Regent Park Focus

Today was the last day of March Break for the Divas. To celebrate, we went to the movies and watched Jack the Giant Slayer. The theatre we went to was Rainbow Cinemas, a smaller theatre company that hosts an old fashioned theatre in the st Lawrence market. It was a unique experience when compared to a regular theatre like Cineplex. The front of the theatre featured a grand piano and we even got to see someone passionately play on it. Before the movie started, the girls admired some of the art that was for sale in the theatre's small gallery. The film was fun to watch; it featured gruesome giants and an epic betrayal (we won't spoil the story for you though!!). Overall it was an enjoyable experience that brought a swift conclusion to our March break. Saeema Saifuddin

During our March Break Madness the Diva’s did an art activity that gave them the room for creativity, and at the same time express themselves. Their   task was to make a collage using magazine pictures and words that can describe their personality. This activity is to help encourage nonverbal expressions. It will allow the divas to become more aware of their personalities. The girls all understand that everyone is different, and that how a person may carry themselves describes there personality. The girls couldn’t wait to get started on the task. Some of them wanted to paint, or just draw there collage. Anything is accepted because this art work is describing how they view their personality. After working hard on their masterpieces the Divas each talked about their collage and how it describes their individual personality. Giving each Diva the opportunity to talk about their creation, gives the other girls a chance to see what their peers are really thinking about themselve...

This week, the boys got a treat. Through a partnership between Focus and Rainbow Cinemas, the boys had the opportunity to go to the movies for free! Since it was the boys were on March break we were able to go to an afternoon showing of "Jack the Giant Slayer". Before we left, some of the boys thought that the movie was intended for a bit of a younger audience, but most enjoyed it when we talked about it in discussions afterwards. Their reactions included "It was sick because of the action but the ending was kind of dull". Some of the boys also thought that the war scene could have been more dramatic. They all liked the action and the special effects that were used with the giants in the movie. Some of the boys were surprised that there weren't more fight scenes between Jack and the Giant, as it sounded like in the title, while other boys felt that some scenes were too predictable and reminded them of a lot of movies that they have seen before. The boys...

Youths participating in Today's March Break activity were met with a blank sheet of paper and multiple crayons. They were asked to fill the paper with different shapes and patterns making sure to press hard as they colored. Once they finished filling the paper with light colored patterns they were then asked to color over the whole paper using a black crayon. Once they were done, they used a sharp object, a pencil or a pen to scratch words and or designs into the black colored paper. Doing this allowed the light colors to pop through revealing a rainbow of colors below. Before moving on to the next activity the youth were asked why they chose the colors they did and the response consisted of  it stands out, no one else chose it, I like the colour, its unique, and (of course) it's my favourite colour. Some of the youth also chose to take a different spin on this activity. They ventured towards using a colour that was not black to colour over the light coloured pattern. The...

A collage with meaning…      Earlier this week I facilitated a workshop with young participants of FOCUS in regards to their hopes for the future and thoughts on their heroes. With materials such as paint, glue, bristol boards and writing materials the girls were asked to curate a multi-media piece that answered and expressed a particular set of questions set out for them. Within these questions were inquiries such as what the girls hoped to be when they were older, why was this their choice of career, who was their hero and what had this individual done that held such significance to them.      Majority of the girls worked on the set of questions relayed to what they hoped to be when they were older.   Some of the answers to these questions included doctor and curer of cancer. Among those that chose to do their work on the hero collage was a little girl who created a work of art dedicated to her hero. This hero, also her be...

Today at Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre we had the Diva Girls come in for their first workshop of the week. Today, the girls were challenged on how internet savvy they are. We started the workshop with a media quiz, which consisted of questions about internet safety such as: meeting a stranger they’ve been talking to online in person; receiving content that they’ve felt has been inappropriate; chat room safety; giving personal information online; and more. After completing the quiz, the girls wrote about what they learned from the quiz in their journals. During the second half of the workshop, we watched a video about internet safety. It contained four different scenarios - two narrative pieces and two documentaries, and covered topics that are possible when young people and teens are online. The video featured introductions by “Gossip Girl” star Jessica Szohr.   The first video was called: “Clicking with Caution,” and it was about how easily youn...

