YEP

The Birth of a Young Leader

From having no patience to becoming a youth director, Daniel Bonilla’s rise to leadership is what we are all about. At Youth Empowering Parents (YEP), it is not just about tutoring adults. It’s about empowering youth to become leaders of tomorrow, helping them build and value relationships and communities.

Daniel has been a part of For Youth Initiative (FYI), a non-profit that runs youth-focussed programs, and which hosts a YEP program, for more than two years now. When he first joined the YEP program that was run at FYI, Daniel thought he did not have the patience to teach an adult. However, he still gave it a try, and, thus, began his journey of change.

From being a youth participant for YEP, Daniel went on to become a part of the coordinators’ team. He was also selected to be a part of the Youth Advisory Committee of FYI. By the third term, Daniel became the main coordinator of the YEP program. He is currently the Youth Director for FYI. According to Daniel, it was YEP and FYI that molded him into the leader he is today. “YEP helped to increase my leadership skills. It has helped improve my patience level and writing skills as well,” he says.

So, what message does Daniel want to leave for the youth who have not heard about YEP? “Join the program. It will help you improve a lot of skills and learn new ones. Students come here to have fun and it changes into an experience,” he says.

Daniel’s YEP experience, however, is not just limited to improving his skills. “Sometimes, when you are teaching them, the seniors start telling you their stories, everything that they have been through in their lives, they start giving you advice, and you start relating to it. You build a connection,” he says. For Daniel, that is one of the biggest takeaways from YEP.

“It made me cry”

Week after week, Michelle Lee found herself exhausted as she dealt with rude remarks from one student at the YEP program at Lawrence Heights School. It felt like no matter what she did, she was faced with resistance. However, she knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task. And by the second session of the program, her once “trouble” child had become more polite and even invited her to a play he was part of.

Michelle states that the student went from being a kid who was always called to the office to doing really good at school and being part of at least three after-school programs.

For Michelle, this is the best part of being a YEP facilitator. “I love seeing people’s progress from the time they join the program to when it ends.”

Michelle has been a program facilitator for YEP since 2016. “YEP is different because it mainly targets schools in areas where there is more trouble. It’s like killing two birds with one stone. Not only are they helping the immigrants and giving the students a way to gain more skills, but it is also keeping the students off the streets and out of trouble,” she says.

Michelle fell in love with the YEP program the moment she heard about it. It’s been around three years since then and she has only three words to describe it: “I love it.”

While Michelle finds it tough now to still be a program facilitator because of her hectic schedule, something still holds her here and makes her want to remain a part of the YEP family. “YEP keeps you humble. Sometimes, it makes me so emotional that I cry. It feels so great to be able to help others and see their progress. Being a part of that gives you so much more than anything else.”

She saw their excitement and knew she was at the right place

On Vanessa Oppong’s first day as a program facilitator for Youth Empowering Parents, the internet was down and the youth were not able to teach the adults the lesson they had planned for that day. That’s when the program facilitators decided to teach the adults how to take photos on their smartphones. The excitement on the adults’ faces on learning how to take selfies was enough for Vanessa to realize that she had come to the right place. “One of the adults was really excited that she could now upload her photos on Facebook. It felt really good,” recalls Vanessa.

Vanessa has been with YEP since September 2018. She currently facilitates the YEP program run at Black Creek Community Health Centre at Yorkgate Mall. According to Vanessa, what makes YEP different from other youth programs is how it is mutually beneficial. “The program helps the youth improve their skills, learn to be more patient, and, during that process, the youth are helping adults,” she notes, adding, “A lot of summer and after-school programs are focussed on helping students, but in this program, the students help somebody else.”

Vanessa feels the program is gaining more popularity as more youth are talking about it with their friends. One of the main reasons for that, she believes, is how it helps students to improve their leadership skills. “A lot of students are shy when they come in, and they don’t really want to talk. However, as we train them, they start getting comfortable and they want to learn new stuff. Now, I see the students just walk up to seniors and initiate a conversation with them. They couldn’t do it in the beginning.”

One of the things that Vanessa likes the most about YEP is getting the chance to meet new people. “In the process of meeting new people, I get the opportunity to train them (youth), who, in turn, teach the adults. It’s like a chain. It feels great to be a part of it,” she says.

Kids Have Ideas Too!

There is something that is universally known about children: they like to ask a lot of questions. As Albert Einstein put it “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

Abirami, a student at the University of Toronto, was tasked with answering these questions when it came to all things recycling. As part of her studies in the public health program, she was required to do a community placement and was placed at YEP. She helped run the environmental program in which students in Grades 4-6 were taught how to environmental literacy and then asked to teach their parents at home.

