Regent Park Focus

We are rested and ready to take on spring after our March Break Wellness week! The Diva’s spent their time at Focus with good food, good friends and a whole week centred on understanding and supporting our minds and bodies.  With winter finally melting it’s time for self-reflection and preparing for a new season. On Monday we started off by talking about the role anxiety plays in each of our lives and the healthiest and most effective ways to combat it before our evening programm ing with UofT. On Tuesday we took some much-needed R&R with our pajama themed Chocolate Fondue party! Fresh fruit, melted chocolate, and empowering chick flicks! This was one of the best days of our week! Wednesday we started are morning off right, yogurt parfaits and empowering self-talk. Just like we maintain our body’s health, it’s important to maintain your mental health. Making sure we talk to ourselves the way we talk to people we love, even when we’re stressed or ...

If you ask me how was my March Break I will tell you that it was boring, except for around 1pm to 5pm everyday, when I got a chance to experience my dream job. The first day I came to Regent Park Focus, I was overwhelm by how friendly, enthusiastic and professional everyone was. Along with that I felt a little bit shy because I had so little experience in any of the roles but everyone was so nice and encouraging. Monday, and Tuesday, I got to be in the studio and learned about the camera operation, the lighting, the audio, and the editing. Then Wednesday, the first day of filming, it was the only “break” of the week thanks to our executive director’s lateness with all the props. At that point, I can’t believe that we were actually filming a video, it was all like a dream to me. Then we took turns to act and film the rest until we realized that it was way too late. The next day was similar till the end of the week. Actually being in the studio film, I picked up a lot of tips and...

On Monday the 16th of March our March break program began. Orientation began with some ice breakers, such as two truths one lie, in which each of us had to guess which statement was the truth and which was the lie. We then moved on to demonstrations on how to setup the cameras and tripods, work the mics, and how to conduct an interview. Tuesday the 17th of March we did a little review of the orientation that we went over on Monday regarding how to work the equipment. We worked with the youth to develop interview questions around their project of the Pan Am games, and completed off site filming to get interviews of the different opinions people have about the Pan Am games. The youths of the program setup the equipment and chose filming locations around the Ryerson campus, and were very engaged and enthusiastic about the process. They worked past their fears and each participated equally, taking turns on the camera, doing the interviewing and engaging the public to partake in our i...

Monday – Facilitator and blog author: James Chan March 12, 2012 was the first day in the March Break Fun Camp at Regent Park Focus. The first activity we did with the kids was a brief introduction. I introduced myself, and as an icebreaker, each of the kids told us their name, and told the group one true and two false attributes about themselves. The rest of us had to guess which attribute was true. A few of the ground rules were laid out by a brainstorm done by the youth. Some of the ground rules include the use of indoor voices, and, put downs were discouraged as well. At around 10:30 am, all fifteen of the youth were separated into 4 groups, and were taken out the take pictures. Unfortunately, we only had four cameras that worked. The session was self-themed. After lunchtime, at around 1:30 pm, Kim from Toronto Public Health was kind enough to come in and talk to us about “the birds and the bees”, which was rhetorical for reproductive health. The topics were inclusive of HIV, AID...

The final day of March Break featured a full day field trip to the Ontario Science Centre. The 16 youths who took part were divided into groups of three of four (this writer for example, supervised the four boys who took part in the trip). The trip to the Centre by streetcar, subway, and TTC bus was uneventful. Thanks to the excellent planning on the part of the Science Centre, we didn’t have to wait in line—it’s nice to be treated like a VIP! Once we were inside, the day was left deliberately unstructured—the kids were free to roam the Centre with supervisors in tow. Despite the crowds, the kids maintained a positive attitude and engaged in a variety of interactive activities. We took lunch a little early which worked out extremely well since the cafeteria was filled to capacity by noon. The highlight for the boys was a presentation at the Ontario Science Centre’s planetarium which was fun, educational, and offered a well-time break from walking. By the end of the day, everyone was t...

