Education

CFF continues to contribute to the expansion of the Regent Park School of Music (RPSM) ProgramĀ into the Jane-Finch neighbourhood. This supports lessons for 200 children and youth aged six to eighteen in piano, guitar, and steel pan in both group and private lessons, as well as the Finch Junior and Senior choirs.

Through the Carswell Scholarship Program at York University the CFF has provided a permanent endowment annually supporting six graduate students in the Faculty of Science and six in the Lassonde School of Engineering.

Since 2016 CFF has supported the endowed Helen Carswell Chair in Community Engaged Research in the Arts at York University. This is a unique partnership between York University and the Regent Park School of music that conducts rigorous academic research exploring the benefits of community music programs and the links between music and learning. This Chair fortifies community music programs globally through publications and knowledge mobilization. It also increases the number of children reached by RPSM by extending new knowledge and practice to community-based groups serving children in the Jane/Finch community.

In July 2017 CFF established the Allan I. Carswell Astronomical Observatory in the Faculty of Science at York University. This supported the purchase of a new one-metre telescope, (the largest telescope on any university campus in Canada), as well as costs associated with installing and equipping the telescope in one of the existing domes.

In 2018 CFF established the Allan I. Carswell Chair for the Public Understanding of Astronomy, an endowed Chair for research and related scholarly and creative activities for the Public Understanding of Astronomy in the Faculty of Science at York University. The Chair facilitates interdisciplinary projects that will shape Allan I. Carswell Observatory programs into a distinctive brand that is providing excellence and innovation in public outreach and education.

The Helen Carswell STEAM Program for Women in the York University, Lassonde School of Engineering. This summer program pays summer salaries for six weeks to thirty grade 11 girls from the Jane-Finch district. This STEAM program includes education in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. The students work with faculty and graduate students as part of the ongoing engineering research activities at Lassonde. Included in this program are three Helen Carswell STEAM Scholarships (annual entrance bursaries to Lassonde for students who demonstrate financial need and community involvement).

Since 2016 CFF has supported the educational programs of the Canadian Association of Physicists. In 2019 this was expanded to include the endowed Allan Carswell Physics Educator Scholarship (awarded annually to increase the number of highly qualified high school Physics teachers in Canada.) Recipients are outstanding Physics students who are enrolled in a Canadian University and who have completed or are in the final year of a Physics degree program and who plan to enter a post-degree teacher training program that leads to a provincial teaching license.