YEP News

Students are learning to teach their parents how to manage waste

Thanks to a Waste Reduction Community Grant by the City of Toronto, a few months ago we launched an environmental program at a few local elementary school. We taught students how to improve their waste management so that they can teach their parents/families about it too.

A lot of newcomer adults aren’t always aware of how do things such as recycle, and existing campaigns you’d find in the subway or bus, for example, are only in English - so they aren't accessible to everyone. That's why we thought it would be a great idea to kids to teach their parents!

The way it works is simple. We go to school classrooms, we teach the kids about certain environmental practices, we give them a task where they have to go home and teach their parents, we talk about it the next time we see them, and the process repeats. We're getting kids to teach parents about recycling. about using less disposable products and switching to reusable containers, hazardous waste, and many more things.

We were so surprised that the kids (as young as Grade 3!) were very aware about environmental issues in Toronto, as well as environmental practices in other countries as well. One student knew about India’s waste management system and certain policies that they had in place. Another student knew about the dangers of single-use items and how Starbucks doesn't provide plastic straws anymore.

These kids are phenomenal and we’re pleased that they’ll be the next wave of environmental leaders.

This project is supported by the City of Toronto through the Waste Reduction Community Grants program. The grants provide funding for innovative community based projects that reduce residential waste and increase participation in the City’s waste diversion programs.

YEP & GizmoGrind partner to teach mobile devices to adults and seniors

For years, Youth Empowering Parents has been engaging young people in communities across Toronto to provide 1-on-1 teaching to local adults and seniors. Programs operate in pre-existing community facilitates; for example, a computer course would take place at a local school or library, where computer equipment already exists.

A new partnership with GizmoGrind will help YEP bring its programming to areas that lack the requisite community infrastructure for digital literacy training.

GizmoGrind, an online platform allowing the quick sale of Smartphones for business and consumers of iPhones and Androids, has supplied YEP with smartphone and tablet devices. The partnership will allow hundreds of under-served Torontonians to participate in digital literacy training, particularly those living in areas with limited access to technology, as well as to seniors with mobility challenges.

“There is no training program in my neighbourhood so it is really helpful to have this opportunity,” says Eva, one of YEP’s adult participants (pictured below, left).

Santosh, a senior participant, is excited for the opportunity to learn technology for the first time. Mobile devices from GizmoGrand will allow digital literacy training to take place directly in her building, where over 80 seniors live. “It’s hard for us to travel to a program somewhere else. It’s great that we will be able to learn this right in our building. There are so many of us who are interested.”

“Being a part of something that has shown its ability to increase the potential for employment, as well as improve community bonds by using families to train each other, is quite heartwarming,” says Ahmed Bafagih, founder of GizmoGrind. “I grew up in one of YEP’s communities, and YEP is making an impact improving the lives of people who are part of my community.”

About GizmoGrind

GizmoGrind is an online platform allowing the quick sale of Smartphones for business and consumers of iPhones and Androids. (You can only sell online to us, you can’t buy a phone through GizmoGrind)

Users of GizmoGrind can get an instant quote for their used phone online and we facilitate all shipping from all over Canada. Once we receive the device, we assess and send payment online. The whole process takes about 3 days.

GizmoGrind plants one tree for every device sold through our onetreeplanted.org partnership.

To learn more about GizmoGrind, visit: https://www.gizmogrind.ca/