To kick start the beginning of March Break the Diva’s talked about what it’s like to respect them and love their self’s. The girls did two exercises pertaining to self-esteem. They were to write five great things that they feel about themselves. Therefore being able to identify what makes them feel good about their selves. After sometime the girls each spoke about what they admired about themselves. The Divas each feel that they are beautiful and that everyone is beautiful in their own way. Hair, smiles, teeth, athletics, sports, ambitious, kind, giving, caring, and those are just a few of the things that the Divas feel help there self esteem and make them a better person. The Divas will develop a better respect for themselves and appreciation for their bodies. The second activity was a short discussion about how the girls feel about there body and any changes that may be taking place. Giving the girls the chance to talk about their body helped clarify any misconceptions that t...

February is a very quick but action packed month for the ‘CatchdaFlava’ crew. Why, you ask? Because it is close to Valentine’s Day and also the Black Heritage month! Furthermore, a lot of topics we get to talk about that you can’t even begin to imagine! It included ‘THE JAM’ event that featured a child soldier from South Sudan turned international hiphop star phenom Emmanuel Jal.    So let’s start with this month’s highlight already… starting off with the copkiller manhunt going on with the guy named Christopher Dorner. He was apparently a former cop, an ex marine that got terminated a few years ago, so that could have been his motivation for this rampage. The Toronto Raptors team doing well creeping up into the 9 th spot of the western conference and possibly securing an 8 th spot for the playoffs. Also note that Terence Ross from Toronto Raptors was crowned ‘king’ in the dunk competition this year in the All Star season. There were issues involving food industri...

Today at Diva’s we were continuing our healthy segment from a couple weeks ago, when the two registered nurses from Toronto public health came in to talk about healthy eating.   S ara and Chantal came today prepared to make yogurt parfaits. Which the girls absolutely LOVED. Before digging into our delicious yogurt parfaits, Sara and Chantal had us look at some pictures of take out sandwiches from the local Tim Hortons and we had to figure out the calorie content. Which sandwich had how much grams of fat, sodium (salt), etc. From the looks of things the Breakfast Sandwich had a bit more fat content then the sandwich. We also had a discussion of what type of extreme and out of this world food that we would try before we turn 50. Some of us are dare devils and are willing to try just about anything. Ex. Squid, octopus, rabbit, quesadillas. Then there are some Divas that are not risk takers and do not want to risk the chance of getting sick, so they would prefer to keep thei...

Today at Boyz 2 Men, Natnael and Basboos completed their comic life strips on healthy eating as the other boys offered their guesses at nutrition trivia that Amar from Toronto Public Health put together. The boys were very surprised when they heard that drinking a large milkshake can often be higher in calories and fat content than eating 4 hamburgers. They also couldn't believe that some soft drinks contain between 10-12 teaspoons of sugar and often have more caffeine than a cup of coffee! After we did our trivia, we talked about the way that you could order a pizza to make sure that it was healthier option than usual. We talked about getting our pizza to be made with whole wheat crust and ordering vegetables instead of toppings that were loaded with nitrates like pepperonis and salami. After our chat, we chowed down on a nutritious snack and we wrapped up another informative session of Boyz 2 Men.  Brian Bigioni

What a great following up to January’s ‘Last Fridays’ The Jam event!   It has been a very wintry cold month, almost as cold as this past January but without the persistent snow storms.   We managed to keep it fiery with this community gathering through celebrating the Black Heritage Month through the talents of our youth and guests. The jam kicked off as usual by the introduction of ‘ The Focus House Band’. They continued to mesmerize the community with their lively energy and enthusiasm. The Focus House Band which started approximately five years ago as a youth program teaching those interested how to play drums inspired a new vision that transformed the “Drum Lessons” into a “Music Production Workshop”. Eventually, they found 8 members to work with collaboratively in creating, producing, and composing musical tracks and lyrics. At present, 3 have remained. Solid and loyal to their group and continued to entertain everyone in the Regent Park community with their origi...

