Regent Park Focus

For this edition of Catch da Flava radio show, host Diamond introduced us to the topic of police presence in Regent Park. Because of a long and dark history involving negative relationships with police in the neighbourhood, Regent Park and its youth feel a strong sensitivity toward the very presence of police in the community, and the looming connotations behind that presence. As our show is based in Regent Park, all youth panelists have had interactions in the neighbourhood and understand its impact as youth. Joining our panel discussion were Beverley, Erika, Judy, and Joel. Generally, all panelists felt a wariness when it comes to police presence in the neighbourhood. Although some can not speak of any personal experience of negative interactions with authority, they seem to know of someone that has faced some kind of negative experience. Erika and Diamond expressed concern as maternal figures to young Black men in their lives. Understanding through lived experience, they have ...

For our November 28th show of Catch da Flava Youth Radio on Radio Regent, we invited a guest from The CRC which is a local community centre in Regent Park. Cavell Hart joined us for the first half of the show and shared with us on air about holiday festivities going on in the neighbourhood, highlighting an upcoming Winter Market hosted in Regent Park. It will start off in the Big Park with pretzels baked on location at the Bake Oven, before heading over to The CRC to see all the local vendors and the products they will sell. The event hopes to support local businesses by giving them an opportunity to sell their products, and an opportunity for local food industry professionals to provide food services in the community.   There will also be a free movie screening for kids to get them in the spirit of the season with a holiday classic, and other free activities for kids including gingerbread decorating. The events will take place Thursday, December 7th from 5-8PM EST at 40 O...

Date: Nov 27, 2017 Hosts: Anny & Victoria Guests: Wendy De Sousa from METRAC Topic: Healthy Relationships This week our hosts Anny and Victoria led a conversation with our guest Wendy De Sousa from METRAC who helped shed some light on what a healthy relationship and unhealthy relationship looks like, what consent is and how we can unwillingly contribute to the concept of consent such as kissing on the cheek as a form of affection. The second half of the show our hosts led a conversation about the cycle of abuse, the honeymoon phase and what someone can do if they know someone is in an abusive situation. Wendy shed some light on where someone who is being abusive can receive help. We also spoke about what stalking is and how technology is making it easier for people to be stalked online, especially when one leaves their abuser. We went into detail about online safety when dealing with a potential stalker which includes how to get a restraining order if need...

What The Health?: Celebrating our Unique Bodies Diva Girls Group November 24th 2017 This week the divas started off with their favorite icebreaker, circle rock. Shortly after the icebreaker the diva girls watched a health slideshow. The divas were shown 6 photos on the screen and had to write down whether the person in the picture is healthy or unhealthy, privately in their notebooks. After they watched the slide show, Londzo and Maymuna discussed which photo were healthy and unhealthy and if the divas disagreed, they would have to elaborate on why they disagree. The divas also worked on a “What The Health? “Pie chart. The divas were spilt into 2 groups; each group was given a piece of chart paper and markers. The chart paper had a big circle with four labeled quadrants. The quadrants were labeled as physical, mental, spiritual and sexual. At the top, each group had to define what the 4 versions of health meant to them. Once the groups were finished working, they presented ...

For the second half, host Johanna talked to us about financial difficulties around tuition and the debt surrounding it. She spoke on the rising rate of tuition debt from students across Ontario, her personal experience struggling to finance her education, and introduced the guest for the evening, Zuberi Attard, who is a Carlton University student and creator of the tuition and bursary website scholarpro.ca​ Like Johanna, Zuberi had struggled with personal issues and financial constraints when it comes to funding his education, but with the assistance of others and applying to various scholarships and bursaries, Zuberi was able to finance his entire post-secondary education solely on the money he received from various scholarships and bursaries. ​ Zuberi gave us some tips and highlights when it comes to applying for scholarships and bursaries, such as distinguishing the difference between the two. He shared with us that scholarships and bursaries are not necessarily for students wi...

For our November 21st edition of Catch da Flava Youth radio, we started things off with host Diamond leading a panel discussion on anxiety and how it plays a role in student attendance. According to a recent survey commissioned by Children’s Mental Health Ontario, interviews of parents and their children suggest that both age groups miss school and work to cope with mental illness, which explains why anxiety would be a barrier to social productivity, such as being present in school.​ We asked our panelists, Beverley, Erika, Joel, and Johanna some questions regarding the topic including how they cope with anxiety and stress, if they’ve ever experienced overwhelming anxiety, what they feel contributes to anxiety-related absences in school such as other life obligations, or pressures from school. Other questions focused on significant players in the issue, such as the school board’s role in aiding students, the provincial government’s resources and funding for mental health f...

