SBL Mentor, Princess organized a surprise birthday celebration for fellow Mentor Shukri. Here are some pictures of the SBL family celebrating.
News
Festival Express
We catch a ride to the city’s biggest community hip-hop fest with a group of youngsters and hear about suburban alienation blues.
BY: TIFFY THOMPSON
Last Sunday afternoon, under grey skies, seagulls swooped overhead while a couple sat in a rusted Honda Civic in the Jane Finch Mall parking lot and ate McDonald’s. Suddenly, an enormous luxury coach bus pulled up alongside a blue dumpster. The bus—chartered by Toronto urban community-building organization Manifesto, in cooperation with city youth-outreach workers—was there to offer young people in priority neighbourhoods a lift to and from the main stage of the Manifesto Festival celebrations downtown. A handful of teenagers trickled in, a few wearing a practiced façade of coolness. The veneer quickly dissolved, though, once they settled in for the long ride and started talking about their ’hood.
The Manifesto Festival, now in its seventh year, began as a grassroots celebration of urban culture. It brings in artists from across the GTA and North America to showcase breakdancing, live graffiti, and hip-hop performance. It was started as a response to growing negativity towards hip-hop, particularly in the wake of 2005’s “year of the gun.” (Around that time, there was an increase in government funding for programs looking to quell incidents of gun violence.)Though the positive vibes of the festival have grown along with its popularity—around 50,000 people came out this year—the spectre of violence is still a real concern for the communities it aims to serve.
The free buses (sponsored by Yahoo!) are difficult to fill, due to “turf wars, both at Jane-Finch and in Scarborough,” said Jade Lee Hoy, one of Manifesto’s original team members. (In fact, no one boarded at the second stop, St. Alban’s Boys and Girls Club.) “People won’t come on if [certain] other people come on, and it depends where you’re picking people up.” Additionally, Hoy said, “[This neighbourhood has] lost two, maybe three young people in the past couple of months due to gun violence in the area. They’re also dealing with [that] trauma.
“For me, it’s just about getting people outside of their neighbourhood,” she added, referring to the “neutral zone” of Yonge-Dundas Square. “Some of them have never even seen the CN Tower. People don’t know what’s in their own city. Some of the acts at the festival are from Jane and Finch [but the kids] don’t know that these rappers and performers are from their neighbourhood.”
Hoy told the teens when the buses would be departing the square in the evening, and gave them advice on what to do at the fest. “Feel free to ask artists questions. They will answer you; they’re very friendly, and I think you guys can learn a lot from your community. Remember that you’re a part of [it] and we really want you to not be afraid to go all in.”
Matthew Alay sat gazing out the window as we raced past strip malls and payday loan shops. The soft-spoken 19-year-old began working as a carpenter a month ago. “I plan on saving and then moving out of Toronto. I’ve been in Toronto my whole life,” he said, citing the shifting social climate as his motivation. “People change. A lot of people get aggressive over nothing. That leads them to gun violence and all that type of bullshit. Personally, I’m trying to get away from that because I grew up watching it. You can only take so much.”
By heading into the heart of downtown, 20-year-old Winston Luc brought a positive view of his home turf to the party. He’s sick of reporters asking about misconceptions of the neighbourhood, saying, “The questions to be asking are: What’s beautiful about Jane and Finch? What do we have that other communities don’t? I feel that we are the heart of diversity. I know that Toronto is diverse, but it gets more colourful when you set foot inside Jane and Finch. You see every race, every religion, every culture, and every ethnicity. The guns and stuff is only a small portion.”
Sariena Luy nodded in agreement. The slight, 14-year-old hip-hop dancer and aspiring photographer was excited for the breakdancing at the festival—this was her first time attending the event. “At Jane and Finch, there are a lot of different opportunities. I’ve been involved with performing, and there are so many great dancers, singers…everything.” Luc leaned over to show me a version of a short music video on his phone. Though it was edited and choreographed by 13-year-olds from the neighbourhood, the skill level was MTV-calibre.
As they dismounted the bus almost two hours after leaving the ’burbs, the bass from the main stage rattled car windows nearby. The group was all grins as they stepped out on the street. “We all go through the same struggle,” said Luc. “But we have a big unity, when we get together there’s always a good vibe. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
http://www.thegridto.com/city/local-news/festival-express/
re-Designing SBL’s Youth Space
The beginning of the school year is an exciting time for SBL. It’s a time to re-connect with the incoming grade 9s and transition back into our youth space at Westview. This year we’re in a bigger space, which presents us with the opportunity to re-design it. With minimal resources but a lot of love and creativity among the SBL family, together we have begun re-creating our youth space. Here are some pictures:
Fundraiser in Memory of Tahj Loor-Walters
OWARE: The World’s Oldest Board Game
Click on the link below to watch more about the game that will be played on Sat. 28th in partnership with Success Beyond Limits.
Oware Day News in Share Newspaper
Fourteen year old Peter Anaide and 81 year old Samuel Stevens.