“Originally, we thought the kids wouldn’t be very interested in the topics, but we found they really liked discussing their ideas and were really interested about the environment,” says Abirami. At first, her and her colleague didn’t think about including much time for discussion. They soon learned that kids were interested and curious about environmental issues from al over the world. In order to help them with their understanding, Abirami would go through a discussion and then a quick activity at the end such as asking them where a coffee cup belongs: the recycling bin or in the trash?

Abirami says that what made YEP so different from other programs was that whereas other programs have an instructor that teaches everybody, here she acted as more of a coach, the kids were doing the teaching when they went home. “It gives the students independence and the adults gain different skills such as learning to improve their waste management skills,” Abirami says. Not only this, but the kids learned to be more empathetic and more patient.

The kids in the program and her had to get creative when it came to addressing obstacles preventing them from recycling. Some of the kids in the program lived in apartment complexes where there were no recycling bins. The solution was to do things like write a letter to the superintendent or the local MP to help fix this problem. In addition to this, the kids also thought of initiatives such as banning single use plastics in schools and using reusable shopping bags.

She says that even for the kids who didn’t have much of an interest in the topic of recycling, she feels that this program has helped create more of an engagement in the community. “They wanted to be more engaged with the community and I’d like to think we helped them with that.”

And what did Abirami learn? “As adults, sometimes we just need to listen. Kids have ideas too! From contacting local Member of Parliament to using reusable shopping bags, they have the ability to come up with solutions on their own.” It has helped them become more involved in the community and assess the issues that exist within it. By doing this, she hopes it will push them to continue to ask questions and demand changes to better the community.

Inspiring Hope and Confidence in the Leaders of Tomorrow

American lawyer and politician Brad Henry once said that “a good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning.”

For Mariam, her high school teacher did just that. Her teacher inspired Mariam to become as good of a teacher as she was. Mariam’s goal is to impact the lives of students in the same way her teacher did hers.

So what better way to do that then to work with “at-risk youth” in an underserved community. As part of her studies, Mariam is required to do both a community and school placement for her learning development. As part of the community requirement, she was paired with YEP and became facilitator for our Nelson Mandela Park Public School program.

The program run in Nelson Mandela Park has elementary students in grades 7-8 teach adults in the neighborhood computer skills. Located in Regent Park, the community has a 44.4% poverty rate. With basic needs not being met, it can be difficult for students to stay engaged. As a result, grades in this community as seen with Nelson Park Public School are often rank poorly in reading, writing, and math skills.

So how does one keep students engaged when external factors are determined to keep them down? Mariam states the task wasn’t an easy one. “A challenge that came when working with this group was thinking of methods to keep the kids engaged at all times.” By having visual presentations it helped the student stay focused on what the goals for the day were.

At the beginning, Mariam felt uneasy about being a facilitator. “There was the constant thought of ‘how am I going to facilitate students who I had no relationship with and run a program.’” Mariam says that the program helped her become more confident when working with students, even those she had no connection with easily. She learned how to be a more patient person by watching these kids practice patience and compassion with the adult learners.

As the weeks progressed, the students developed meaningful relationships with the adults, and improved greatly with their own self-confidence. She notes that these kids began to take the lead. For any youth looking to volunteer Mariam says YEP “challenges [students] and presents them with situations that they might not encounter as a learner. They not only learn a lot about themselves but also about their surrounding community.”

“Woah!”

When she heard about the program, Laiba Zaman was immediately hooked. She soon became one of the first volunteers for YEP’s program in Spain, and her mother a participant.

That was in 2015. A year later, she became a program facilitator. In Spain, the program offers Catalan and Spanish language courses, in addition to computer classes. The program is focused on helping immigrants become a part of society.

For Laiba, the important takeaway from the program was the impact it had on her mother. “My mother went to other language schools for ten years, but I saw no difference in her. Later, when we started this project, I noticed that she was getting better. That was the most important thing for me: it brought a change in my mother.”

Laiba has many stories to share of her experience working with adults. “I remember when I was a student tutor, there was a woman who came to class for the first time. It was, in fact, her first time been in any classroom. She never had any education because her mom died when she was young and she had to take care of her siblings. After the lesson, when she wrote her name on the whiteboard, she was in tears and said, “My dream is now fulfilled.” She wanted to learn how to write her name. That was her dream.”

For things that are often taken for granted as common knowledge, Laiba was able to not only help her mother but others in reaching their goals. Laiba continues to be with the program and says it has helped improve her self-confidence to a great extent.

“I am a student. So, for me, being a teacher was like “Woah!” I feel impressed with myself because when I started out, I did not think that I would be able to do this.”

“When Kids are Difficult, the Education System Kind of Quits on Them.”