Divas Blog Nov 17th 2017 This week the diva girls explored new creative writing styles. They first started off with a circle rock, where we sit around a circle and we shared one special thing about ourselves. Shortly after that the divas played a Parts of Speech Game. The girls had to define an adjective, verb, noun and ad adverb. Then they were split into two teams, the teams had to write down as many adjectives as possible that started with a special letter like P. As rounds progressed they also were told on how many syllables the adjectives must have. The diva girls really enjoyed the game and after playing a few rounds the girls watched a Haiku video. After watching the video the divas learned about what a haiku is and each girl was given a word, and they had to write a haiku about it without using the word they were given. Once they were finish writing their haikus, other members of the group had to guess what the word was! The divas had a snack break full of hea...

For this episode of Catch da Flava Youth radio show, host Diamond Bailey introduced the topic of e-cigarettes and what we may think about it. Diamond introduced information on the topic, citing that a study of over 44,000 high school students in Ontario and Alberta was published last month in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), stating a "strong and robust" linkage between so-called vaping and subsequent tobacco use. With that knowledge, Diamond started the discussion about vaping and e-cigarettes for youth participants Beverley, Joel, and Johanna. Some of her questions considered their thoughts on smoking and the use of cigarettes and vaping among youth, their views on the relationship between vaping and increased drug use later in life, and the appeal of e-cigarettes to youth. Many of the youth participants offered up varied opinions, but the general consensus seemed to be that vaping and cigarettes was not a favorable habit to develop, and that although many ...

For our November 14th edition of Catch da Flava Youth Radio Show, we shared a short interview we had with Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Laura Albanese. In tone with our theme of newcomers and immigration, host Erika welcomed guest Geneviève Ramage to our show, to talk about her role at the TD Learning Centre, which provides free services to newcomers in the Regent Park community. Geneviève discussed the services available, especially the IWIP program, which stands for Immigrant Women Integration Program. Minister Albanese had mentioned that all of us, with the exception of the Indigenous community, are all immigrants to Canada, so Geneviève shared with us her personal story of being a newcomer to the Regent Park community, and how her family is also immigrants to Canada. Discussing this, she shares about how diverse the Regent Park community is and how different it has been to her original upbringing, and what coming to a new community has taught her about others...

Date: Nov 13, 2017 Hosts : Brianne, Seymouria & Victoria Guests : Mandy Bonisteel (George Brown College); Kevin Vowles (White Ribbon Campaign) Topic : Women Abuse Prevention November is Women Abuse Prevention month, and this week Brianne, Seymouria and Victoria lead a conversation to raise awareness about how to identify and help prevent women abuse with our special guests Mandy Bonisteel a professor for the past 20 years in the George Brown’s Assaulted Women and Children’s Advocate Program with a primary focus on survivors of sexual abuse as well as Kevin Vowles who works as Community Engagement Manager for White Ribbon. He delivers workshops, speeches and training to empower men and boys to take a stand against violence against women and girls, through a lively analysis of gender-based violence fuelled by unhealthy and toxic masculinity. Before they went into an in-depth conversation, Seymouria shared some stats about women abuse in Ontario. Our hosts int...

The Diva Girls Group Session 7: The C-Word...The Basics of Consent- Part 1 November 10th , 2017 Today the Diva's learned about the basics of Consent. To start off, the Divas played a myth busting game. The Divas were given six statements (3 myths and 3 facts) and were required to split into two groups. Each group had a T-chart paper marked Fact or Fiction and they were to guess whether the statement is Fact or Fiction and put it in the correct category. When the Divas recorded their answers, they took it up as a group to see who got the most correct answers. When in groups the girls were shown facts and myths. Facts Only about 0.3% of perpetrators of sexual assault are held accountable, while over 99% are no Women, the elderly, LGBTQ+, and Indigenous folk are at increased risk of reporting sexual abuse Many assailants appear to be upstanding citizens and show little to no history of mental health problems. Myths Most assailants have a history of mental or sexu...

