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Toronto Financial Services Alliance (TFSA) has announced that the federal government is providing nearly $2.1 million over a three-year period for the not-for-profit organization’s ASPIRE program, a work-integrated learning pilot project looking to address the upcoming labour shortage in the financial services industry.

The program, lead by the TFSA, was created with the help of a number of universities, colleges, banks and government stakeholders. The program intends to offer 10,000 new work-related learning opportunities to undergraduates by the end of 2020.

TFSA will use the funds to scale up ASPIRE, which was officially launched in April 2017.

“A world-class talent base is key to establishing Toronto as a leading international financial centre,” says Jennifer Reynolds, president and CEO of TFSA in a statement.

“Our financial services employers have always recognized the importance of investing in students. Our new partnership with the government of Canada provides the means for us to stimulate even more industry participation and collaboration to develop our students and ensure their career success.”