Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Previous SBL mentor shares his story of growing up in Jane and Finch. See the story below:

Abdul Nur, 19
Jane and Finch

I grew up in a five-bedroom townhouse in the ­Edgeley Village community housing complex. My whole life I had neighbours and friends who looked out for me. I have seven ­brothers and sisters, five older than me and two younger. My dad was a veterinarian in Somalia, but he now works in a shipping department. My mom keeps me on the right path.

When I was 16, I hung around with guys who would just roam the streets; we were like a flock of sheep, all following each other. Then one day in 2012, two of my friends got arrested on robbery charges. Police ransacked the community centre, taking them out in handcuffs, shoving them inside cruisers. And I’m watching this thinking, “Yo, these are the people I’m running around with.” I realized that would be me soon, getting carted away. I stopped hanging around with them after that.

Instead, I spent my time volunteering with a community group, Success Beyond Limits. Some of my older siblings had been involved in the program, which uses youth leaders to teach other kids about education and life goals. I worked with them as a peer mentor over four years. Today I teach a spoken word workshop once a week, and we’re taking a group from the community to perform at the Parapan Games this summer.

I graduated high school in 2013 but returned for another semester to improve my grades. I’m now in my first year at York—it’s a 10-minute walk from our house. I’m studying business management but thinking of switching to poli-sci. My mom always wanted me to be a doctor, but I want to be a teacher so that I can go back and teach in the community. I want to have a hand in how young people at Jane and Finch will grow up. They don’t have enough role models. If you’re a teacher, you’re going to be with them through some of the crucial points in their lives; you can have a huge influence.     – as told to Lauren McKeon

http://www.torontolife.com/informer/features/2015/01/21/toronto-is-failing-me-i-want-to-teach-kids-that-this-neighbourhood-isnt-a-curse/

Working as the executive director of the North York-based Success Beyond Limits Education Program since it opened in 2010, Chris Penrose has grown in his passion to empower youth so they can complete their education and experience success in their lives.

For his efforts, Penrose was selected as one of 13 recipients this year of the Toronto Foundation’s Vital People grants that awards valued community leaders up to $5,000 to support them in their training and development opportunities.

“It’s a huge honour,” Penrose said. “I looked to so many of the people who received it before.”

Toronto Foundation, one of Canada’s largest community foundations, has now awarded 106 recipients with the Vital People grants since 2004 – an investment of nearly $510,000.

For Penrose, the grant will allow him to take a couple of courses including the Rotman School of Management finance and accounting for non-financial managers course, and Ryerson University’s social media for executives course.

But the more exciting opportunity afforded to him is an experiential learning trip to Chicago to see the progress of The Remix Project, which started in Toronto and expanded to the U.S. to help accelerate the careers of young artists.

Penrose hoped to build upon his knowledge and empower himself to continue helping high school youth and building up Success Beyond Limits.

“A big part of it is access whether it’s access to mentors, to strong social networks, to York University and post-secondary education, to employment, to training, and to life experiences,” Penrose said of the challenges to youth to be successful in high school and beyond.

Rahul K. Bhardwaj acknowledged Penrose and the 12 other recipients this year and stressed the importance of supporting leaders who make outstanding contributions working at not-for-profit organizations.

“In this milestone year for our Vital People grant program, we are very pleased with the diversity of leadership we were able to support,” said Bhardwah, Toronto Foundation president and CEO, in a statement. “We need leaders who understand the lived experiences of the communities they work in, who take initiative, and make innovative contributions that support our city’s well-being and vitality.”

For more information about the Vital People grant program, visit https://torontofoundation.ca/vital-people

Check out the full article here:  http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story/5332362-chris-penrose-success-beyond-limits-program-executive-director-honoured-with-vital-people-grant/

Rosmun Prescod is an outgoing young lady, who not too long ago graduated from Westview Centennial Secondary School. Rosmun is now a Post-secondary student at Humber College studying social work, where she plans on utilizing her passion and skills to support young people within her community.

Rosmun admits that she was very unsure of her career goals during her high school years. It was not until she was introduced to the  “Promoting Excellence” program staff (prior to the Success Beyond Limits program) that she began thinking about her future. Her experience with the Success Beyond Limits Program provided the resources and support needed to explore various venues.  Her experience within these positive spaces meant that she was able to experience diverse programing and be exposed to a variety of opportunities.

As she thinks back to what made her enrol into a Post-Secondary Program such as social work, it becomes clear that this passion stems back to the years when she was a just a mentee in the SBL program. These experiences ultimately shaped her decision to pursue a career closely tied to community.

Rosmun is currently conducting her Community Engagement Placement (a requirement for her degree at Humber College) with the Success Beyond Limit’s organization, employing her passion for community, formal education and her experiences within the SBL youth space. She has proven to be yet another example of how support through mentorship can positively help development.  The organization recognizes Rosmun’s tremendous personal growth and encourages her to shoot for the stars!

In November, our monthly Toronto Foundation Vital Youth grant meant taking over World Bowl for a night of friendship and fun.  See it captured here – so beautifully – by our resident filmmaker Sariena (15 years young!).

As a part of our ongoing Vital Youth series of monthly sports and recreation events, we took it outdoors with the 1LoveTO Skate Party at the Harbourfront Centre.  On Saturday, December 21^st we filled up a bus and hit the ice.  It was an incredible evening, and a great way to kick off the holiday break.  For those who missed, check out the amazing video.  Believe me, you WANT to go skating with us.

It has been 6 months since the tragic passing of Abshir Hassan – a TDSB teacher, a community activist, graduate student and SBL family. As we continue to mourn his loss, we have been thinking about what it means and what comes next.

In continuing the important work Abshir was doing in the Jane and Finch and Lawrence Heights Community, in partnership with York University, SBL has established an awards fund looking to invest in young people who share first and foremost a similar passion in the uplifting of their communities. The award is being organized by two of Abshir’s closes friends and SBL staff Tesfai Mengesha and Sam Tecle.

Sam Tecle was on Metro Morning speaking to Matt Galloway sharing stories about growing up with Abhsir Hassan or has he refers to him Ab.

Here’s a link below:

http://www.cbc.ca/metromorning/episodes/2015/01/20/abshir-fund/

You can donate to Abshir’s Award Fund at the following link:

forabshir.ca

With Toota going back to school, we posted a position for our After School program and Youth Space at Westview.  The pool of applications was incredible, and there were a number of candidates who would be phenomenal, ready to hit the ground running.

We are excited to announce that Sam Tecle is the newest member of the SBL team.  Sam has a long-history with our program as a teacher in our summer program, as well as a consistent volunteer and mentor to many of our mentors.  Currently working on his PhD through the York University Faculty of Education, Sam brings a wealth of experience having grown up in the Jane and Finch community, working as a teacher, and deeply involved in community initiatives.

Most importantly, he will be a welcoming face in our programs.  He will begin on Monday, January 19^th and will be reachable through s.tecle@successbl.com as of Monday.