For our last show celebrating Media Literacy Week on November 10th, We shared an interview with President of the Ontario College of Management and Technology, and Chair of the International Cyber Security and Intelligence Conference, Yomi Olalere. Mr. Olalere shared with us some best practices when it comes to protecting oneself online, including two factor authentication that Professor Deibert mentioned in our Thursday show, and trying as much as possible to only utilized website that have a security feature, what he calls “HTTPS” as opposed to “HTTP”, as it guarantees that the website has security features meant to protect their visitors. In continuing his advice on how to protect oneself online, Mr. Olalere tells us to stay guarded, not to interact with people we don’t know online, and to make sure to privatize our accounts and only share with those we actually know. He mentions that the significance of having a cyber security and intelligence conference comes down to the fact t...

For our Thursday November 9th radio show celebrating Media Literacy Week, we welcomed founder and director of The Citizen Lab at The Munk School of Global Affairs at The University of Toronto, Professor Ron Deibert. Professor Deibert joined us for a very informed half hour discussion on technology and politics. With a background in political science, Professor Deibert found that politics has now bled into the technological world, as more abuses of power have spread online, such as documented activity of governments hacking into citizen accounts. High target individuals such as investigative journalists, other politicians, and human rights activists have had their privacy infringed upon. Professor Deibert talked to us about his work at The Citizen Lab, what it does to expose government abuses, and how he feels that politics is no longer simply a social science, and that it necessarily has to bleed into computer science and engineering, as many of his colleagues at The Citizen Lab...

On November 8th, Indigenous Youth Radio premiered their rebooted radio show with new host Chantal McGregor. Chantal works at Council Fire Native as the Youth-Drop-In Wellness Navigator and discussed Media Literacy Week and Treaty Recognition Week for this series of the show, as they are on the same week. Treaty Recognition Week is always the first week of November, so for this year it was on November 5th to 11th, and this is the second annual Treaty Recognition Week for the province of Ontario. This celebration is meant to honour the importance of treaties and helping people learn more about treaty rights and treaty relationships. Promoting greater awareness of treaties is one of efforts by the Ontario government to facilitate healing and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. It is meant to be the government's commitment to work with Indigenous partners and rebuilding relationships based on trust and respect with First Nations, Métis and Inuit. The Treaties Recognition Week A...

For our November 7th show of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, we sat down with Josh Dyer from Myseum Toronto, to talk about how Myseum is changing the way we connect through curated material. In celebration of Media Literacy Week, we talked to Josh about how Myseum utilizes information technology to create a new model of museums, as it travels from different locations, highlights different facets of city life, and uses the internet to share some of the highlights of Toronto. This year’s Media Literacy Week theme is “Inclusion in a Connected World: A Place and Voice for All”. In light of this year’s theme, we ask Josh how he believes Myseum creates a sense of inclusion through their innovative new model of what a museum is. Josh shares that through pop-up exhibits, social media, the internet, and traveling the city, Myseum helps engage the narratives and stories that don’t often get told, that usually are ignored because it highlights different spaces through their pop-up exhibits, and so...

On Monday, November 6th, Regent Park Focus introduced its week-long radio programming to promote Media Literacy Week, with special guests Simona Ramkisson from Mozilla HIVE Toronto and Craig Carter-Edwards, Zoya Khan, and Eliana Trinaistic from Migrahack and Welcome Home TO to talk about media literacy from different perspectives and organizations. Co-hosts Diamond, Judy, and Kyle were able to sit down with them to talk about this year’s Media Literacy Week theme: Inclusion in a Connected World: A Place and Voice For All. We would like to thank our special radio guests Simona Ramkisson, Craig Carter-Edwards, Zoya Khan, and Eliana Triniastic for sharing their perspective and experience on how media literacy helps create inclusion in a connected world. We would also like to thank Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Laura Albanese for taking the time out to visit our centre and spread the word about this generous grant, and sitting down to chat with us. Interview with Si...

On Monday, November 6th, Regent Park Focus welcomed its doors to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Laura Albanese. The Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration recently awarded Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre a generous grant for civic engagement, through the Multicultural Community Capacity Grant program. This program aims to utilize funding from the grant in order to support a civic engagement project that engages newcomer youth through multimedia resources that promote social inclusion and participation in community life. After, Diamond spoke to the audience who attended the special press conference for the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration to talk about how Regent Park Focus has helped her through media arts, and how it has benefited her as a resident of Regent Park. Shortly afterward, Diamond joined us again to go on radio with co-host Judy to talk to Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Laura Albanese about the grant that Regent Park Focu...

