Regent Park Focus

This week, we discussed Eating Disorders with special guests, Jennifer and Arya, from NEDIC. We talked about how the media affects people and how it could lead to having the disorder, as well as who founded NEDIC and why. They also mentioned their personal experiences with eating disorders and how it inspired them to get involved in working with NEDIC. While talking to them, you could feel the compassion they had for the people suffering from the disorder, and how they really tailored their program to each specific person. We were so happy they emailed back so fast and agreed to come to Regent Park Focus because they were the best possible people we could’ve interviewed for this topic. Stay tuned for next week, where we tackle the topic of Income Inequality! Listen to Podcast:

The last week of July had been a busy week for us with filming sessions and important guest speakers. Monday, July 29th had Deputy Police Chief Peter Yuen discussing the future plans for the Neighbourhood Community Officer Program. The meeting took place at the Regent Park Community Centre with an amazing turnout from residents. The new program will be rolled out in September to 35 communities, including Regent Park. Our team filmed the meeting and interviewed a few guests to get their opinions about the expanded program. Wednesday had our usual Catch da Flava radio show, with our specialist being Mary Wu from SE Health to discuss tips for Job Hunting and Ergonomics. But beforehand we had a special guest speaker. Nigel H. from Etalk came to talk to us about his career in the industry, and even his own time in Regent Park Focus. Nigel gave great advice about how to get an internship and shared his tips on how to make a lasting impression that will open more doors (you should have a ...

This week at Regent Park Focus was very busy! We started off with our radio show, had to find a guest speaker that our discussion. This was a bit difficult but in the end, had a guest come from Regent Park Film Festival to talk about diversity in the film industry. We also started working on our promotional video for the Legal Aid Clinics in Ontario. Here we are focusing on the residents that live and use the service, and also trying to raise awareness to the general public of Doug Ford's cuts. We went to Ryerson University, and Moss Park to interview people. We just got new equipment so it was a lot of fun working with such high-quality camera gear. Loving and learning a lot here! Date: July 26, 2019 Name: Elise Ardizzi

For this week’s radio show we had a conversation about driving under the influence. Our special guest was Carolyn Swinson from MADD. We talked at length about the prevalence of driving under the influence and how recent legislation and the legalization of marijuana has exacerbated this issue. Carolyn also shared her personal story as to why she got involved with MADD and what she does in the organization to help the victims of impaired driving. It was moving to hear the things she went through and how deeply affected she was by this topic. Overall, she was very well informed on MADD Canada and enlightened not only us but also the listeners. Listen to Podcast: http://www.regentparkfocus.com/radio/media/2019-07-26.mp3 Name: Matthew Avolio Date: July 26, 2019

Group #1 Blog #4 This week was full of interviews and filming. On top of our Wednesday radio show, we had two filming sessions interviewing speakers for our Criminal Harassment video and our new Neighbourhood police video. On Monday we met with Julie S. Lalonde, creator of Outside of the Shadows, to hear her opinion about criminal harassment in Canada. That was followed by a meeting with St. James Town Neighbourhood Police Officers Rob Chevalier and Amber Smith. We got to know the officers and discussed ideas for the neighbourhood police video. Tuesday was our first filming session with Rob and Amber. We got a tour of the 51 division and filmed an interview session in “The Space”, a space the police acquired and turned into a community centre. Our Wednesday radio show was about abortion with a surprise birthday party for Lorena. We shouted her out on air and had cake to celebrate later. What an interesting week! Date: July 26, 2019 Names: Iman Rajabi and Vanessa Wu

Group # 2 Blog #4 This week at Regent Park Focus was very busy! We started off with our radio show, had to find a guest speaker that our discussion. This was a bit difficult but in the end had a guest come from Regent Park Film Festival to talk about diversity in the film industry.  We also started working on our promotional video for the Legal Aid Clinics in Ontario. Here we are focusing on the residents that live and use the service, and also trying to raise awareness to the general public of Doug Ford's cuts. We went to Ryerson University, and Moss Park to interview people. We just got new equipment so it was a lot of fun working with such high quality camera gear.  Loving and learning a lot here! Date: July 26, 2019 Name: Elise Ardizzi

Pour l'émission de radio de la semaine 3, nous avons fait un résumé de ce qu’a fait Justin Trudeau pendant qu’il était premier ministre. Nous avons également parlé de l’adaptation de films pour la bien-pensance de 2019. Thomas a animé, Sheni a posé les questions et Elwin a décrypté les sujets. For the week 3 radio show, we did a resume of what Justin Trudeau did during the 4 last years. We talked to about color washing in movies like The little mermaid or 007. Thomas was hosting, Shani introduced subjects and Elwin talked about subjects with Thomas. Listen to Podcast: Date: July 24, 2019 Name: Alwin Atangana

Catch da Flava’s topic for our third week was abortion, from how to get an abortion in Canada, the Unplanned pro-life film, and people’s personal opinions about pro-life and pro-choice. The hosting was done by André and Iman since I lost my voice, but I was still there listening to the conversation. Our 11 am to 12 pm timeslot was slightly hijacked in the beginning by our guest Minerva Navasca, who wished a very happy 19th birthday to our other guest Lorena Florea. Happy birthday Lorena, you’re finally 19! After we got the show back on track Minerva and Lorena gave their opinions about being pro-choice, and how the pro-life side is adapting to the times. We also discussed the Unplanned movie, an adaptation about Abby Johnson’s switch from pro-choice to pro-life. After Lorena and Minerva, we had Carolyn Egan from Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada to answer some questions about the current abortion system in Canada and what their organization is doing to help women. Carolyn also...

