Civic Impact

A new Wildlands League initiative aims not only to help a group of Ontario youth develop a lifelong love of the outdoors, but also to help them bring that spirit back into their own communities.

The initiative, Get Outside Ontario, is based on a similar project that Wildlands League has been running in British Columbia for the past two years. The core of the program is to get youth outdoors, teach them leadership and camping skills, and have them use their newfound skills to start a project in their own communities.

Selected participants for the inaugural Get Outside Ontario program, will spend 4 days this July camping in Rouge Park, a 40km urban wilderness park located north of Toronto.

"During the camping, we're going to talk about leaderships skills and also just how to be outside," says Liz Brouwer, Get Outside Ontario coordinator. "So, for example, we’re going to talk about leave-no-trace ethics, and safety, and of course how [the participants] can organize their own adventures when they go back to their communities."

Get Outside Ontario will also invite green mentors, Ontarians who work in green jobs, to come to the campsite for a few hours and share their knowledge and experiences with the participants.

"The plan is to have a bunch of people come from different sectors, it could be anything to do with a green job," says Brouwer. "They would speak to the youth for a few minutes and if the youth though they had an interesting career and they could follow up with them and chat about what their job is and what their background is."

As for the community planning component, Brouwer says it could be just about anything, "so long as they’re getting people outside."

"It could be a nature hike, or a garbage pick up on the beach, or something even bigger, like a backpack trip or overnight camping trip. It’s totally up to them."

The youth participants will re-convene in October, after having planned and executed their community outdoor adventure, to share what they've learned.

Get Outside Ontario is funded by an Ontario Trillium Grant and Mountain Equipment Co-op. There is no-cost to participants.

The program is open to Ontario youth between the ages of 14-18. Applications can be found here, and are due June 7th by 12:00 p.m.

Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Liz Brouwer, Get Outside Ontario 

Food Banks across Toronto have this week distributed 2,000 lettuce growing kits to households across the city.

The kits come courtesy of Scotts Canada, a lawn care company and subsidiary of the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. Scotts donated the boxes directly to Daily Bread, the largest distributor to food banks and other hunger relief agencies in the GTA (Daily Bread has more than 170 member agencies). 

"Scotts Canada had been partnering up with the Mississauga Food Bank for a number of years and they got in touch us with a few months ago and wanted to know if this was something we'd be interested in," says Gail Nyberg, executive director of the Daily Bread Food Bank. "And we said, 'yes absolutely,' it's got a number of benefits."

The lettuce kits, Nyberg explains, not only allow people to grow their own food and put more fresh produce on the table, but they also provide a great opportunity for teaching children about the fruits and vegetables they eat.

"Kids who grow up in urban settings often think that fruits and vegetables come from No Frills, from the supermarket," says Nyberg. "So I think these kits are a really good way to help kids understand where vegetables actually come from, that they grow."

The kits allow households without access to a garden or backyard to grow their own produce. All they need is a balcony or a windowsill.

"It’s a fun project to do," says Nyberg. "You can begin to see lettuce within a week. It’s the gift that keeps on giving."

Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Gail Nyberg, Executive Director, Daily Bread Food Bank

A new Centennial College program will help talented Toronto musicians leverage their skills to find jobs in the music industry.

The college is launching the new program, Music Industry Arts and Performance (MIAP), to fill what they see as a gap in traditional music education.

MIAP program director and faculty member, Jesse Feyen, explains that the program is an opportunity to educate musicians in the many ways they can use their skills to create a long-lasting career.

"There are very few resources out there geared to helping musicians take control of their own careers and find a sustainable role in the music industry," says Feyen, himself a 15-year veteran of the Canadian music scene and a PhD in ethnomusicology.

MIAP differs from other music programs in that it’s not so much focused on training students in a particular genre of music (e.g. classical, jazz) as it is about helping prepare already trained or accomplished musicians for a number of music-related careers.

Once accepted, students will receive mentorship and private lessons from a professional musician while simultaneously learning about other music cultures and the music industry. In the third year of the program, students will choose between two streams: music creation and business, and music creation and technology. The program will be topped-off with a six-week work placement to give students real-world experience in a field of their choosing. 

MIAP will prepare graduates to work in a range of music related fields, including studio sound engineering, music management, and music marketing.

"No other music program offers the same blend of performance, creative, contextual, business and technology courses," says Feyen.

