Regent Park Focus

Hi there! It’s Hani On March 21, 2012 the girls did workshop about teamwork. At the beginning we discussed about how their day went. We talked about school and any many new things that they wanted to share. Secondly, we did ice breaking games, such as the “Big Buddy” and the “Warp Speed” and the girls love it. Most girls said they had fun and enjoyed playing the games. They even ask me if they can continue to play. I told them the workshop is even better. Then, started the workshop with them. I asked them what a teamwork means to them. Some of the girls said,“Teamwork means the whole group work together”. Some other girls in the group said,“Teamwork meant that the group listens to each other’s opinions, cooporate with one other, and respect the whole group”. After that, I put the girls into small teams and gave them mini marshmallows and toothpicks to build a “Marshmallow Tower”. I told them which ever team wins gets a price. The girls competed and they each wanted their team to w

Monday – Facilitator and blog author: James Chan March 12, 2012 was the first day in the March Break Fun Camp at Regent Park Focus. The first activity we did with the kids was a brief introduction. I introduced myself, and as an icebreaker, each of the kids told us their name, and told the group one true and two false attributes about themselves. The rest of us had to guess which attribute was true. A few of the ground rules were laid out by a brainstorm done by the youth. Some of the ground rules include the use of indoor voices, and, put downs were discouraged as well. At around 10:30 am, all fifteen of the youth were separated into 4 groups, and were taken out the take pictures. Unfortunately, we only had four cameras that worked. The session was self-themed. After lunchtime, at around 1:30 pm, Kim from Toronto Public Health was kind enough to come in and talk to us about “the birds and the bees”, which was rhetorical for reproductive health. The topics were inclusive of HIV, AID

My experience volunteering with Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre Photography Workshop My journey with Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre began back in September when I attended a Regent Park Community Fair. Various grass roots and community organizations had gathered on that afternoon to solicit volunteers. Regretfully, I was not attending the fair voluntarily. As it happened, I had to complete 40 hours of volunteer work as part of my Bachelor of Education program through York University: Regent Park Satellite campus. Interestingly, as time went on, I became less and less compelled to volunteer based on the mandatory basis of my program and more and more motivated to go based on the great experiences I was having while volunteering with Focus. To paint a clearer picture, this volunteer experience was our Volunteer Practicum Placement and its purpose seemed two fold. On the one hand, this outreach was meant to support a variety of community organizations in Re

Last Friday for February was awesome! Not only was it fun because Rainbow Cinemas and Rainbow Bear showed up for a surprise visit  but we also had incredible performers! We started off the night with some Sri Lankan food which included kothu roti, samosas, and noodles with veggies, shrimp and chicken. We had had some chocolate chip cookies courtesy of radio show host Paul Corby. The first performers were Projonmo. Projonmo, featuring Shawrov, Ka-Z,Tamim, Rahin and Ajhar is the newest craze to hit your speakers. Infusing both English and Bengali hip-hop/r&b/rock together to bring a new sensation to your ears. However, opportunity presented itself in the form of Re2uned. As time went on, he was introduced to Ka-Z, who was a fellow aspiring Bengali artist.With time, came new faces. Tamim, a classmate of Shawrov's was particularly impressive on the guitars. Ironically it worked out that Tamim somehow ended up being Ka-Z;s neighbor, completing the trio. In 2011, there was the