This year, we continued to enhance our Advancing YU mentorship program and created a more formalized program for our women and/or Black-identifying program participants. We ran four workshops focused on career readiness for mentees and promoted more regular meetings with their mentors to improve the overall experience. Since launching the Advancing YU mentorship and scholarship program to support women and Black-identifying students, the program has awarded over $450,000 in scholarships, has provided mentorship to over 450 students and has successfully engaged 150 alumni mentors.

In an effort to make LA&PS a more inclusive destination for students from equity-seeking groups, we secured $750,000 for the Tom Janes Award for Black Scholars, which has awarded $5,000 in renewable scholarships to 42 Black students in LA&PS since 2020.

To celebrate international, Black, Indigenous, racialized students, 2SLGBTQ+ and students with disabilities, Founders College ran a series of events and specialized programming focused on Decolonizing, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (DEDI) including Black & Bold and a new initiative, Black Students Speak.

To support international student enrolment, we launched a new Integrated Year One program in partnership with York's School of Continuing Studies, which provides a new pathway for international students who do not meet the English language proficiency requirement, by providing them with English language support alongside their program of study.

We expanded international in-person recruitment activities to British Columbia and Alberta.

To help bolster international recruitment efforts, we are working in partnership with schools in China, India and Ghana to develop new pathway programs.

Following the completion of a Black Equity Audit, LA&PS implemented a variety of recommendations at the Faculty staffing level including:

• Updating job postings to include more inclusive language to encourage a more diverse pool of qualified applicants and ensure that Black staff members have access to internal growth opportunities.
• Prioritizing internal promotion opportunities, including Black managerial hires, to ensure that Black staff are supported in their career development goals.

This year, we continued to foster a culture of diversity and inclusion through knowledge sharing and professional development. 90% of LA&PS staff completed Decolonization, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (DEDI) training.

The LA&PS Bridging Program for Internationally Educated Professionals is designed to assist newcomers to the country in navigating the complexities of the Canadian job market. This year 93 students joined the IEP Foundation Program, focused on professional communication, leadership, IT, law and management skills, while 90 IEP students also graduated with the Professional Certificate program in Canadian business and IT between June 2024-25.

The IEP Foundation Program was granted $1.2M by Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada in March, for the future delivery of the program from 2025-28, to support 220 newcomer and refugee participants.

The Faculty's Women's Studies Bridging Program offers academic bridging courses for women who want to upgrade their writing and speaking skills and explore the possibility of university study. In April 2025, the Global & Community Engagement team brought together 22 women enrolled in the Women's Studies Bridging Program for a celebration of their achievements and opportunity to hear about the experience of transitioning to a university degree at York from LA&PS' oldest graduate!

This year we allocated $15,000 in funding to our LA&PS Bridging Programs (Women's Bridging, IEP and Sanctuary Scholars Programs) through the Atkinson College Students and Alumni Associations Endowment.