The 2025 Engaged Journalism Conference was held at The Metropolitan University, bringing together journalists, educators, and media practitioners to explore the successes, challenges, and funding strategies behind community-based journalism initiatives. The event was co-organized by Gabriela Perdomo Páez of Mount Royal University and Magda Konieczna of Concordia University, with Anita Li of The Green Line serving as co-host. Participants included representatives from news organizations across Canada and the United States, each sharing insights into how their outlets serve local communities. Among the featured organizations was the Focus Media Arts Centre, represented by Dawar Naeem and Tyrone MacLean-Wilson, with Executive Director Adonis Huggins delivering a keynote presentation. Huggins traced the roots of the Focus Media Arts Centre to its beginnings in Regent Park, Toronto, where it emerged from a grassroots effort to challenge the negative stigmatization of the neighborhood...
In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, we hear two reports by student groups currently working at Focus Media. Each summer, youth community members are welcomed into the Centre, given access to multi-media technology and encouraged to create content with a local community news emphasis. on today’s show, one group interviews Liberal Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre, Marci Ien, about homelessness in the community; and another group presents a report on the state of maintenance and general safety in St. Jamestown residential buildings. In addition, we’ll hear a migrant worker tell his story of being wrongfully repatriated to his country of origin, unfortunately an all-too common occurrence in Canada.
In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, we present excerpts from two community current events radio shows created by summer student staff at the Focus Media Arts Centre in Regent Park, including excellent interviews with a person with disabilities and a community youth worker; we’ll hear the question/answer segment form a recent online forum in which local community members engaged with representatives from organizations collaborating on phases four and five of the Regent Park revitalization; and David Wall speaks to Lori, a Windsor - based nurse who volunteers supporting migrant workers in Leemington, Ontario.
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