This week Judy chats with Geneviève R. and Claren Grosz about their menstrual cycle, which seems to bring them great excitement and joy. The conversation revolved around texture & consistency of flow, Diva Cups, and the fury of cramps. For the second half, Judy continued her conversation with Claren and was joined with screenwriter Shannon Bramer about their upcoming theatre production "The Hungriest Woman in the World" and their experience in theatre as women. To find out more about their upcoming play, check out:  http://www.pencilkitproductions.com/hungriest/

Blog- Oct 31, 2017 For this Halloween edition of Catch da Flava, Joel introduced the conversation by sharing a scary poem before handing things over to Diamond, for a panel discussion on Toronto's youth population caffeine consumption and the vulnerabilities associated with the excessive use of coffee and caffeine in general. We discussed our concerns as well as our own individual experiences with caffeine. With caffeine readily available, legally accessible and socially accepted in the form of pop, coffee, tea, energy drinks etc, this psychoactive drug can be used by anyone- even children- and it seems as if it's growing amongst young people as a coffee culture of sorts continues to rise and trend. Statistics show that 44.6% of adolescents, most of which between the age of 14-16 years-old consume caffeine between 1-6 times per week. We commented on why we as a society and individuals should be worried about the consumption of caffeine not only by our youth but in chi...

For the past month the participants in the Audio Production program learned to Open a new project in Logic Pro X, Insert sounds on tempo, Record using the microphone, loop their audio composition and add parts in real time otherwise known as "punch record". Few participants came in with no prior knowledge of the digital audio workstation, while others had basic knowledge of the program. It is anticipated that as the participants continue to attend, they will showcase what they have learned over the past weeks while continuing to create new instrumentals and songs... By: Hopeton LaTouche Date: October 2017

Date: Oct 30, 2017 Hosts : Shadae & Brianne Guests : Claudette Bled and Ramona Chereches from CAST Topic : Child Abuse Prevention October is Child Abuse Prevention month, and this week Shadae and Brianne lead a conversation to raise awareness about how to identify and help prevent child abuse and neglect with our special guests from CAST Toronto Children’s Aid Society. Before they went into an in- depth conversation, Claudette and Ramona, shared their history with CAST. For the second half, our hosts discussed the guidelines of one’s ‘duty to report’ and how CAS can help build better relationships with communities while strengthening families. A portion of the show was focused on how CAST can work with young families and strengthen relationships to reduce fear of the societies. Near the end of the show, the host led a discussion that involved questions from the communities. These questions were from young families who sometimes felt stigmatized. The conversa...

For this episode of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, co-host Erika sat down with guest Natalie Iuzzolino from the TD Centre for Learning, to chat about the centre and all the amazing resources the centre has to offer for residents in Regent Park. As a former student at the University of Toronto, Natalie had taken a political science course that saw her placement at the TD Centre for Learning. Having enjoyed the experience, she stayed on and was offered a position. As she developed her experience at the Centre, Natalie had a wealth of knowledge to share about the organization, its rich history, the resources it offers, all the wonderful programs offered free of charge to residents. She even made the time to fit it into her busy schedule, having to prepare for a graduation the next day for some participants in one of the centre’s programs. The TD Centre for Learning was created in 1972 and has a wide array of programs offered, all to promote a united community that encourages educational a...

For our October 24th Catch da Flava Youth Radio show, we started off with a panel discussion with Diamond Bailey discussing stress and how it can lead to mental illness. In studio we had Joel Williams, Beverley Fajardo, and Erika Kakrah to talk about their own experience with stress and how it can lead to more serious issues. Some of the questions revolved around myths or misconceptions of stress they know, “good” and bad stress, and whether there is even such a differentiation. Some participants noted that some cultures may not even view stress or mental illness as actual problems, and may go so far as to deem the individual “weak”. Some of the participants even noted alternative methods that can curb the negative effects of stress without turning to drugs, such as meditation. The participants shared their personal issues surrounding stress, some very relevant to their current situation, such as Beverley talking about an interaction with her parents that caused her to experi...

RPF Indie Game Dev Catalyst Club After a break at the end of the summer, the Catalyst Club is back and on a year long journey. For the returning youth, the first month of the year long program has been a time to wrap up on their summer projects while eyeing year long projects to start working on.  They're not beginners anymore, their ambitions have grown and they are building the courage (and skillsets) to start creating their dream games. For the new faces, the first month has been a challenging series of mountains to climb, building their programming and design proficiency while also working through tough questions of choice like "what do you want to create?".  Having reached the summit of basic skill development, they are now eyeing first projects to begin working on and/or additional skill set to acquire. Stay tuned to hear about the projects being developed and workshops being offered. By:  Fernando Restituto ...

