. Entry 07 Every One Voice One Team session starts with to a song to set the mood and get people live. I don’t care who you are, you’ve never seen a zoom meeting like this. Positivity is off the charts. Energy is off the charts. You can feel it in your bones. Orlando Bowen always says, “if you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together.” The sessions are all about community,

"Some people think they are in community, but they are only in proximity. True community requires commitment and openness. It is a willingness to extend yourself to encounter and know the other." - David Spangler Community outreach is a huge part of our Foundation. It's an essential tool for us to understand the needs of the programs we support and the youth we support. Last week, we spent time with a few of our charitable partners and the youth we support. It was indeed Chri

Check out the latest update of donor dollars at work.

On Saturday, June 4th, 2022, we hosted our inaugural You(th) Lead Conference at Hotel X Toronto. This special event brought together guest speakers, influencers, and over 70 executives to empower future leaders. PCF is not just a Foundation, we are a community, working together to bring the youth from the Margins to the Mainstream. “In a tremendous setting, it was with hope and intention that PCF designed a day fostering community, connection, and career, for marginalized yo

Written By: Paul VanderGriendt, Event Management Coordinator Mentorship Session Diary. Entry 06 (March 19th) Money can be a tricky topic with varying opinions across the board. At the same time, financial literacy is important for youth trying to navigate their environment and progress in their careers. Firstly, we should start by looking at our mindset about money. We can set up roadblocks for ourselves just by having misconceptions or misguided feelings about having or mak

Written By: Paul VanderGriendt, Event Management Coordinator Mentorship Session Diary. Entry 05 (March 5th) We are entering a phase as a community where we are beginning to get back out into the world. We have been “stuck” with a digital connection. But at the same time, we were not stuck at all. Virtual spaces gave us so many opportunities to meet new people, expand our network and create new connections. As people, we always have tools at our disposal to move ourselves for

Written By: Paul VanderGriendt, Event Management Coordinator Mentorship Session Diary. Entry 04 (February 19th) Self-awareness is a tool we can all use when faced with reacting to new situations and challenges. Are you a logical or emotional thinker? Do you respond to structure and loyalty or to adventure and change? Knowing who you are and what you stand for will help build your confidence as you move forward in life. Being comfortable with yourself, and not critical of you

Written By: Paul VanderGriendt, Event Management Coordinator Mentorship Session Diary. Entry 04 (February 5th) The power of “team” can be incredible. What we can accomplish together, goes beyond what we would ever be able to do alone. Psychological safety is something that great teams always have. It means being comfortable with the people around you. Being able to share, trust, be understanding and support one another is how we make everyone around us stronger. Building the

Written By: Paul VanderGriendt, Event Management Coordinator Mentorship Session Diary. Entry 02 (January 22nd) How are you feeling… and why? We need to check in with ourselves, as it is for us to check in with the others. Being honest with yourself and with others is how we create accountability. We all need help sometimes, and we need someone we can rely on. Creating accountability with others is how we can build an environment where everyone feels like someone has their bac

Written By: Paul VanderGriendt, Event Management Coordinator Mentorship Session Diary. Entry 01 (January 8th) Every One Voice One Team session starts with a song to set the mood and get people energized. I do not care who you are, you have never seen a zoom meeting like this. Positivity is off the charts. Energy is off the charts. You can feel it in your bones. Orlando Bowen always says, “if you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together.” The sessions are al

PCF hopes to build awareness and donations through a new video that can help be bring marginalized youth to the mainstream. March 7th , 2022 – Toronto, ON – FUSE Create works with the Pinball Clemons Foundation (PCF) to create a powerful new hero video that showcases what the Foundation does and how donor money is used to help disadvantaged kids. Their overall goal of the Foundation is to bring youth from the ‘margins into the mainstream’ through mentorship that allows youth

We are excited to share an update on your donor dollars at work!

Partnership opens doors to mentorship and courses for marginalized youth February 03, 2022 (Toronto, ON) – Today, The Pinball Clemons Foundation (PCF) announced it is continuing to provide BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) youth with career pathways in a broad range of industries through an expanded partnership with RBC Future Launch and George Brown College. The partnership supports a program that will be offered online through George Brown College to a cohort o

Thanks to your donations, we were able to safely celebrate Christmas at the youth homeless shelter, and provide them with some incredible gifts and surprises! Due to COVID we were not able to cook with volunteers, so we enlisted the help of celebrity Chef Corbin to cater an amazing turkey dinner with all the trimmings. A few staff and volunteers were able to serve and eat with the youth. Read more below...

On November 25th, 2021, an intimate group of students from Mainstream Bursary program was joined by Anthony Longo - President and CEO at Longo's for a Fireside Chat. A common thread for this Fireside Chat was the "Importance of Family". These meetings provide an exclusive opportunity for youth to meet a wide variety of industry leaders, hear about their life and career experiences, and ask them ANYTHING, all in a small group setting. Anthony provided amazing and insightful a

Chicago Title Insurance donates $10,000 to sponsor the Adopt the Shelter program for the December holidays in 2021. Holidays are a difficult milestone to celebrate when a youth is homeless. Over the December holidays, the Foundations “adopts” the shelter program, in hopes of giving those youth something to celebrate. Thanks to Chicago Title Insurance we will be able to provide the youth with a holiday party, dinner, gifts and winter essentials. "The two things that foster ind

Thank you Moneris for supporting our youth by providing funding for our Education Fund, as well as providing placement and full time employment opportunities for our youth. The Foundation is working to change the narrative of marginalized and racialized youth by allowing them to focus on their academics and successfully transition into their careers without the burden of student debt. This investment directly correlates to their future success as independent adults. Click her

One of our favourite quotes is “Kindness can be the greatest gift that you can give a person, especially when they are not expecting it.” Well, this is a story of exactly that – unexpected kindness. A group of individuals who referred to themselves as “Friends Supporting Education” chatted with the Foundation and had one goal in mind – to help support marginalized and racialized youth in our community. They had no desire to promote their efforts and we even had to beg them to