MACPRI, in association with Success Beyond Limits, will present the 2nd Toronto International Oware Tournament and Family Fun Day on Saturday, September 28, from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. at Westview Centennial Secondary School, 755 Oakdale Road (West of Jane St. off Finch) Ave. The Tournament and Family Fun Day is a unique opportunity for developing community engagement and strengthening inter-generational togetherness while playing a fun and ancient African board game. This year’s Oware Family Fun Day activities is a free admission family event with fun children’s activities, performances, storytelling, an African Market Place, Capoeira African martial arts demonstrations, an international All African Inventors Museum, jewellery making, drumming workshops, storytelling circles, head wrapping workshops, Afrobics, art and crafts and performances by community artists. Nana Akpaabe Adessa Oji II, the seven-year-old daughter of the Oware Canada founder, who is visiting from Ghana, West Africa will be a special guest storyteller in the Knowledge Bookstore Storytelling Circle. While the event is free, those wishing to participate in the tournament will be required to pay a fee of $10.00 to register, and cash prizes of $300.00 (first prize), $150.00 (second prize) and $50.00 (third prize) will be awarded. First to fourth place finishers will receive an Oware game board. Oware Day 2011 was a huge success and attracted participants from all across Southern Ontario with 48 players sitting for the tournament. The goal for 2013 is a record 256 players who must be 12 years of age or older on September 28 in order to participate. The 2013 Toronto Oware tournament will have a bonus round where Samuel Stevens, the 81-year-old 2011 Oware champion from Antigua & Barbuda, will face off against the new champion. This will be one of the highlights of the day. All are invited. For more information about Oware and the Oware (Abapa) tournament playing rules visit www.owarecanada.com. To register for the tournament, call 416-230-8301or email owarecanada@gmail.com.
http://sharenews.com/all-invited-to-oware-tournament-and-fun-day/
Good Afternoon SBL Friends and Supporters,
A chill in the air and the warmth of the sun sums up the season we are entering, the beginning of a new school year. Looking back at our summer, there is a similar contrast: we moved between the heights of joy and the depths of despair. Our summer program, by all accounts, was the best yet. Our mentors, teachers, students, volunteers, partners, funders, and parents were incredible in making it all happen. Being in Osgoode Hall Law School enhanced the experience for everyone, as did the dedication from our mentors who went through 14 weeks of training leading up to the summer. And we lost three amazing young people in the community: Tahj, Oshe and Kwame. Mentors, students and staff lost friends, neighbours, and community members. While our city seeks answers to the questions of ‘what is happening’ and ‘why’, we sit in a position of privilege where we are daily witnesses to the success, positivity, dedication, leadership and commitment of youth in Jane and Finch. And we hope to share some of that with you.
Mentor Debrief Week
After our 6 week summer program, each year we spend one additional at York U with our mentors for our debrief week. Through a series of workshops and facilitated conversations we reflect on the accomplishments and challenges of the summer program and prepare for the role our mentors will play in the coming school year. One of the challenges a program as intensive as ours can face is that, by week six, people tend to be pretty exhausted. However, one of the big markers of how this summer went was that our mentors finished the program energized and missing the students – they said they were ready to go for a few more weeks!
School and Community Partnerships – YCEC
Since 2008, we have participated in the annual York University Centre for Education and Community (YCEC) summer institute. This year, the theme was school and community partnerships – a perfect fit for us. Having been a part of the planning process, SBL offered a workshop on the first day of the institute. Taking place on August 27th and 28th at York U, Kaneka (Program Manager) and Hafsa (Mentor) facilitated a panel discussion, which turned the room into a fully interactive conversation where learning was shared from all that were present (and included some powerful performances from two of our Mentors, Destini and Moose). We were happy to have the Trillium Foundation and JustBGraphic join our staff, mentors, and youth board members on the panel to illustrate how many partners it really takes to make a school and community partnership work.
Glendon Tour
On Monday, July 29th, a group of 15 students and mentors from our program headed on the York U shuttle bus to the Glendon Campus for a tour of this small, yet beautiful part of the university. Students were led through the full spectrum of post-secondary student life at Glendon, from the athletic facilities, residence and the academic environment, to the emphasis on the French language and the storied history of the campus. Highlighted by a tour of the office of President Emerita Dr. Lorna Marsden, who treated us to lunch, which really made everyone feel like VIP guests. You know the impact of something like this through the conversations on the bus ride home; the consistent sentiment was about seeing university as a cool life experience and something to be excited about.