For this episode of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, co-host Judy talked to founder of Human Rights organization JAYU, Gilad Cohen, about their sister project The iAm program and its upcoming photography exhibit on November 3rd at 6:30 PM EST at Daniels Spectrum in Regent Park. ​ The iAm program collects youth each year interested in storytelling and photography and teaches them workshops on both storytelling and photography from accomplished photographers and artists. The youth are tasked to take pictures and the photos are presented at a yearly exhibit, with all proceeds going back to the youth participants.​ This year’s theme is “reconciliation” with youth participants from the Canadian Native Centre of Toronto. All events, workshops, means of transportation and additional costs were funded by the program and looks to utilize storytelling, the arts, and specifically photography as a means of healing youth that face extreme social adversity, such as Indigenous communities that face t...

For Catch da Flava’s October 17th show, host Diamond Bailey held a panel discussion about post-secondary students reaching for ADHD drugs and other stimulants to achieve academic success. With students stressed and frazzled, they have turned to studying with the aid of prescription pills that are not necessarily their own.​ With 65 per cent of students surveyed by the Center of innovation for campus Mental Health saying that they experienced overwhelming anxiety in the last year, an increase from 57 per cent in 2013, we agreed that the increased stress students faced should encourage them to look to other coping mechanisms rather than such a dangerous alternative.​ Additionally, we discussed the topic of Nootropics also known as “smart drugs.” They are cognitive enhancers and are yet to be legal, so we wondered whether the government should allow it to be legally sold as it is illegal to sell in Canada. ​ Accordingly, we talked about the many side effects of ADHD drugs an...

Date: Oct 16, 2017 Hosts : Moya & Victoria Guests : Anny, Shadae, & Sherry Topic : Teen Pregnancy & Stigma This week Moya and Victoria shed some light on teen pregnancy and the stigma that young parents deal with on the day to day. Moya and Victoria welcome the rest of the PowerfulXNature team to the show which includes: Anny and Shadae; and Sherry the Youth Leadership Program lead at Jessie’s Centre ; who all share experiences throughout the show about pregnancy and parenting as a youth and the stigma that they have experienced. For the second half, our hosts lead a conversation on how the media can portray teen parents in a negative way and the impact that this can have. Being shamed for decisions that you’ve made and being stigmatized makes navigating the world very difficult. We also discuss how the team is changing the dialogue through the Community Education Program at Jessie’s Centre; and how Shadae through her blog, She's Too Young To...

For this episode of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, host Joel Williams interviewed guest Joshua Stribbell, President of the National Urban Inuit Youth Council. Joel asked Joshua a few questions concerning the issues around the Inuit population and why it seemed important to create an organization specifically for urban Inuit youth. While the Inuit population are native to specific regions in Canada such as Nunavut and Nunavik in Quebec, this organization looks to help those living in urban areas outside of those native regions. In doing so, it helps provide them cohesion and a sense of community as the Inuit population is ten times more likely to commit suicide than any other cultural group in Canada, and is also the youngest population in Canada, with its median age at 24 years-old, according to Joshua. Considering the extreme issues around health and wellness when it comes to the Inuit population in Canada, it is important to create resources such as the National Urban Inuit Youth...

For this week’s October 10th show, Catch da Flava once again revisited the issue of mental health and students, hosted by Diamond Bailey with guest panelists Judy Pham and Joel Williams. We talked about the demand for mental health services amongst Toronto's youth which contrasts with society's perception of this age group being relatively healthy. Additionally we discussed our experiences with mental health in a school setting. With 70% of mental health problems having their onset during childhood or adolescence and young people aged 15 to 24 being more likely to experience mental illnesses and/or substance abuse than any other age group, we fully understood the growth of demands and acknowledge the many universities and businesses who are doing more to combat the lack of services for Toronto's youth. Furthermore in respect to CAMH (Centre of Addiction and Mental Health) estimation of 4,000 Canadians dying of suicide as well as suicide being the second leading cause...

