The group felt that in the past as well as the present, many programs have been designed with fundamental gaps:

• They didn't incorporate the needs of the individuals who would be participating in them.
• There was as an approach based upon fitting people into programs vs. designing programs around community and individual needs.
• Finally, they felt that more time needed to be taken for planning social and economic development initiatives, instead of providing short-term band–aid solutions and new and more efficient ways of working together to develop and deliver programs as well as services that will achieve effective outcomes were all needed.

The subsequent model (Bridging the Gap) attempts to address these gaps, hence the name.

1.2 BTG Goals and Objectives

The goals and objectives of the model of Bridging the Gap are:

• securing employment for individuals struggling with entering the local labour market;
• providing training for clients relevant to a workplace and can be directly applied;
• provide learning opportunities for clients which enhances their life skills and their employability;
• develop a tailored curriculum and policy and procedures manual for employers for training at their workplace
• make available a pool of well–trained and knowledgeable clients as potential employees that are close to being fully productive from their hiring;
• enhancing the business continued fiscal health by providing well–trained individuals with a good overall knowledge of the business and the industry;
• have a positive impact on the community by providing employment and income opportunities with disadvantaged residents;
• develop a community based team focusing on the linkages between employment and education, and
• enhance the client's family strength and well–being by providing income and close–to–home employment prospects for clients and removing the stigma of being on government assistance.