By DAVE DORMER, SUN MEDIA
Helping homeless people further their education could earn a Calgary man the title of Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister.
Rahim Moloo, one of 144 Canadians vying for the title in the annual CBC contest, is holding an information session today at the EXIT Community Outreach and Resource Centre, 117 7 Ave. S.W., open to disadvantaged people looking to either earn their high school diploma or complete a post-secondary program.
“I speak a lot about access to education and the general theme is to remove barriers to create opportunities for Canadians, especially those who are most disadvantaged,” Moloo said.
One barrier Moloo would like to see removed is the financial barrier keeping most homeless out of school.
“It’s hard enough for those of us who have a house and have some resources, to be able to pay for tuition,” he said.
“For the homeless, the struggle is even more insurmountable.”
Source: The Calgary Sun
Ismailimail 
Hi Rahim,
This is a very worthwhile venture and kudos to you for being involved with it. About education, Mawlana Hazar Imam in a recent speech at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France(October 2007) said:
“The Quran repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God’s creation”
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This is a recent update from Rahim’s page on facebook.
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Hi everyone,
CBC has issued all of the contestants with a challenge. The challenge is as follows:
“Go out into the community of your choice and raise awareness for your One Great Idea for Canada. We want to see if you can walk your talk in the world. How you do that is up to you. You could organize a protest, write an article for a paper, ask a neighborhood to shut their lights off for a day, create a petition or have a pancake breakfast to raise money for a charity. We are putting no limits on how you raise awareness – just be creative, be responsible with your actions and your time, and be heard in your community.”
Let me share with you what I am doing to walk my talk….
The theme of my entry is to remove barriers facing Canada to provide them with access to opportunity. To that end, one of my main platform issues in this contest involves access to post-secondary education.
In acting on this idea, I recently met with the Provost and Vice-President Academic at Mount Royal College in Calgary to present him with a proposal. The proposal that I made to Mount Royal was for them to offer a post-secondary class, for free and for credit, to a group of homeless in the Calgary community. The class would help this disadvantaged group in Canadian society to hone their critical thinking skills. The hope is to be able to identify certain students from this class who will then be able to become degree-pursuing students at Mount Royal College.
I am very happy to announce that Mount Royal College has committed to pursuing this project! If all goes well, the VP Academic and Provost, Dr. Fisher, has indicated that the first class could be offered as early as spring of 2008. I am truly grateful to Mount Royal College for committing to provide some of the most underprivileged in our community with a real chance to improve their lives by giving them access to higher education.
To further promote access to education among the homeless community, tomorrow (Dec. 23) I will be speaking to a group of young adult homeless in Calgary at the EXIT Community Outreach and Resource Centre. During the Seminar, I will be informing the homeless young adults at EXIT about ways in which they can access secondary and post-secondary education. I will also be announcing the commitment that Mount Royal College has made to help provide access to post-secondary education to Calgary’s homeless.
There are going to be members from the media at the event tomorrow, so I will be sure to share any stories that are done on the project with all of you.
Thanks for reading, and happy holidays!
Rahim Moloo
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