Andrea, Focus’ resident Comic Book program instructor conducted a half day workshop on Thursday morning for the 14 youths who were taking part in the program that day. Instruction focused on the basics of illustration and by lunch, all participants had created their own mini comic book. The participants remained engaged throughout the workshop and showed a really positive attitude. The second half of Thursday’s program consisted of a sidewalk chalk drawing exercise led by a group of graduate students from the University of Toronto who wanted to engage with the kids to discuss the issue of empowerment. Prior to the artistic portion of the activity, they asked: “What do you think makes someone powerful?” The responses showed great insight, depth of character, and a sense of community. Once the superficial responses like money were out of the way, the kids began sharing that things like volunteering, family, and sharing lead to a sense of personal power. It was very inspiring to hea...

We had thirteen youths taking part in Wednesday’s activities. The morning was devoted to physical activity and teamwork—we booked gym time at the Regent Park South Community Centre. The entire group took part in a game of dodge ball that was a total hoot. The staff and supervisors were very grateful that everyone respected the fact that this was first and foremost, a fun activity. Natural competitiveness was kept in check and everyone stuck to the rule of no aiming above the mid chest area. It was quite comical to observe the more senior staff and volunteers running around trying to keep up with 11, 12, and thirteen year-olds. Following the dodge ball activity, participants broke into smaller groups to play basketball, badminton, or table tennis. Once again, a good time was had by all. In the afternoon, a local dance troupe came to the Centre to offer a workshop and instruction. The instructors led a series of exercises that focused on balance, flexibility, and rhythm. The kids...

On day Two of March Break, 10 youths (seven girls and three boys) took part in a full-day photography workshop led by professional photographer Nick Kovack. Nick has been involved with the Photography program at Focus and had the advantage of already knowing many of the youths taking part in the workshop. After providing some basic technical instruction and tips on photographic composition, the youths were divided into supervised groups and given the following assignment: Go forth into the community and approach people on the street asking for permission to take their photo. Citizen/subjects were also asked the question: “What do you think about the redevelopment that is underway in Regent Park?” The exercise was an excellent opportunity for participants to work on their self confidence (approaching strangers) and to overcome shyness. The weather could not have been any more accommodating considering it is Mid-March—it was warm and sunny and there was no shortage of potential subject...

The March Break Program was a week long opportunity for children to participate in variety of different art making workshops, games and trips. The program was held from March 15th to March 19th. Day one of March Break was a big success! Many thanks to the participants, volunteers, and facilitators. We had thirteen youths taking part on the first day, the highlight of which was a jewellery workshop where everyone had a chance to create their own necklace or bracelet. The workshop was led by Colleen Clarke, a local professional designer and retailer of fine jewellery who lives in the community. She provided participants with an opportunity to learn about birth stones and astrological stones and the kids were also given instruction on how to make paper beads. Despite the fact that making beads requires patience and dexterity, the kids stuck with it and produced some very attractive bracelets and necklaces. The 11 to 14 aged youth who took part in the activity were enthusiastic and ...

I am a Regent Park Focus Volunteer who helped with the March Break Camp. During the March Break I helped with planning and organizing March Break activities. During our March Break Camp we did Icebreakers, games, Arts and craft, and workshops. On the first day of the camp, we held a workshop on inner and outer beauty. We also held a workshop on sing along songs and poetry. For the workshop we invited a guest from the local Toronto Public library. The youths also had an opportunity to watch movies like “Slumdogs Millionaire”. At the end of each day, the youths evaluated each activity we did with them. On the last day of the program we took the youths to Casa Loma. They enjoyed their trip and got to learn lot of things about Casa Loma that they never knew. They found the trip to be very interesting for them. Every youth who came to our March Break camp enjoyed it and learned something from doing the workshops, trips and working together everyday. I really enjoyed the March Break camp, ...

Hey my name is Chantelle Hewitt, I’m a volunteer at Regent Park Focus, and on of the programs I had to run was the March Break event. On March 16 to March 20, the staff and volunteers of Regent Park Focus put on a March Break event at RPF for the kids ages 10-14 in the Regent Park community. As these 20 kids came to this exciting week we had planned for the kids, a lot of them were suspicious as to what was in store for them. We started off with an Icebreaker every morning so the kids would get to know one another. We then had arts and crafts everyday so the kids used their creativity. The kids also had to be in teams for the week and had to take part in games that would make them gain points for their team, by the end of the week the winning team won a prize. On Monday and Tuesday, we had 2 guest speakers come in for a workshop and share different topics and storytelling with the kids. One of the topics that we discussed was on “Inner and Outer Beauty.” Some of the kids opened up abou...