Career Day 2013
One of the highlights each summer is our Career Day. We invite ten young, diverse professionals to come out to York for a full morning with us. Students rotate in small groups through 10 different rooms for a Q&A style dialogue with each of our guests. The careers included this year were entrepreneur, journalist, lawyer, mechanic, and more. As important as the range of careers is, the depth of the stories shared are even more powerful; stories which point out the journeys of ups, downs, and unpredictable twists that have brought these accomplished professionals to the place where they desire to share the intimate details behind their achievements. You can see photos and a story about the day from SNAP North York at the following link:
CBC Video Link
When we decided to pilot the Hip Hop Curriculum being developed in partnership with the TDSB and Education Attainment West, it was because of the huge success we had seen in our own Hip Hop Literacy programming, which was led by SBL staff and teacher, Tesfai (one of the writers of this emerging curriculum). Moving beyond the idea of looking at Hip Hop lyrics and using them to teach English, this curriculum aims at engaging with content and to bring about higher order thinking in students on issues of class, gender and media literacy. In July, CBC News came by to check out how students are responding to it. If you missed the airing of the piece, you can check it out here:
http://successbl.com/2013/
Mentor Profile in Boss Magazine – Whitney Smith
Whitney Smith joined our program as a mentee in 2009, and quickly emerged as a leader, being voted in by her fellow mentees as the summer program valedictorian. It was not long before her volunteering in the program led to a role as a mentor. In her last year at Westview she served as Student Council President (and Westview valedictorian), and spent the summer with us in a position that she pitched to us, where she would shadow and support the SBL staff team in order to learn how the program functions, “behind the scenes”. In the most recent issue of the AMAZING youth-led issue of BOSS Magazine, Whitney was featured. Read more about this amazing young leader whose name you will come to recognize over the years.
You can read it on page 102 of the magazine (page 52 of the PDF) at this link:
http://www.bossmag.biz/
Graduation 2013!
Held on Tuesday, August 6th in the Price Family Theatre at York U, we were overwhelmed to welcome over 300 people to celebrate the success of youth in the Jane and Finch community. The evening was full of performances, awards and our end of summer slide show.
Highlights included Matthew receiving the Jays Care Mentor Among Mentors Award (voted on strictly by the mentors) for the second year in a row, and Moose receiving the newly launched Student’s Choice Mentor Award.
In addition to the many acknowledgements of accomplishment and growth throughout the evening, we were most proud that 100 students earned their first secondary school credit!
You can read about what the North York Mirror wrote about our grad at:
http://www.insidetoronto.com/
Toronto Star Article and Conversation
On Saturday, August 31st, the Toronto Star published a story titled “Jane and Finch: Toronto’s most dangerous place to be a kid?”.The story was in response to the tragic loss of life seen in the community this year. Many of the sentiments shared did not make it into the article, but you can see the perspective we tried to bring to the conversation.
You can read the story here:
You can see our attempt to shift the nature of the conversation through twitter here:
We will be continuing the dialogue Friday, September 6th from 11am-12:30pm online through a link connected to the article link above.
Young Lives Taken From Us
As you are all well aware, the passing of St.Aubyn, Tahj, Oshe and Kwame over the past few months has broken hearts and left so many in grief. In the midst of this, many throughout the city have been talking about what is happening with the search for ‘why’ and ‘what do we do’ at the heart of the conversation. SBL was asked to join this conversation on Metro Morning on August 26th.
You can listen to that interview here:
http://www.cbc.ca/
OWARE Day
On Saturday, September 28th, SBL is partnering with Macpri and OwareDayCanada.com in hosting an Oware Tournament at Westview Centennial. Oware is a strategy board game centuries old with roots that stretch throughout 54 African countries, the Philippines, Indonesia, India and Germany. From 10am to 6pm, players from the ages of “9 to 90” will be competing to be the tournament champion. The day will also feature an African Inventors Museum, performances, food and crafts. Come check it out with the whole family!
You can read more about the event at:
http://sharenews.com/all-
SBL Takes a Glendon Tour
On Monday, July 29th, a group of 15 students and mentors from our program headed on the York U shuttle bus to the Glendon Campus for a tour of this small, yet beautiful part of the university. Students were led through the full spectrum of post-secondary student life at Glendon, from the athletic facilities, residence and the academic environment, to the emphasis on the French language and the storied history of the campus. Highlighted by a tour of the office of President Emerita Dr. Lorna Marsden, who treated us to lunch, which really made everyone feel like VIP guests. You know the impact of something like this through the conversations on the bus ride home; the consistent sentiment was about seeing university as a cool life experience and something to be excited about.
International OWARE Tournament SAT. Sept. 28th, 2013
Article in SNAP news paper about SBL Career Day
The sky is the limit, that’s the lesson learned during Success Beyond Limits’ Career Day held at York University this summer. Their collective of prestigious professionals ranged from Gloria Alfred, a lawyer from the TDSB, to Adisa El, a master martial artist. All eyes were on CTV Canada am news writer Camille Dundas as she discussed pursuing a career in journalism and provided helpful advice for students on their journey towards success. She emphasized the importance of literacy and said that the number one thing that will hinder employment chances is submitting a resume with spelling errors. She also insisted that, despite her early hours and modest paycheque, she is happiest doing what she loves. Success Beyond Limits is an initiative that gathers disadvantaged youths from the Jane and Finch area in order to provide them with support to complete their education. For more information on Success Beyond Limits, visit their website at www.successbl.com.