Spanish SpeakingEducation Network

Spanish Speaking Education NetworkWorking on behalf of the Spanish–speaking community.

416–999–6111

ssen.ca

Success IntegrationEducation

Communtity

What Parents Are SayingCommunication Workshop:

These types of workshops empower us to deal with everyday problems and keep our children safe.

I’m very interested in listening to topics that I’venever heard of before. For me, it’s worth coming back.

Mental Health Workshop: “This is excellent information which help parents understand the variety of personalities, and that student from all ages can suffer from depression. Thanks for given us the time to ask questions.”

Teaching our Toddlers at Home: “I loved this workshop; It was very well presented and interactive. I learned how to motivate creativity among my children. Now I have more ideas to work with them at home.”

Made possible by the generous support of theOntario Ministry of Education

About UsThe Spanish Speaking Education Network (SSEN) is a grass-roots organization, conceived in June 2005, whose primary purpose is to work together towards the academic success of our youth, and promote the academic success and integration of Hispanics in the both education system and Canadian society.

The Spanish speaking community has been identified as one of the largest communities living under the poverty line. Their yearly income range is between $18,000 to $30,000 per year. This fact qualifies many Hispanic students into the highest predicament in the socioeconomic rank among all communities, and directly impacts the educational performance of many Hispanic students, preventing them to succeed in their schooling.

Recently, the situation has worsened. According to the research presented to the Toronto District School Board in 2006 by Robert Brown, the dropout rate increased from 35% in 2004 to 40% in 2005.

For these reasons, the Spanish Speaking Education Network (SSEN) began a campaign of awareness. The first initiative of this campaign was the organization of the Congress of Education in Spanish. Aimed towards parents and students, the causes that drive Latino-American students to desert the school system were discussed. The Congress is now in its fourth year. SSEN also implemented a pilot tutoring program for students in grades 1 to 8. The program now tutors students from grades 1 to 12, and has been renewed on an ongoing basis.

Our MissionThe Spanish Speaking Education Network represents the interests of the Hispanic community in the education system, develops programs and policies to promote better and greater integration of the Spanish-speaking community in Canadian society.

Our ObjectivesTo facilitate and conduct seminars, workshops and specialized programs for parents in order to ensure they are confident and active participants in their children’s education.

To insure that both parents and students are fully informed about the education system and the programs and services available to support them, by creating an information bank, maintaining a bilingual website, and publishing handbooks in Spanish.

To promote parent and community engagement for the best utilization of all community-based programs, oriented to alleviate the socio-economic challenges faced by Spanish-speaking families.

To ensure a well-structured academic support for students, through tutoring and mentorship programs.

To advocate for the equitable allocation of available resources for educational programs, within the Spanish-speaking community.