Friday, February 15, 2013. This afternoon the girls in Diva were joined by representatives from Toronto Public Health Sara, and Chantal. They came in to discuss healthy eating and having a healthy active life style. Sara and Chantal asked the girls to brainstorm different snacks that are considered healthy yet fun to make. Some of the girls have a strong craving for chocolate and would love chocolate covered strawberries, which is only one of the many great ideas that the Divas came up with. In the following weeks Sara and Chantal will be returning and getting us ready to start living life in a healthy way. By: Karise Reid

Today the boys continued their exploration into healthy eating habits, and did some work on their comic strips. We were lucky enough to have Amar from Toronto Public Health in once again to answer any of the questions that the boys had, and to establish what they would like to learn about in future sessions.  After the discussion, some of the boys worked on turning the pictures that they had taken in their camera assignments into comic strips. Together with Jerry, they thought of sequences and stories behind their photos, as well as tag lines and dialogue to go along with their different scenes. Stay tuned for updates and postings of how the boys did with their cameras and the stories they came up with!  Brian 

Over the past couple of weeks we have been receiving training for the brand new RPTV Studio control room and broadcast cameras and equipment. Thanks to Rogers for setting up the studio. The workshops have been going very well and we are hopeful to start producing some TV shows very soon! To check out our latest RPTV Episodes check out www.regentpark.tv !

Welcome back to ‘Catch da Flava’ radio to a great brand new year! We are ever so pumped up to start 2013! This January, we started off our radio topics by discussing all the crazy 2012 highlights. We discussed our favorite ‘Catch da Flava’ radio topics from last year. The notables such as: The Bath Salt special, The Halloween special, The Doomsday 2012, the Luca Magnotta dismemberment of Lin Jun, the controversial KONY 2012, our talented musician ‘Jessica Speziale’ visiting our station Radio Regent, and Nelly Furtado coming to our Last Friday event. We also enjoyed discussing our community events such as The Nuit Blanche event, the grand opening of the Aquatic Centre, the CRC and the Daniels Spectrum around the Regent Park community, the Block-o-rama, the Show Love and EID, and Sunday in the Park. Nelly Furtado visiting the Daniels Spectrum was much anticipated as well. Lastly, our weekly dose of Rob Ford doing his worst around the city. So much for 2012 highlight, let’s t...

Today the boys had the opportunity to participate in a healthy eating workshop facilitated by Jorge Ginieniewicz   from the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health. They started out by drawing all of the healthy and unhealthy foods that they could think of. From there, Jorge lead the boys through a discussion about some common misconceptions around healthy foods and eating habits. Although the boys were disappointed to hear that some of their favorite foods were grouped into the unhealthy section, they all seemed to agree that they felt better after they had eaten a nutritious meal, rather than a fast food option.  After the group discussion, Jerry prepared a nutritious snack for the boys. The boys then discussed whether they felt it qualified as a "healthy" snack or not. After thanking Jorge for leading us through the workshop, the boys did a quick clean-up and left for the night.   Brian

This week, Dr. Laura was our guest speaker. She spoke to the Diva Girls group about the relationship between mental health and eating habits.   Dr. Laura (last name here) had the girls split up into two groups and draw pictures of what they considered healthy and unhealthy foods. the girls drew pictures of fast food items such as KFC, french fries, and hamburgers on the unhealthy side. The healthy side drew pictures of fruits, vegetables, breads, and pastas.   Dr. Laura talked about how these foods relate to emotions and how eating healthy vs. unhealthy foods made them feel mentally and emotionally. some of the girls said they could actually feel the difference in how they felt after eating fast food; as opposed to eating a healthy meal. After eating healthy food, one of the girls said she felt her concentration levels become stronger during the day. The girls talked about negative effects of unhealthy and processed foods, such as low energy, hunger shortly after ea...

Today at Boyz 2 Men, the boys had a great time getting to know the cameras that they will be taking home to begin their comic strips on healthy eating. After a brief explanation about how they were to document the food they will be eating and turn it into a story and comic strip, we discussed their responsibilities with the cameras. The boys then had an opportunity to take some pictures of each other and the healthy snack that Jerry prepared, before talking about their ideas that they had about the topics for their mini-projects. The boys left talking about what they were planning on documenting with the cameras and were eager to show that they could handle the responsibilities of working with the cameras on their own time.   Brian

Today at Boyz 2 Men, the boys had a great time getting to know the cameras that they will be taking home to begin their comic strips on healthy eating. After a brief explanation about how they were to document the food they will be eating and turn it into a story and comic strip, we discussed their responsibilities with the cameras. The boys then had an opportunity to take some pictures of each other and the healthy snack that Jerry prepared, before talking about their ideas that they had about the topics for their mini-projects. The boys left talking about what they were planning on documenting with the cameras and were eager to show that they could handle the responsibilities of working with the cameras on their own time.