October 6th 2017 Starting off for the month of October the Divas shared their “This Is Me” poems that they wrote the previous week. Many of the poems were inspiring and the girls spoke highly of themselves. The Canvas ladies, Londzo and Maymuna, had an activity prepared that involved digging skin deep. The Divas were required to analyze their meaning of beautiful then study a few pictures of racial stereotypes and moved forward in having a discussion on the impact of these negative stereotypes. They even shared their own experience of being stereotyped. After a 15-minute break the Divas regrouped and watched a video about colorism then were to reflect on how they felt about the video. A lot of the girls had great insight on how they felt about the video. Lastly, the Divas wrapped up the rest of the evening with writing in their journals. Next week, there will be a lot more exciting activities for the Diva girls. By: Alexis Augustine Past Poems My Hijab My Right http:/...

For this episode of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, co-hosts Judy and Diamond held a panel discussion about how mental health has affected us or someone we know. We mention personal anecdotes about our experiences with mental health as well as how we dealt with the stigma associated with mental illness, whether this being from an outside perspective or battling with mental illness ourselves. We concluded that one of the best ways to combat the stigma of mental health is to further educate, as to better understand not only about mental illnesses but how it affects everyday life and how it differs from person to person. Additionally we talked about mental health services and medication that have both better and hindered our experience.Furthermore, we brought to light how it felt like to share and be open about having a mental illness and how this affected our lives or someone we know. Having people in you life in which you could depend on for support and comfort makes a world of diff...

For our Catch da Flava Youth Radio show on October 2nd, 2017 we centred the show on mental health concerns as it is mental health awareness week. We started the conversation with covering the recent news on 17-year-old teenager Noah Irvine and his quest to bring more awareness and resources to mental health concerns to the Canadian government. Noah was only five years old when his mother passed away from suicide. Then three years ago when Noah was fifteen, his father passed away from a drug overdose. Noah believes it could have been prevented if the government had provided more resources for mental health. He started off writing to every member of Parliament, then later was able to meet with the Federal Minister of Health, and just recently had a scheduled meeting with the Prime Minister, scheduled for Wednesday morning. Sharing this story, we also provided some audio clips of the story being covered by local media outlets to highlight how much public attention young Noah...

Divas Group September 29th 2017 Last Week was a very great week for the diva girls because they started their spoken word with Canvas. The girls started off with an icebreaker and decorated their notebooks. The girls then took part in the circle rock, where they told the group a few things about themselves. The Canvas ladies Londzo and Maymuna went over the program overview and came up with some “safe space” rules with the girls about what is expected when coming to the program. After a 15-minute break the Divas re- grouped to listen to Maymuna perform one of her spoken word pieces that she wrote. The girls were very moved by her poetry and after asking many questions and sharing their opinion on the poem they were able to create their own poems. The diva girls are excited for this week because they will be sharing their poems with everyone!

Date: Sep 29, 2017 Hosts: Brianne & Shadae Guests : Moya, Victoria (PowerfulXNature), Faith Hatchet, Hodan Osman, Monika Obermeier, & Sherry Rutter Topic : Who is Powerful by Nature & Jessie’s? This week, Powerful X Nature youth radio show debuts on the air. Our hosts, Brianne and Shadae introduce the Powerful X Nature team and lead a conversation to learn more about services and support offered at Jessie’s Centre. In the first part of the show you meet the PowerfulXNature team, consisting of 5 participants who have been actively involved in our Community Education Program and who share a commonality; they’re all YOUNG PARENTS. In the second part of the show, our hosts welcome staff from Jessie’s; Sherry, the Youth Leadership Program Lead; Hodan a Counsellor/Case Manager; Monika, the Parent Child Centre Lead; and Faith a Registered Nurse, who oversees the Health Program. This segment starts with a brief her story of Jessie’s Centre. Each guest then ...

For this episode of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, youth co-host Tyger introduced the topic of the adjustment period that students across Canada are experiencing now that school is back in session. Tyger and Diamond discuss their unique adjustment experience, as they both go to different types of schools. Tyger admits the change in time schedules is not an issue for her. As an international student, Tyger had been used to school in Vietnam, which she described as starting from 7AM and ending at 5PM- it is no wonder she had no issues adjusting! While Tyger is currently enrolled full time in highschool, Diamond discusses the differences for her, as she is enrolled in an adult learning centre, designed for mature students that need to complete their credits to receive a highschool diploma. For Diamond, she is enrolled in order to gain extra credit and to learn in the meantime while she waits for her university application to be approved. So her school schedule has not been very difficult ...

