Regent Park Focus

In this episode of News and Views, Wayne Greenway interviews Dr. Paul Caulford, head of the Canadian Centre for Refugee and immigrant Healthcare, about serious challenges facing newcomers to Canada. In addition, Jael Joseph continues her interview with journalist/author Desmond Cole, focusing on the complexities around organizations claiming to support black Canadians. Our weekly news roundup is presented by Cassandra Earle. Listen to Podcast: https://www.regentparkfocus.com/radio/media/newsviews/2020-01-31.mp3

Little Divas Girls Group January 31, 2020 The Little Divas Girls Group met on Friday, January 31, 2020, for the first time this year. Four young girls attended and the meeting was facilitated by Twoey Gray, Loretta Bailey and Laura Polisuk. We all discussed several topics that were highlighted in the year 2019. We discussed Feminism during the meeting and have the girls explain what Feminism is.    We then played several games to get the momentum going and also to get the girls familiar with Laura and Loretta. The girls were asked to name some activities they would like to see happen during the weekly meetings. We all participated in the final activity which is "the masks we wear". We shared a moment when we wore a mask and when we actually took off the mask. The girls found this activity very interesting and useful because they were given the chance to speak about different occasions when they wore a mask and were able to differentiate between doing what is good and k...

In this episode of News and views, we welcome in the new year with a jam-packed program: David Wall discusses facts on the ground in Gaza and Syria with award-winning independent journalist Eva Bartlett; new team-member Naama Weingarten discusses the extradition hearing of Huawei’s top executive; and new team-member Jael Joseph interviews journalist/author Desmond Cole. Our weekly news roundup is presented by Cassandra Earle. Listen to Podcast: 2019-01-24

On today’s For Your Health radio show for Thursday, January 23, 2020, we focused on eating disorders. We were informed about a very debilitating and deadly disease by our special guest Kaitlyn Axelrod. Today’s hosts were Jessie Fawcett and Loretta Bailey. Our special guest, Kaitlyn Axelrod, is a Program and Outreach Coordinator from Sheena’s Place. Sheena’s place is an eating disorder support centre for individuals over the age of 17 that are impacted by an eating disorder in some way whether it be themselves or a loved one. We discussed the demographics of people with eating disorders as well as the range of participants that Sheena’s Place provides services to. We also discussed what kind of eating disorders exist and their symptomology as well as the signs that parents should look out for in their adolescent children. Further, we discussed the stigma around eating disorders and how it impacts folks seeking recovery. These were just a few of the many areas we covered regarding ea...

On today's Catch da Flava show Tuesday, January 21, 2020, we explored the topic of Climate Change with our hosts Shajuanah and Jamelia and co-hosts Kaila, Thalia, and Fazra. A variety of questions were explored under this topic as the young ladies shared interest, knowledge, and a few laughs. Questions such as: what is climate change? What is global warming? How has the climate changed in the past? And what is the difference between climate change and global warming were tackled. But in reality, can we really do something about Climate Change? The hosts assured the listeners that we could and the answers were that you could reduce your own carbon footprint in lots of simple ways, and most of them will save you money. You could plug leaks in your home insulation to save power, install a smart thermostat, switch to more efficient light bulbs, turn off the lights in the room(s) where you are not using them, drive fewer miles by consolidating trips or take public transit, waste les...

On Monday, January 20th 2020, a group of students from the University of Toronto gathered to begin the first session of their Youth, Arts and Engagement in Cities program. This program engages students from U of T and the Diva's group to collaborate with each other to work on media projects, in order to raise awareness and tackle social issues around the world or in the Regent Park community. This year they will do a Youth Media Case Study, which will focus on using media projects to express themselves through topics that they felt are important for the community to know. The session began with introductions. Everyone was very excited and participated. The students divided themselves into groups and members of the Divas Group picked a group to work on their projects with. There were five groups, Video/Film, Radio/Podcast, Music, Magazine and interactive art. Each one will be responsible for producing a project based on their category, which we will see by the end of the program in...

On today's Catch da Flava radio show for Tuesday, January 14, 2020, we focused on two separate but intertwined issues. They were youth mental health and the youth justice system. Our hosts were Shajuanah and Jamelia with co-hosts Kaila, Thalia, and Fazra. Our guests for the mental health segment was Michelle Cauch, a Student Success Advisor at Centennial College and Michelle Galeotalanza, a mental health professional and professor at Centennial College. They discussed what is mental health, why is youth mental health important, why is youth mental health different from the other age groups, what are the major youth mental health issues, where should the youth get help, how can they seek trusting professionals to speak to on issues of mental health? These were just a few of the many interesting topics and questions we discussed. Our guest for the next segment was Rachelle Bloomfield, a staff, leader, and counselor at Peacebuilders. Peacebuilders is a nonprofit organization...

For the first show of the 2020 year, the Catch Da Flava team took on the topic of HIV and its awareness among youth.  Our guest on Tuesday, January 7, 2020, was Shamin Mohamed Jr , the founder of LetsStopAIDs, a youth-driven organization devoted to HIV prevention and exchange. Later Shamin was joined over the telephone by a staff member of LetsStopAIDS. Hosted by Catch da Flava's Fazra, Shejuanah and Thalia the show featured a lively discussion about HIV. We talked about the need to start an organization devoted to HIV, the appropriateness of HIV education to elementary and high school-aged youth, misconceptions on who and how you can get HIV, the importance of regular STD medical check-ups for sexually involved youth, HIV symptoms, the problems with promoting abstinence-only as a form of prevention education, HIV partners, stigma of living with HIV and much more.  Special thanks to Dawit Tibebu for producing the show and identifying the guests. To l...