The following are journal entries from a few of the girls in the Diva program. The girls speak on their findings after reviewing photos they took of the food in their home and discussions on the benefits and drawbacks of healthy and unhealthy food choices.  Diva Girls Journal Entries Healthy Food vs Junk Food Last week me and my sister got a camera to take home and take pictures of healthy food and junk food. Some stuff I learned or knew about junk (food) was that… junk food is mostly stuff with a lot of sugar and they make you fat and lazy… well most junk food. Some stuff I learned or knew about healthy food is that healthy food is vegetables, fruits and more. I also know that people think healthy food is gross mostly because its good for them. The kind of pictures I took were of apples, orange juice, apple juice, fruits, vegetables, green food and more. I chose those foods because they are healthy and keep you fit.   -Rida My sister and I got to take a camera hom...

This week, Chris Leonard was our special guest speaker. Chris came in and facilitated a workshop about resiliency. Chris talked to the girls about the different ways in which they can go about protecting themselves and bouncing back from tough times and adversity. Chris also spoke to the girls about the benefits that came with a healthy amount of confidence and positive attitude. The girls contributed to the conversation by talking about the experiences they’ve had thus far. Some of the girls in the group spoke about friends who had low resiliency and how they would benefit from programs like the Diva Girls, especially when it came to workshops like this particular one. These conversations led to stories about how some of the girls were able to help their friends through personal hardships and when you have resiliency you are able and strong enough (both mentally and emotionally) to help those around you. With that said, you should also surround yourself with trusting and supporti...

The ladies in the Diva Girls program had a special guest speaker this week; Chris Leonard, an expert in the benefits of healthy resiliency spoke to the girls about confidence and self-love. The girls also had the chance to share their feelings and experiences with Chris who in turn gave them advice on how to deal with the pressures and challenges of everyday life. The following are journal entries from a few of the Diva Girls: Resiliency is when you bounce back from hard times, have self-confidence and love yourself. –Ishmahan This week at the diva girls we had Chris come in, she works in the health center and she deals with people who struggle with things that stress people. She taught us what resiliency is and how you can recover from not being resilient and how to stand up or help someone who can’t seem to recover by themselves. Chris also made me realize how resilient I am. –Fazeela Today we focused on resiliency. We talked about what it means to bounce back from a...

Today the Boys2Men group was very active physical as well as cognitively in there thinking on the topic on Resiliency. They learn that resiliency is the social academic competence, despite exposure to severe stress. It is important for these young boys to develop this skill at an early age to build up the ability to solve problems, being self-motivation, self-awareness, assertiveness, a sense of duty to self and others, and the capacity for reflection and meaning making. The facilitator discussed life skills and self-control in coping with physical impulses such as anger, in a school setting based on school lifestyle in dealing with daily challenges. She also brought some balloons and asked the youth to blow air into the balloon and match it with how resilient they are and what scenarios they had shown resiliency. Some of the boys showed how big and massive their balloon was to match their resiliency levels, others showed in the medium average. They were asked what kind of strategie...

A very smooth but lively month for the ‘CatchdaFlava Radio crew’ again. It must be the yuletide season around the corner. This is the time when everyone was talking about the ‘Doomsday 2012’   which is around December 21 st . Everyone was sort of freaked out about the end of the world and how they are gonna deal with it when it happens on that specific date. As for myself, I bought 2 seat tickets for the Toronto Raptors game for the wife and myself to deal with Doomsday. The CatchdaFlava crew was also excited about wanting to see the much awaited movie “The Hobbit” by Peter Jackson, which were a few weeks after December.   Aside from these topics we had a few weekly doses of Rob Ford’s Idiosyncrasies as usual. On the political spectrum of things, the update of Tim Hudak rallying to make wines, beer, spirits to be available at any convenience stores other than LCBO alone. There were a lot of Elementary and High School teacher strikes getting organized this month. In addition, ...

On December 26th, the Regent Park Focus staff and Radio Regent programmers got together to formally meet each other and celebrate all the achievements of 2012. Each radio programmer shared stories of how they felt about their new home at Radio Regent. Most radio programmers were formally hosts on CKLN88.1FM. Everyone was pleased to be a part of Radio Regent (a new internet radio station based in Regent Park) and gave mention to how much they look forward to the future of the radio station. Much thanks was given to the support staff and volunteers at Regent Park Focus that help keep Radio Regent running. It was a fun night and a great way to wrap up the year of 2012! Haven't heard of Radio Regent? Come check us out at www.radioregent.com