At YEP, we don’t believe that kids are the problem, rather we believe in the solution. Alastair Roberts is a current employee at YEP and manages the dance program at our Lord Dufferin Public School. In this program, the students are the teachers and show their teachers how to dance. Alastair first came to us as part of a community placement required for his studies at George Brown College for the Social Service Program.

Alastair admits “working with youths wasn’t my first choice.” However, after working with the kids in the program his perception changed and ultimately led to him working at YEP. He says that when measuring the success of kids, sometimes you need to look past the surface. “For youth, especially like this it's important to engage them, talk to them, and be there for them. When kids are difficult, the education system kind of quits on them,” says Alastair.

Although the kids still swore and seemed disinterested at times, changes were happening. By not quitting on these students, Alastair says that these kids began to have more self-confidence and attendance. One student that was part of the program stated that “I like how the kids taught the teachers, because in class when they are teaching me, I sometimes feel dumb, and I don’t want to feel that. I want to teach somebody what they can learn from me.” For once, the students were the ones with something valuable to offer and it helped them feel empowered.

When dealing with negative behaviour, Alastair stated they would do things like talking circles. Not only this, but Alaistair quickly learned that he would need to change the way the program time was structured. As opposed to a formal structured schedule, he based each day on their energy level. Sometimes he started with informal dance; other days he started with short games to acquire their focus.

Dance is a way of having these kids do something fun, while subtly teaching them important social skills such as communication and patience. In doing so, the teachers at Lord Dufferin have noted that overall the kids have improved in their listening skills and have developed a better rapport with their teachers.

As the principal of the school notes, “I felt that this program really helped with their self-esteem. I really wanted them to have an opportunity to see themselves as having gifts and strengths, and this program allowed for that to flourish. I wanted the teachers to recognize the strengths of some of the students that often don’t show that side of themselves.”

Through this process, Alastair has also learned quite a bit. He says he has learned to be more patient, how to be a better facilitator, and acknowledge when to step back. Adults are conditioned to take the lead when faced with a group of kids, in this case it’s the students who take the lead. One of things he liked most about the program: “even though it was challenging, the group of students we taught were hilarious.” This program shows that there is more than just one way of teaching and learning.

Kids are smart. They figure things so fast.

Nicole wants to be a teacher. Her inspiration? She wanted to make a difference in kids’ lives. Nicole is currently studying to be a teacher at York University and has been managing the YEP program at Rose Avenue Public School as part of her studies.

Rose Avenue Public School is located in the St. James Town community, in Toronto. This community has a high number of immigrants with 60% of first generation people being born outside of Canada. Here’s something that isn’t high: their academic performance. The school has poor academic performance amongst young people and resides in a densely populated community with many newcomers to Canada.

Nicole knew she had a challenge on her hands but it was a challenge she was eager to take. As part of the program at York, students are sent to different community placements as part of student development and it’s how she landed at YEP. “Going into it, there was the assumption that St. James Town is unsafe. When working with these kids you don’t feel those types of things.” So what was her experience really like?

“No matter how much you learn, you never know until you actually do it,” Nicole says. She experienced this first hand when struggling to keep the kids engaged. The program runs during the lunch hour and has the kids teaching adults how to use computers and smartphones. Due to the timing of the program, Nicole says that “these kids are already restless by being in class all morning.” Despite the restlessness, Nicole was determined to make a difference and so she wasn’t going to give up so easily. The solution: getting their minds engaged with games and pairing them up quickly with adults to keep them motivated.

Kids would do simple jigsaw puzzles which would help keep them engaged and focused. It prepared the kids to remain focused and engaged to better help the adult learners. As the program progressed, the kids became more confident and adaptable. “If there was something an adult wanted to learn and a kid didn’t understand it, they would Google it and then teach it to them,” Nicole says.

Overall, the program has made her think about just how capable kids are. She hopes that when she gets the chance to be in front of the classroom, she will be able to implement some of the things taught at YEP such as having her students teach others new skills and helping them become more confident and better communicators.

Stories

Cloyce Weaver

Stories

Cloyce Weaver

The Birth of a Young Leader

She used to rely on her husband always, now she can do it on her own

“I got to see my sister’s face after 30 years”

“It made me cry”

She saw their excitement and knew she was at the right place

Kids Have Ideas Too!

His face lights up when he sees them happy

Inspiring Hope and Confidence in the Leaders of Tomorrow

Creating positivity in Regent Park

Selam and her mother, Yordanos

WAIT, WHY IS THIS IN CAPS?

“Woah!”

Fatema Hoque and Firdaus Rashid

“Sorry, I don’t speak English”

“When Kids are Difficult, the Education System Kind of Quits on Them.”

Kids are smart. They figure things so fast.