Oilers foundation promises new inner city high school

The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation haspromised tens of millions of dollars to give the Inner City High School a new building and residence.

On Wednesday, the foundation announced plans to fund the project, which will costup to$30 million.Construction will start this spring next door to the existing building and itwillbe finished by 2010.

Doug Goss, chair of thefoundation, said the school reaches into the "heart and soul" of youth who need help and the foundationwanted to find a way to help.

Since the school opened in 1993, more than 1,000 high risk students have attended the schooland about 100 have earned their high school diplomas. Almost half the students now enrolled are either homeless or living in unsafe conditions.

"A lot of our youth who come through our doors have already slipped through the cracks," said Lance Marty, a former student who is now ayouth worker at the school.

"They're just a file. Nobody looks at them as people. That's where we come in.We look at them as people, as individuals who have individual needs."

The bigger school will have space for 150 students, have a child-care facility, health-care room andliving quarters for 75 students.

The foundation has launched a lottery to help pay for the new school.