ITS A WRAP! Regent Park Community News done for the summer!

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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 Arts Centre. The Divas young women's  program is run on Fridays for girls 9 to 16 years of age. They meet every week to talk about issues that they are concerned about. Some of the girls from the program were interviewed and they spoke about why the program is important to them. With the same token we had a conversation with the boys from the BoyzIImen young mens program - which aims to teach boys in Regent Park to be gentlemen. One of the topics often discussed in the program is masculinity. The boys usually talk about what society think a man should act and behave like.


Some of the other topics we covered in the summer was Ramadan. Regent Park is a community of people with different faiths, and this summer the Islamic community in Regent Park along with the communities around the world observed Ramadan, which is 31 days of fasting from dust to dawn. Regent Park Community News spoke to a young man by the name of Arthural. Arthural is a Regent Park resident and a former Regent Park Focus youth member. On the interview Arthural tells us why Muslims fast. The piece with Arthural is already online, check it out!

One of the stories we covered this summer was community gardens. We ventured out into the Regent Park community looking for people with 'green thumbs". We found a few people growing their tomatoes and peas. We asked them a couple questions about their gardens which is basically in front their apartment buildings. One of the people we interviewed said when he was living in Bangladesh he had a garden where he and his family grew tomatoes and other delicious vegetables. He says working on his garden is a great reason to get out of the house and enjoy the day with his friends and neighbours. We also spoke to a community gardens advocate and she talks about why more communities should have gardens. She also gave tips on how you can start your own garden, if you really want to.

So yeah, this summer has been pretty busy for all of us. Please stay tuned for new topics we will be reporting on in the fall!











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