Potential partners and participants in the Canada Student Service Grant program are questioning how money from the $912 million student summer grant program was being spent by WE Charity — and whether the programming would have provided meaningful experiences for student volunteers. Before it withdrew from its $19.5 million contract to administer the program, WE was partnering with charities and non-profit organizations to put the student volunteers to work. Many charities have seen their regular programming and fundraising significantly disrupted by the pandemic and have been forced to lay off staff, making it difficult for them to welcome new student volunteers. CBC News is not identifying the charities or the individuals who provided this information because they remain interested in hosting student volunteers this summer. The materials WE sent to charities offer suggestions like putting "digitally savvy student volunteers" to work designing social media campaigns, creating photo and video content or doing other online research.

Source: CBC News July 14, 2020 07:36 UTC