Before you go... From the Executive Director
February 8,2011 - Today, I responded to one of numerous complaints I tend to receive about the fact that some of the young people in this community spend their days sitting in the lobby or standing on the ramp or chillin' out in one of the available meeting rooms at the Centre. This time, it was that the youth were wrestling vigorously in the Brennamen Room. Other times it has been that unspecified youth are smoking cigarettes or other substances on or near the Centre property. Aside from the concerns for their health in general and for the concerns about risk and the overall welcoming atmosphere for others in the community being jeopardized, I have a deeper concern about the future of these (mostly) young men. Often , my response has been to speak to them directly about the complaints, remind them of the need to respect the Center's policies about smoking and generally, try to engage them in discussion.
Over the years, I have heard several responses that vary from their overall feeling of being monitored by police, by staff, and by community members. They generally feel unwelcomed in a Centre that has been a part of their lives since they were young children. They want jobs and opportunities to start their own businesses. Some are attending school. Some are working. Most have graduated and have been attemptimg to get jobs to no avail. They speak about being stereotyped as criminals and feeling judged on sight as such and with assumptions being made about their intentions and possible activities. I truly believe that we must embrace youth as part of our community and take personal care to ensure that they have a sense of hope, rather that a sense of defeat.
The sentiments I am expressing, echo the genuine concerns of some members of the community who have participated in focus groups to help us develop programmes. Warden Woods has recently adopted a Resource Development strategy to raise funds to provide an additional youth outreach worker and increase youth programming. However, money alone is not the solution. We need to make a commitment to transform this community into one that supports and celebrates youth, rather than participating in the general societal tendency to treat them with impunity. To that end, I am issuing a challenge to this community and to the youth in this community to share your ideas about this and take these steps:
Building Community Together
- Warden Woods Community Centre
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Our Mission We exist to build caring, compassionate,just, and interdependent communities in southwest Scarborough We achieve this by: Providing appropriate services to meet social, emotional, educational, cultural, physical and spiritual needs in these communities. Linking the communities to internal and external resources to help meet the needs of the whole person Sharing skills within the community in order to identify and develop resources, enabling the community to make and implement informed choices about its needs Advocating for social justice in community life
In today’s economy large social networks will help your job search, and more and more student are going back to cold calling their favourite company, & organization to ask if they have internships, that could possible lead to jobs.
ReplyDeleteBecome a hustler in the best sense, use talents and skills to make a living, if you sing or play an instrument, get a license to do it in the subway (and use it as practice time)
If you know how to fix things, hang picture ect. create business cards and hand them out to moving companies to partner with them. (many single women & men need help with small jobs i.e. hanging drapes or picture etc. Use the internet, create a poster and post on all the free online sites to get the word out. Join professional communities, even if you’re just starting out, join linked in, attend First Fridays and do you know what the job search engines? Indeed.com – can you do graphic design? Then walk Queen Street west or go to the market at dundas square where all the small boutique shops are and offer to blog about them or work on social media marketing to create sales. Start big, or start small, just start and be inspired by your own creativity and innovation, business mentors are out there always willing to meet with you but you have to have a goal and plan and a direction that is forward thinking…