Our organization is guided by our active and engaged board members. If you have an interest in helping to guide the organization, please reach out and share your skills. You can show interest in being a board member or a committee member. Below is a list of board positions we are currently seeking. Click on each link for a description of the position.
Our annual Summer Program was yet another success with a new generation of youth from our community. Check out our summer experience! Follow us on YouTube for more.
SBL’s After School Program is based out of our Youth Space located within a school in the heart of the Jane and Finch community. Through a unique partnership with the TDSB, this Youth Space is open and dedicated to supporting young people throughout the school day and after school. Youth have access to a safe space, caring adults, and are connected to various resources that range from academic to social supports.
We are integrated into the life of the school through activities and informing priorities which range from achievement, community engagement, extra-curricular, school safety, nutrition, and engagement of students.
We know that many of us in our community are experiencing extreme social and financial hardships. If you are experiencing an emergency during these challenging times, please reach out and let us know how we can support. There are no deadlines. Give us a call at (416) 395-3320 ext. 20215 or send us an email at info@successbl.com
“TIFF Next Wave is now recruiting new members for the 2016/2017 TIFF Next Wave Committee. If you are in high school, love movies and want to get in on the action of planning events year-round at TIFF for your friends and other movie lovers across the city, we strongly recommend that you apply. Download the full application kit HERE or click through the drop-downs on this page for all relevant and necessary information. The applications consists of three parts: the application form, the “meaty-part” and the reference form. Please submit all three parts by May 23, 2016.”
http://www.tiff.net/festivals/nextwave16/next-wave-committee-application
Our trip to Harvard University brought SBL youth mentors from Jane and Finch to the Black Policy Conference. The aim was to inspire traditionally underrepresented students in post-secondary institutions and nurture their aspirations in conversation with black students at Harvard University.
Check the video below for a recap of our trip:
Stay tune, there is more coming.
Check out our March Break Report which highlights our successes and achievements throughout the week. Be sure to also take a look at our video that captures the march break in ways that the report cannot (Click here for the video).
Below is the link to the report.
Attention all students and parents of African descent. Check out an extensive directory of scholarships you can apply to!
Long lasting, sustained and deep-rooted relationships are a cornerstone for much of the work we do. Our model of youth development and support from Middle School all throughout High School and now even to post-secondary means that we are there for the most formidable and impressionable years of the young people we support. This stems from our hyper local, system focus which not only allows us to positively impact young peoples lives in a community we are intimately familiar with, but also to continually push the envelope of these systems while helping to direct policy – impacting youth on a wider scale. None of this would be possible at the deep level, far reaching impact that we have without forming very important relationships. There is no relationship more important than those with our mentors and mentees. These relationships are important because when we as staff focus on providing the infrastructure to keep our youth space and community organization viable and lasting, our mentors form that integral and important bridge to the mentees. And in turn, we as staff support past mentors into staff and board roles. The model is holistic and renewing. And that is precisely why the model is so effective.
Many of these relationships initially start in grade 8 and continue on through their high school journey. Although the work we do is focused at the elementary and secondary level, those important relationships continue on into adulthood.
As our mentors graduate high school and go on to post-secondary, join apprenticeship programs or enter the workforce, many stay connected by tutoring in our after-school program, facilitating programming, while some become SBL staff and board members.
On December 21, 2015 staff and mentor alumni got together for competitive games of bowling and dinner. The evening was yet another way of sharing stories, checking in, staying connected, celebrating their successes, while creating new memories. It was an evening filled with smiles, laughter and nostalgic moments. Most importantly, the impetus for the mentor alumni dinner came from the alumni mentors themselves, reminding – both staff and mentor alumni – of the many important reasons we do the work that we do.
In November of 2015, Pathways to Education and the York Centre for Education and Community hosted an event titled, the “Community Knowledge Roundtable: Promoting Youth Success through Supportive Relationships”. It was a powerful dialogue bringing together the City of Toronto, Success Beyond Limits, York University Faculty of Education and Pathways to Education in a conversation designed to build strong collaboration and shared learning.
See more here: