Regent Park Focus

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

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 tow