For our September 26th show, Catch da Flava explored the topic of racism in the education system. For our first half, our co-host Diamond led the discussion on racism in school. She brought up a recent event in Toronto hosted by Ontario’s Anti-Racism Directorate, which invited 30 Youth from across Ontario who witnessed or experienced racism, and how they participated in an engagement session. The event was held in order to bring a spotlight to the everyday struggles that students face, and to give legitimacy to the experiences that they youth face. Ontario’s Minister of Children and Youth Services Michael Coteau was present to give remarks before the start of the event, as well as the Minister Responsible for Anti-Racism. With the introduction of this topic, Diamond and another co-host, Tyger, discussed their personal experience in dealing with racism. Diamond discussed her general experiences as a young Black girl in the school system, and recalls an incident when she wa...

This week co-host Judy Pham shares an interview with Guo Gu, senior disciple to the late Chan Master Sheng Yen, and current author and Professor of Buddhism and East Asian Religions at Florida State University. The interview sheds light on how Chan Buddhist practice has helped both the guest and the interviewer in understanding oneself and one another through meditative practice. For more information on Guo Gu and Chan Buddhism, please visit:  www.tallahasseechan.com For our second half, co-host Rachael Abah chats with artist and spiritual seeker Evelyn Bailey on her inspirations, what art means to her, and how spirituality affects her creation. Evelyn studied animation before working as an artist, utilizing culture and spirit to inform her process.

Divas Media Group – Friday Sept 22, 2017 Today at Regent Park Focus, Sherry Rutter and guest speaker visited the Divas. Sherry is a youth leadership program leader at Jessie’s, which is the June Callwood Centre for young women. Guest speaker, a young mother shared her story with the Divas about what it is like to be a young mother and the challenges that mothers face. She also explained how Jessie’s helped her with her pregnancy, they even helped her get her high school credits and after she had the baby they provided her with supplies and daycare. After the girls heard about the story they had many questions that they were able to ask. The guest speaker answered all their questions and Sherry spoke a little bit more about what is offered at Jessie’s. The girls had a 15-minute break where they had refreshments and were able to chat. After the break the girls participated in a creative activity where they had to use words that described them to create an image. As a group they ...

This week (Aug 21- 25) for the Regent Park Focus Summer Program, participants wrapped up video editing for the Neighbourhood Kickstart Summer Camp program and held a screening of the videos on Wednesday, August 23rd. Youth participants were also there to film for the screening and get feedback from the summer camp. A few participants focused on preparing a segment on Student Life and Mental Health for Catch Da Flavour Youth Radio. For the first half of the segment, students had prepared a pre-recorded interview with registered psychologist and media personality Doctor Oren Amitay, to comment on the current climate of mental health among the student body. For their second half, they discussed their personal experiences in school and how it has affected their mental health. A few other participants worked on developing their games, such as a Tic-Tac-Toe platform, a Pokemon-style game located in the neighbourhood of Regent Park, and a mental-health themed game. They have bee...

This week (Aug 14-19th) Youth participants finished up their rough edits for the ten part video series in partnership with The Neighbourhood Group Kickstart Program. Participants collaborated to create uniformity in the videos by creating the same background images, credits reel and font type, to build communication skills and teamwork abilities. The rough draft of their videos were completed by the end of this week. Some participants also participated in the youth radio program Catch Da Flava. This week they focused on the issues of affordable housing, looking at local speakers on the topic and current events on affordable housing in Toronto. They had guest A.J. Withers come to studio to talk about the topic and their book on the topic. For the second segment, they had a panel discussion on affordable housing. A handful of participants also continued development in gaming, learning how to work with various different gaming programs and software. Some finished up ...

For this edition of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, Divine and Omar further discussed the difficulties of living in Toronto government housing and the way the system has treated community housing residents during the Regent Park Revitalization, as well as their personal experiences dealing with trying to get help with their homes. In addition, they talked about the difficulty there is with underlying prejudice with the superintendents of some buildings. Divine mentioned one case in which a family of six people were warned with the possibility of being evicted despite there being homes in their building occupied by 10 or more people in a 3-4 bedroom unit. They also talked about Regent Park’s silent policies about things that don’t particularly look “good,” such as bicycles being removed from parking spaces under the assumption of them being abandoned when they just seemed old or weren’t as nice looking, as well as another case in which Divine’s family wasn’t allowed to park their car o...