Date:   July 22rd, 2019 Hosts :   Kai & Chantal Guests : @Exotic.Cancer, Shorty & More Topic : Sex work is Work  Sex work is simultaneously one of the world’s oldest and most criminalized and stigmatized professions. In the latest episode of Powerful by Nature, your hosts openly explore the realities of sex work and stripping today through a roundtable discussion and interviews with a variety of different women who work or have worked as strippers. We talk why stripping and sex work are often the best option for work for people living in poverty, facing discrimination and violence and living in places without affordable housing or a minimum wage that's anywhere near a living wage. We talk about the importance of respecting the bodily autonomy of people who work in the industry and explore the violence and entitlement of many men who pay for the services of sex workers and strippers. We explore anti-black racism and other forms of discrimination ...

Group: # 1 This week our group not only broadcast our second radio show “Catch da Flava” but also did a lot of activities related to the next weeks’ radio shows and to the short documentary on Criminal Harassment that we are producing. On Monday we went to the streets to ask Regent Park streeters’ opinion about the changes that Ontario province is making for the accessibility of alcohol beverages and retail and convenience stores and its consumption in public areas. The next day we edited their answers into two audio clips that were played on our radio show on Wednesday. Throughout the week we also edited footage of the testimonials from criminal harassment victims for the short documentary that we are making. We also reached out to experts on the subject, police officers and lawyers as potential interviewees for this project. We plan to film our first interview next week. Meanwhile, we researched and gathered the information that will guide our scripts for our radio shows for the ne...

This week we worked hard on writing the scripts for the radio show up until Friday, where we interviewed Ismail Afrah for the Revitalization Project. Ismail had a lot to share about his work in the neighborhood as he is the co-chair of TCHC. Later in the day, we went out to film Lloyd and his friend Yousuf Ismail for the “Lloyd Show”. They had a discussion on how the revitalization has affected everyday life as longtime residents of Regent Park. So far, the week consisted of a lot of filming and script writing. Very excited for next week’s radio show where we talk about DUI’s.

In tonight's show, we talk about alcohol and its negative effects on people depending on gender, age and other factors. We talk about our personal experiences with alcohol and also interview people in the streets of Toronto about their experiences. Guest: Mark Andrews from OSAID - Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving Listen to Podcast: http://www.regentparkfocus.com/radio/media/2019-07-17.mp3

Group #2 - blog #3 Last week at Regent Park Focus we were working on our radio show on Radio Regent, "CATCH DA FLAVA"! It was a lot of fun, our topic of discussion was about the positive and negative impacts that the Raptors Championship had on the City of Toronto. We chose to focus on the socioeconomic impacts such as the increase in tourism and money that the championship brought, but also the negatives such as pollution and danger that come with winning a championship. It was a lot of fun putting together the script and working together as a team, we chose hip-hop music to go with the vibe of the show and brought a super-fan as our guest. Overall the radio show was a success. For the rest of the week, we were prepping for the promotional video we are doing for  Neighbourhood Legal Services. Doug Ford has cut funding to the legal clinics in Ontario and we want to raise awareness of this problem because legal aid clinics help lower-income families and refugees immensely...

Date:   July 8th, 2019 Hosts :  Kay, Chantal & Rhiannon Guests : Berkha Gupta, ED at LGBTYouthline Topic : Pride Show This is our show about all things LGBTQ+. We start off taking a deep dive in to the history of Pride and then we interview Berkha Gupta, the Executive Director of LGBT Youthline about the organization’s incredible work supporting LGBTQ+  youth across Ontario through their confidential and non-judgemental peer support telephone, text and chat services.  Kay, Chantal and Rhiannon end off the show with a round table discussion about sexuality, identity, coming out and more! Listen here: https://www.regentparkfocus.com/radio/media/jessies/2019-07-08.mp3 _________________________          To learn more about Jessie’s Centre and/or the Community Education Program, please visit: www.jessiescentre.org . Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @PowerfulXNature To talk to one of L...

This week, our third working in Regent Park Focus this summer, we broadcast our first radio show. It was an episode of Catch da Flava, one of the most traditional and long-going shows at Radio Regent. We went live on Wednesday, July 10, at 11 am, for an hour-long show. The topic this week was Mental Health -  the physical and psychological effect of mental health problems, the broad scale of mental health, what to watch for and where to find help. To discuss all that, we had two guest interviews. In the first half, we talked with two undergraduate students, Christine Nastor and Diana DeLeon, about their struggles with mental health, especially in high school. After that, we interviewed Mike Stroh, founder of Starts With Me, a company that offers services for promoting mental health at schools and workplaces along with empowering families and individuals to increase their capacity for well-being. Mike answered our questions around the subject, talking about wha...

This week, we got new cameras! It was very interesting to see how the settings worked and how much more advanced they were compared to the old equipment we had previously. Besides this, we also did our third radio show so far on Driving Under the Influence, with special guest, Carolyn Swinson. She talked to us a ton about MADD Canada and how they help enforce safe driving. Other than that, we continued working on writing the script for next week’s radio show, as well as started to edit the “Lloyd Show”. So far, so good! Next week, we plan to film some more with Lloyd as well as start editing the Revitalization Project.

Summer Blog 2019 I Week of July 2 – 5, 2019 This is the 2nd week working in Regent Park Focus for the Summer Media Assistant Production Program, and it is a blast working on numerous projects for this job. My co-workers are fun, energetic and diverse. Everyone works their hardest during projects to ensure they leave their mark at Regent Park. Our most recent project was short films about gentrification. All of my group members had a blast during production and the whole filming experience was super fun. We ended up making two videos called “Invasive”, and “Grandmami”. And this is just the beginning of the summer with more projects waiting for us to produce. By: Iman Rajabi Date: July 5, 2019