Ask the youth in the Oakwood-Vaughan area if they needed a space of their own in the community and they will tell you it’s simple. Well actually the answer from one on Friday was, well, “Duh.”
Forced to elaborate, they say that mentors who look like themselves and offer free tutoring and mental health support, in a community that is more racialized than the city average, as well as job opportunities create a space like the Center of the For Youth Initiative (FYI). a no-brainer.
The ground floor space at 504 Oakwood Ave. in the York region opened on Friday, virtually and for up to 20 employees and youth in person for now, amid an ongoing pandemic as students return. to school with less social support from people and as gun violence continues to increase.
Coming down a set of stairs from the sidewalk, the space previously used by another nonprofit will serve youth ages 12-29 with homework help and individual tutoring, as well as career and academic planning, justice counseling, racism against blacks. support in schools, settlement services, job readiness and more.
On Friday, the large, well-lit venue featured mobile shared tables, desks surrounded by dividers for quieter studying or tutoring, multiple computers, a living room, and a separate counseling room with couches.
Residents and their children were in and out, sampled pizzas, collected school supplies, and signed in to start virtual services.
The city-funded space will officially open with limited capacity due to COVID-19 in October.
The opening in Oakwood-Vaughan is a return to the community for FYI, which previously had a space in the area and has been operating on Keele St. near Rogers Rd. And serving York South-Weston Youth for over 25 years.
“Having walked many of these paths, we ended up being those caring adults, those mentors,” Executive Director Shaneeza Nazseer Ally told the Star before the red ribbon was cut with oversized scissors, as officials were surrounded by young people. with slushies, cameras and ice cream cones.
Councilman Josh Matlow first proposed that city staff explore a youth center in the Vaughan Rd. Area in 2019.
The neighborhood has seen an increase in gun violence, has “clusters” of low-income residents, according to a city staff review of census data, and a more racialized population than the city average.
A student at the Oakwood Collegiate Institute, the school that will primarily attend the new youth center, was seriously injured in a shooting on a street outside the school in 2019, according to reports.
On Friday, Matlow praised the FYI team and city staff for pushing the project forward and securing available space when he was stuck on the council in the past due to previous struggles over funding and the number of new youth spaces.
“It is because of them that we are here today,” Matlow said Friday of city personnel standing in the crowd to witness the inauguration. “They were the ones who said, ‘Let’s not start with the no. Let’s start with the yes and discover the challenges. ‘ “
Reference-www.thestar.com