Divas

Hey there, my name is Stephanie and I volunteer every Friday at Regent Park Focus with the Divas Girls Group. Our group is made up of about 15 girls who are between 9 and 14 years old. What we do varies week to week, but most weeks you’ll find us working on an art project, talking about issues that the girls are facing, taking part in workshops, dancing or going on field trips in the community. Our program is, for the most part, based on what the girls have identified as being important to them (health, relationships, finding creative ways to express themselves, dealing with gossip/rumors and identity). Some of the activities the girls have loved over the past year were: pumpkin carving at Halloween, learning a dance routine, designing and creating jewelry, trips to the distillery district and skating at Nathan Phillips square, and an outing to a restaurant where the girls got a hands-on lesson about healthy eating.

On April 26th, the girls took part in a political poster workshop that was part of the Mayworks Festival – a festival of working people and the arts. Favianna Rodriguez, a guest visual artist from Oakland, California came in to teach the girls about creating political art that is meaningful to them and relevant to their community. You can check out Favianna’s work at www.favianna.com and you can see some of the amazing posters the girls created in the pictures below.

In the next few weeks we will be working on photo collages, using photos that the girls took in the community. Some of the girls’ art work and jewelry will be on sale at the next Last Friday event, which is May 29th at 5pm. All the proceeds will go towards the camping trip we are planning for this summer. Hope to see you there!

Last Friday MARCH!

Hi my name is Chantelle Hewitt. I'm a volunteer at Regent Park Focus and for the past 2 months I've started MC-ing the Last Fridays events for the months of February and March. Last Fridays is an evening of food, story telling, poetry, spoken word and live music performances which is held on the last Friday of each month. The event is hosted by Regent Park Focus and for the last couple of months It has been held at the Daniels Presentation Centre at 500 Dundas St. E. It was my first time doing public speaking and by MC-ing this event. I was nervous at first at first but got the hang of things and actually did a good job at hosting.

In the month of February, it was Black History Month and the community was in for a great evening. We had performances by Kwanza (an African Drummer), Logic (spoken word poet), Singer/Songwriter Ania Soul, the Regent Park Focus House Band "Da Youngstas", and an African Fashion Show. All of these performers did a great job and the audience enjoyed it while relaxing to some Caribbean food and refreshments as well. In the month March, we didn't have a certain theme but still had some performers to entertain the community. We had performances by Singer/Songwriter Monique Barry, RPF House Band "Da Youngstas", John T Davis, and a Youth Poetry Slam. Poetry Slam is a group of teens who have a competition at which poets read or recite original work.

(or, more rarely, that of others). These performances are then judged on a numeric scale by previously selected members of the audience. But we did it a little different by making the audience decide by applauding who they thought did the best. These teens worked very hard and did very good on their piece of poetry. Among the 7 contestants, Halie Swizer, won the competition. For the 2 months that I hosted Last Fridays, it was a great experience and I'm glad that I got an opportunity like this at Focus. Catch me this month on the next Last Friday event schedule for April 24, 2009 hosting the event. See y'all then!!

by: Chantelle Hewitt

Chantelle

Regent Park Community Concerns!

After living in Regent Park for almost eight years, I have experienced a lot of negative things but honestly, at the end of the day I wouldn't leave this place for anything. This is because I spent more than half my life here, I know almost everyone when I walk outside.

This is my home, outside my house. Considering that, it is a terrible feeling to be seen as a criminal in your own home.

A few weeks ago, a lot concerned Regent Park citizens and the police that generally patrol the area met in the Regent Park Community Centre. The meeting was held to raise the issue of the police treating the residents of RP as criminals.

Everyone was able to portray their perspective and concerns on the issue. Everyone was supportive of each other and were involved in finding a solution. More meetings will be held so that an understanding can be reached, and this problem be removed. In the end, we hope that we can have the police patrol in our community without them holding a prejudice towards us.

Human Trafficking: Modern Day Slavery, in our city? in our own backyard?

Hey wassup everyone,

this is Helen Choi, the Host and Producer for the second half of tonight's radio show at Regent Park Focus. I'm Blogging here because the RPF folks invited me to write about tonight's radio show on the issue of Human Trafficking of Filipino Nannies in our city. In exploring the topic we heard from our guests, local activists (Kim Abis 20, Cara Clemente 20, Jarelle Gabison 20) from the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance. They work directly with Filipino Nannies in the city, some as young as you!


I decided to do this radio show when a group of young activists caught my attention with a press release in the Wednesday, March 11, 2009 issue of the University of Toronto Free Press "University of Toronto Turns to Unjust Solutions to Satisfy Child-care Demands" . This article was released four days before the Toronto Star Investigation of exploitation of Filipino nannies featured as a two part series in the Saturday and Sunday edition. Found here:

Nannies Trapped in Bogus Jobs
Federal Agencies Fail to Protect Migrant Nannies

What I found from this mainstream media investigation was the lack of input from the marginalized Filipino communities and local Filipino activists, who have been talking and organizing around this issue for some time before the Toronto Star discovered this news. This happens far too often. The voices of the young, alienated and disenfranchised are neglected and replaced by tokenistic authoritative style pieces that focuses primarily on the stake-holders and those already in privilege and holding power. I asked myself, why were not these young activists contacted and represented in the Toronto Star piece? I decided to take action and share information through a "for youth by youth" approach. This approach ensures that information is disseminated in the communities that are heavily affected, and allows us to see how these issues impact on us as youth.

As an alternative to the Toronto Star investigation, I decided to document the story through radio, similar to how the First Nations people have used "oral tradition" to pass down information. This oral tradition is an alternative to mainstream media and a powerfully effective tool in sharing messages with those that feel disconnected from society.

This experimental, community investigative piece which I plan to continue interviewing people and gathering information on will hopefully be presented as a radio series that documents live participation from the grassroots level of action, to inaction from the authorities, or oppression that youth from marginalized, poor, and racialized communities face. Keep tuning in to hear my updates.

Mount Dennis Community Mobile Kitchen Bike

Hey everyone this is Safiqur,

I just finished an article on Mount Dennis Community Mobile Kitchen bike. I really have to say that I enjoyed interviewing Nicko Elliott a former UFT engineer who along with his teacher Adrian Blackwell and rest of his fellow engineer students built the mobile kitchen bike for Mount Dennis community in Toronto. Please read my article which will be published soon in Catch Da Flava magazine.