Regent Park Focus

For the final day of Summer we celebrated with a jam packed night full of music, story telling and free food at our August Last Friday event. The event took place at the Daniels Presentation Centre at 500 Dundas Street East. The event kicked off at 6:30pm with the Catch da Flava Radio crew with "The Mammal" (The Mobile Media Lab Bike), whom interviewed members of the Regent Park community about their Summer experiences, back to school and even talked about the issues with Facebook sharing information of minors under the age of 13. We will be airing the pre-produced Catch da Flava radio show that was recorded at Last Fridays on September 12th, 2012. So be sure to check that out. Some of the musical guests that delighted the crowd, were the Roots Drummers, Jessica Stuart and Trace Minerals. Thanks to Paul Corby, Kerry and Jerry for finding these great talents. ~ Tyrone

The Mobile Media Lab also known as "The Mammal" takes another trip to Regent Park's very own Show Love event. Tonight's show love event celebrated EID. You can listen to the pre-produced Catch da Flava radio show we conducted at the event, interviewing young residents and organizers in the community. Listen Now: http://www.regentparkfocus.com/radio/media/2012-08-29.mp3

Hello fellow supporters! We have officially wrapped up production of Regent Park Community News for the summer! It has been a lot of work and fun and the production crew is very happy to see things come to the end, for the summer anyways. Summer 2012 was very productive for us here at Regent Park Community News. We started the summer by reporting on the closing of Regent Park/Duke of York Public School. The school is closing and the building will be demolished. The Regent Park community came out to say farewell to their most beloved school. Former teachers, students and administrators alike all flocked into the school gym to share memories from years past. Regent Park Community News spoke to some of the current and former students and administrators for a short documentary we are working on -  the documentary is still being edited and will be online very soon! We also put the spotlight on the young women's  and young mens' programs at Regent Park Focus Youth Media

Maggie MacDonald from Environmental Defence Canada (EDC) conducted a workshop with a group of Regent Park Focus youth and staff. This workshop highlighted ways Canadians are exposed to toxins. The discussion focused on ten toxic offenders that are "cancer-causing, hormone-disrupting, and allergy ?inducing substances" (EDC, 2012) found in many Canadian products, but which are banned or restricted in EU products. The toxic ten list includes: Triclosan, artificial musks, parabens, phthalates, petrolatum, formaldehyde releasing agents, sodium laureth sulfate and sodium lauryl sulfate, silicone chemicals, coal tar-derived colours, BHA and BHT. In sum, these products proliferate in various home and personal care products such as shampoo, moisturizer, cosmetics, anti-bacterial cleansers, anti-perspirants, etc. It is scary to realize how much exposure individuals, especially babies and youth, encounter on a daily basis. Fortunately, knowledge is power!

Prior to Summer, Regent Park Focus in collaboration with "Youth Assisting Youth" have been working in various projects with youth within the Crescent Town community. Adonis, Emmanuel and Ruhul worked with one of the supervisors, Danny Fee and the youth from the Crescentown community  to develop 15 video projects based on various topics which includes promoting some the aspects of the Crescent Town Community, and drug awareness.  Some of the videos were about resources in the Crescentown community. Also theres a video about bullying and violence, which is basically about how to report a crime, and how to do it anonymously with CrimeStoppers. We also a video that featured some of the youth who were part of the video program.  Another great video was on the game of cricket, in which youth from Crescentown gave basic rules of the game. The youth had an amazing time working on the projects as they were able to develop their skills within the media arts. Overall this

This afternoon we took the Mobile Media Lab Bike out for a test run using some new equipment. Positioned just outside of Regent Park Focus at 38 Regent Street we conducted a few test recordings of interviews between each-other and played some live music. Many residents in the community came to check out the bike after hearing the music and live recordings blare from its speakers, out of curiosity as to what the contraption was and what it was designed to do. Several of the designers of the bike were on site to help train some of the youth, volunteers and staff how to use the bike and how to set it up and take it down. It was a pretty fun fill day working with something as unique as the Mammal. Be sure to see the mammal in other sites around Regent Park in the future! ~ Tyrone

The week of July 23 was a busy day for the RPTV Crew (Emmanuel, Tresvonne, Omar and Ruhul). They were focusing on ideas we relating to issues that children may encounter with their parents for a script as part of the production for an episode of "Divorce your Parents". As well, the RPTV Crew were developing for another episode of Regent Park Community News. Some of the segments include the grand opening Toronto Kiwanis Miles and Kelly Nadal Youth Centre, the grand opening of the Daniel's Learning Centre, Ramadan, and Last Fridays. As part of the Ramadan segment, the RPTV Crew had an interview with Regent Park Resident, Atharul Khan. Atharul talked about certain aspects Ramadan such as fasting, and what happens on the last ten days of Ramadan (Lailatul Quadr). The RPTV Crew will be starting on production for Regent Park Community News crew is currently filming the next episode that will be available next wee online. - Ruhul Miah

The Regent Park Focus Staff engaged in a workshop with senior consultant and mould specialist, Tara Valley from Environmental Services Group Inc. The purpose of having this workshop is to obtain information in order to incorporate it into the Air Quality Project as part of the collaboration with Live Green Toronto. Tara told us seven parameters to indicate mould: temperature, humidity, VOC's, carbon dioxide (CO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), dust and formaldehyde. She showed us the equipment that would help them track signs of mould although they are very expensive. As well she told some the aspects of Asbestos like how they found in building material products such as drywall and plaster and how it causes diseases such Asbestosis within the lungs of Human beings. Overall the workshop was amazing and information will be useful for the Air Quality Project. This project was funded (in part) by a grant from Live Green Toronto, a program of the City of Toronto. www.livegree