MIAP is a three-year diploma program commencing this fall at Centennial's center for Creative Communications in East York. Centennial is currently accepting applications.

Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Jess Feyen, MIAP Director, Centennial College 

Early last week, the Native Women's Resource Centre of Toronto  (NWRCT) was awarded close to $30,000 in funding for a new community initiative that will allow their members to better share their stories. 

The funding comes courtesy of the Toronto Community Foundation (TCF). A Toronto-based community charity, TCF annually awards money to "high-impact" civic initiatives, through their Vital Ideas Grant Stream (a full list of 2012/2013 recipients here).

NWRTC was awarded the grant to develop a new community initiative, Debwein Kwe Sharing Circle. At it's core, the Sharing Circles program aims to give a stronger voice to the urban Aboriginal community in Toronto.

The program will connect NWRCT staff, volunteers, and clients with lived experience of particular issues to non-aboriginal community agencies and service providers across the city. 

Though, the initiative was only recently given a name, an official mandate, and funding -- the NWRCT has long had an established practice of sharing their stories.

"We've always been doing it.  We just didn't call it anything other than speaking engagements," says Crystal Melin, executive director at the NWRTC. "Our commitment to our community has meant that staff, board members and myself go out and speak about issues that affect Aboriginal women and girls."

"The impetus behind Debwein Kwe Sharing Circle was to continue to outreach, advocate, and educate the general public while also building a social enterprise so that money comes back into the Centre and eventually the women that we serve will also be presenters and be paid for their time and lived experience."

The speaking engagements will help educate other service providers on histories of the NWRCT membership, the roots of the ongoing challenges they face, and strategies for addressing the health and wellbeing of urban aboriginal women. The talks will also work to destabilize and challenge stereotypical assumption about Aboriginals living in urban settings. 

Vital Ideas is one of three Toronto Community Foundation grant programs that come out of the organization's Vital Toronto Fund. The Fund's mandate is to fund organizations working for social change "by addressing the root causes of the trends identified in the Toronto Vital Signs Report." 

The Vital Signs Report is the annual report released by the TCF that assess quality of life issues in Toronto.

"Our support of NWRCT is the first step in a very important journey to wider community impacts," stated Toronto Community Foundation's President and CEO Rahul K. Bhardwaj in a press release. "We are pleased to support their effectiveness so they can continue to thrive, build on their great work to date and build a stinger Toronto."

Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Crystal Melin, Executive Director, Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto 

Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Camara Chambers, Director of Membership Services, Volunteer Toronto

Mediacorp Canada Inc. released its annual list of Canada's Greenest Employers last week. York University and the YMCA of Greater Toronto were among a handful of Toronto organizations to make the cut (54 organizations were recognized in total).

Workplaces across the country were judged by Mediacorp editors across eight criteria: physical workplace, work atmosphere and social, health, financial and family benefits, vacation and time off, employee communications, performance management, training and skills development, and community involvement.

The award was especially meaningful to York University as the school has been making a concentrated effort over the past five years to green not only their premises but also their everyday practices.

"This award recognizes the incredible efforts of York students, faculty and staff who take action every day to raise awareness and reduce our impact on the environment," says York president and vice-chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri.  "We have made significant strides to date and will continue to lead by example in achieving results that make a meaningful difference."

Since 2005, York University has invested $40 million in their Energy Management Program. The result has been a reduction in the school's energy usage by 25 per cent or 100 million kilowatt hours of electricity.

Other infrastructure investments include the recent completion of green roofs on York's Petrie Science & Engineering Building and the Lassonde Building.

But it's not just large infrastructural overhauls that garnered the university recognition.

York stands apart for it's implementation of smaller-scale, every day practices that, cumulatively, have a large effect in reducing waste and lowering the campus community carbon footprint.

In 2010, York launched a ZeroWaste initiative, a campus-wide program that aims to achieve a 65 per cent solid waste recycling ratio by the year 2013.

To achieve this goal, York has, among other things, updated recycling, compost, and garbage containers around campus for maximum diversion. Launched competitions like Res Race to Zero which pits residences students against each other to see who can create the most sustainable living environment. And implemented initiatives like the Lug-a-Mug discount program, an initiative that gives discounts to customers using disposable mugs at all York food service locations.

As a result of the designation from Mediacorp Canada Inc., all members of the York community will be able to add the recognition to their signature lines.

Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: York University