News

Community-University-School Collaboration: Applying What We’ve Learned to a Jane/Finch context

Workshop was held as a panel discussion followed by interactive discussion that leads to generating new ideas for community-university-school collaborations with the Jane-Finch community in mind. The workshop included a presentation of academic literature on effective models of community-university-school collaborations from other jurisdictions.  It will be followed by a presentation by Success Beyond Limits and over 7 years of community-university-school collaboration experience aimed at supporting youth educational attainment in Jane Finch.  York U-TD Community Engagement Centre provided an overview of its revised mandate, core functional areas and activities.  The workshop moved into an interactive discussion intended to generate dialogue and new ideas moving forward with a focus on York/Jane-Finch community partners and local school boards.

Success Beyond Limits in partnership with MorCan Direct is excited to announce The Graduation Model Scholarship!

See the pdf below for more info:

SBL & MorCan Direct Scholarship

On April 30th, 2014, SBL was proud to host the Toronto International Film Festival and the CityLife Film Project at Westview Centennial for an incredible screening and filmmaker panel.

Attached is the SBL Summer Program posting for TDSB teachers.

Please apply to it and/or share it as is relevant to you.

Application for Teaching – Exploring Family Studies, Stong College, York University, 2014

You can now find intriguing articles about Toronto’s very own Raptors on the RaptorRapture website written by SBL youth! Through this new collaboration, our youth are able to express their ideas and opinions about the NBA and more particularly the Raptors all while gaining valuable experience.  You can check out these great articles and more at www.raptorsrapture.com

http://raptorsrapture.com/2014/02/26/guest-post/ – Article by Khadar Abukar

http://raptorsrapture.com/2014/02/10/steve-novak-get-man-playing-time/- Article by P.K Boateng

http://raptorsrapture.com/2014/02/08/los-angeles-clippers-118-toronto-raptors-105-come-home-guys/ – Article by P.K Boateng

On Friday April 25^th and Saturday April 26^th, students from all over the GTA gathered together at the Mckinsey office in downtown Toronto for a day of leadership development and skill building at Mckinsey’s annual Youth Leadership Forum (YLF).

Over the course of these two days students made connections with other youth leaders from around the city and even business professionals from Mckinsey.

Youth were also required to brainstorm solutions to a practical scenario, where they worked collaboratively and applied their own unique experiences and expertise. Motivational speakers from Mckinsey and other organizations such as Habitat for Humanity were brought in to inspire the youth and guide them through this educational experience.

Khadar Abukar, a Success Beyond Limits (SBL) youth who was one of the students accepted into the YLF states “This forum taught me to be more confident in my self and in my abilities. No problem is too big and that if you collaborate with others it makes tackling a problem that much easier.”

Mohamed Ibrahim, another SBL youth who attended the YLF shared a similar sentiment and went on to state, “I learned that there are a lot of people that feel and think the way I do that are from different communities. This made me feel confident in myself that there are others that also want good for their community.”

Mohamed and Khadar are both eager to take the knowledge and skills gained from this forum and apply it to their everyday experiences, building on the skills that they tapped into during this initiative.

Check out McKinsley’s Youth Leadership Forum Website:

http://www.ylftoronto.ca/

Canada has been described as a beacon of multiculturalism, a country that values the diversity of its population. As such, how do we meaningfully and responsibly bring ‘culture’ into the classroom that is responsive and reflective of our student body? Enter Hip Hop -a leading cultural form of expression of young people, evident through student fashion and vernacular. Meshing the cultural elements of Hip Hop: DJing, MCing, Graffiti,  Breakdancing and Knowledge with Critical Pedagogy, we end up with Rhymes to Re-Education – a resource book that uses Critical Hip Hop Pedagogy as a foundation to instruction for students from K-12. On April 22, 2014 community workers, educators, Hip Hop enthusiasts, and academics came together to celebrate the launch Rhymes to Re-Education.

Check out a remarkable verse by SBL mentor Moose from the evening

Check out the Rhymes to Re-Education website and order a copy of the book!

http://www.rhymestoreeducation.com/

April 19th marked the beginning of a new chapter in Toronto. The Toronto Raptors were playing in late April – a time of year many basketball fans revel in, something Toronto has not experienced in six years. Securing the 3^rd seed and facing a Brooklyn team that drifted to the 6^th seed, the stage was set.

Everybody in Toronto is a Raptors fan now that they are making noise in the NBA Playoffs. With everyone jockeying for tickets, that means the dream of being a part of the Raptors playoff experience is even more for youth across the city.  With the Raptors playoff tickets being the most expensive tickets in the league this year, the ubiquitous slogan #WeTheNorth was ready to be put to the test. Defying the odds, a generous donation through Kids Up Front put students from Success Beyond Limits in a suite to add to the voices of the 20,000 fans standing behind our home team. Here are some photos from the event.

A link to the #WeTheNorth slogan narrated by Drake

Jane and Finch is community that is consistently talked about. The perceptions of the community vary depending on your relationship to it. SBL reached out to community members and non-members to get their take on it. Here’s some Word Bubbles describing the community from both perspectives.

Perception of Jane and Finch by community members:

Perception of Jane and Finch from those outside the community: