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2008 Archived Articles
July 1, 2008 | Tropicana Says Thanks
Tropicana Community Services recently hosted an employer appreciation event to celebrate the contributions of over 340 employers to the success of the Ontario Summer Jobs for Youth Program.
The Ontario government's Youth Opportunities Strategy - Summer Jobs for Youth program is funded by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and administered by Tropicana. The aim of the program is to create opportunities for youth from underserved communities by providing the tools and training to help them succeed.
This year, 346 employers, from small to large scale businesses and organizations, employed a total of 840 youth in meaningful job placements. Tropicana worked with the youth and employers to provide training and support which promoted the success of the young people in the workplace.
Since the program's inception three years ago, 2,560 young people have benefited from the job placements provided.
At the event, which was held at the Delta Toronto East hotel, 75 organizations received awards for their ongoing participation since the establishment of the program and some of the employers spoke about the valuable contributions made by the young employees to their organizations.
Dr. Gervan Fearon, President of Tropicana Community Services, thanked the participating companies for doing their part to provide support and encouragement for the next generation of leaders and skilled individuals. Studies have shown, he said, that cities are more likely to attract investment and be competitive when they possess the positive social networks that emerge from engagement that is constructive, positive and inclusive of all its citizens.
The Summer Jobs for Youth program demonstrates these important characteristics.
The event was attended by Minister of Health Promotion, Margarett Best. She thanked the employers for their contribution towards the success of the program and said that the Ontario government will continue the Summer Jobs for Youth Program.
Earlier, on August 20 and 21, appreciation ceremonies were held for the youth participating in the program. Many of them expressed their gratitude for the program and for those who contributed to its success, saying that the program helped them to know that "people care about our future". Others indicated that they learned "about the value of education" since they found it was absolutely necessary for success in the workplace.
Tropicana Community Services will again administer the Summer Jobs for Youth program next year.
For further information contact: Kim England at 416-439-9009 ext. 221 or kengland@tropicanacommunity.org.
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May 28, 2008 | Different Name, Same Place
The big, leaden sky is so low you can almost touch it, bearing down on the San Roraanoway highrises like a hydraulic press. Across the street, a layer of exhaust-tinged slush covers the Jane Finch Mall parking lot.
A group of students from nearby Westview Centennial Secondary School are huddled at abus stop. No one seems to notice the University Heights banners attached to hundreds of hydro poles on Jane St. and Finch Ave. W. On a day like today, painted in shades of grey, the black-and-white signs are easy to miss.
But for many in the community own colloquially as Jane and Finch, they're impossible to over-look. Erected in October as part of councillor Anthony Perruzza's neighbourhood rebranding strate-irgy, the banners are being criticized an insulting exercise in revision-t history.
"Air Canada used to call it coach, now they call it Tango. They're just giving it a fancy name. It doesn't change the fact you're still in the back eating peanuts," says Paul Nguyen, founder of community website jane-finch.com |
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"A lot people feel (the rebranding) is a kind of rejection of how far we've come," he said. "A lot of peo-ple are actually proud of Jane and Finch, so they look at it as saying we're not supposed to be proud and we have to hide from the name."
Stephnie Payne is one of those people. "Arose by any other name is still a rose," she said. "I'm definitely against it Jane and Finch is who we are. To erase the name is to erase some of the history that has been attached to the community over the years."
Payne is executive director of the San Romanoway Revitalization Association, a cheery space at the foot of the area's tallest highrise, where kids go to scarf down lunch and frown at their multiplication tables.
There are a handful of similar associations in the area And they're beginning to organize.
Tim Greenwood is a youth em-ployment counsellor at JVS Youth-inC. From his office in the basement of Jane Finch Mall he co-chairs the Street Involved Youth Issues Coalition. "(The rebranding) is expressing a lack of confidence in the community, so I'm not crazy about it," said Greenwood, who has fallen in love with the community since taking a job there in 2005.
"Its being imposed from above. I've heard Anthony (Perruzza) talk about it and I understand his reasoning. I think he's done a lot of work, but if s more about the process. Anything like this should be consultative. It shouldn't be somebody saying, We're going to do this because if s going to be good for you' So I think people's natural reaction is to be upset"
Greenwood sent a string of emails to like-minded community organizations, one of which landed in Ste-fany Hanson's inbox.
"Because I'm trying to get youth more involved in decision-making processes, I brought it to the youth and said, Ts this something you're interested in working on?* From there if s really taken off," said the 23-year-old, who works as a co-ordinator at the Involve Youth leadership program run out of Seneca College's Yorkgate Mall campus.
She found eager allies at the Driftwood Community Centre, the Oakdale Community Centre and the Tobermory Youth Program. Together, they're planning a performance in February with live theatre and film projects — all aimed at "re-daimingthe Jane and Finch area as the Jane and Finch area, rather than University Heights."
Of course, Perruzza will be invited.
It was meant to be easier than this. "What would they like to name it?" Perruzza said from city hall. "Jane and Finch is an intersection, if s not a name. If s not part of our signposts— This intersection will continue to exist Jane will continue to be a street Finch will continue to be a street The four corners will continue to be there."
Rather than a refutation of the neighbourhood's identity, said Perruzza, he likes to think of the University Heights rebrand as a "gift box." If s packed with some impressive arid expensive goodies, includ¬ing a stop on a $3 billion subway line and an $880 million LRT line.
And besides, said Perruzza, "I'm not inventing anything new. The area was designated University Heights (by the city) and it has a number of other names. Those names have been forgotten, and I'm just dusting them off and letting them know that we have a history, and we will continue to build on that history in a positive way."
He insists the rebrand underwent "very broad consultation" with residents and community leaders. And not everyone is against it.
Deedar Ghatehorde is a real estate agent who has been selling houses in the area for a couple of years.
"It's a good thing ... Because the current name has negative connotations. When you say University Heights, if s going to sound much better," he said. "If s not about trying to hide the location you can't but what is important is it gives (people) additional information that this neighbourhood is really close to the university."
So why do so many residents feel betrayed?
"I don't understand what it is I'm erasing," said Perruzza, adding people can continue to refer to the community however they want.
Waiting for the bus on a dreary afternoon, Christina Roache, 16, plans to take him up on his offer.
'There's no sense in calling it University Heights," she says. "People are going to say, To, you going to Jane and Finch?' Thats it."
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May 15, 2008 | Tropicana Lauded For Its Quality Youth Programs
Toronto Argonauts Chief Executive Officer, Michael "Pinball" demons, congratulated Tropicana Community Services Organization (TCSO) for its prolonged existence and consistency in delivering quality and much-needed programs to young people in disadvantaged com-munities in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
"You have been there all the time and you have held fast for the past 28 years," Clemons declared in his keynote address at the organization's annual Charity Ball at the Angus Glen Golf & Country Club. "In fact, you recognized there was an issue 28 years ago and said the community is under-resourced.
"You have provided a foundation for us to build on. Now it's time we pay more attention to you. There will be funds, foundations and programs that will come and go. But we know that Tropicana will always have dinner on the table.. .You are one of the most under-appreciated resources in the city." |
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The largest Black social service delivery agency in Canada, Tropicana's operating budget over the past year was about $7.5 million. The three levels of government, the United Way of Greater Toronto and private donors contributed the majority of the funding.
Because most of the funding is program specific, the agency does not have the latitude to direct financial resources to problem areas youths and families may identify.
Clemons, who was handpicked by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to chair the Youth Challenge Fund, set up as a direct response to growing concerns about youth violence in the GTA, expressed the view that youths will rise to the occasion and make the right choices in most instances if they are provided with the right opportunities.
"Our youth are hungry for hope," said Clemons, a former Toronto Argos player and the first Black coach to win the Grey Cup when he guided the Argos to the championship in 2004. "There is nothing more disappointing than seeing a young person that doesn't believe they can do anything, that does not believe they can get out of their circumstance and that do believe that the life of crime is their best choice.
"That is not a sign of defiance. It's a sign of hopelessness and it says we are hungry and we are looking for a little opportunity and a chance not to survive but thrive...Stop pointing and blaming our youths. Every time you point a finger, you need to un-derstand there are four coming right back at you. They are no different than you and I. When we were their age, we were the same way. It's just the circumstances are different. They need to know that we are with them."
Tropicana presented a Community builder award to Dr. Jean Augustine and the first President's award to former Ontario Chief Justice, Roy Mc-Murtry, who suggested that part of the proceeds from a farewell community reception last June go to the TCSO building fund.
Community worker, Robert Brown, who died four years ago, created Tropicana, which became the first Black member agency of United Way in 1984. While en-rolled at the University of Toronto in the late 1970s, Brown and a few other students were assigned a project that involved the preparation of a needs assessment survey of a community in southern Ontario. The group chose the then Borough of Scarborough, and in conducting the survey, discovered that young people in the area faced serious challenges. Determined to do something, the team quickly moved to prepare an audited report of its findings and solicit broad support for the at-risk youths.
Tropicana was founded in 1980 as a non-profit agency to serve disadvantaged youth and their families. Through its diverse programs, the agency aims to increase the rate of self-employment for youth, improve access to culturally-appropriate counselling services and reduce the school drop-out rate among Black students that is close to 40 per cent. Last year, the TCSO served almost 12,000 clients.
The agency, which launched a building fund in 2005, expects to perform the ground-breaking ceremony on its 30th anniversary in 2010.
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Oct 9, 2008 | Income Disparity Still An Issue
While findings quietly :leased recently by tatistics Canada suggests a aw paradigm for under-standing immigrants' inte-ation and success, a leading community organization I the country has offered leas on what should be one.
"Statistics Canada data have consistently shown lat there is an earning gap among many ethnic groups I Canada. The wage gap causes a disincentive for Blacks to attend university and this is clearly showing up in these data. However, we cannot stop there with the analysis," Dr. Gervan Fearon, President of Tropicana Community Services told The Camera.
The income gap between ethnic groups with-in Canada has been high-ighted by many researchers.
The latest is Jeffrey
Reitz, a sociologist at the University of Toronto, who has found that while recently arrived immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa are fairly well educated, their employment outcomes are far worse than other newcorner groups |
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Among other things, the 2006 census data revealed that the Chinese and South Asians tend to do better than Blacks.
Blacks also experience discrimination and more difficulties in the labour market than others.
Tropicana's Dr Fearon noted that education is an important mechanism for closing the earning gap.
Jobs segregation and wage discrimination are the two most important factors causing an income gap between Blacks and Whites within Canada for individuals with the equivalent education and experience.
"More importantly StatsCanada data show that educated Black managers did far better than those working in unskilled occupations, and, even better than the over all earnings of white workers. |
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"Statistics show that Black managers earn 20 per cent more of the average earnings of white workers and nearly 30 per cent more of the average earnings of Black workers," Fearon said.
Fearon posits a number of actions can be taken to correct the imbalance.
"First, we must ask government to enforce laws that make it illegal to pay individuals less on the basis of ethnicity and to correct the systemic imbalances through targeted initiatives, such as university students, scholarships, internships, and other programmes aimed at promoting education and correcting caused the disincentive caused by the earnings gap," he said.
"Second, organizations with mission statements and policies that suggest they employ equity and affirmative action policies should be asked to show whether they have actually fulfilled these policies.
"For instance, public organizations are required to publish how they are doing in fulfilling their own employment equity policies as it relates to Blacks and other minority groups.
"Third, individuals, and families and community organizations must make university education an absolute priority within the Black community.
"I would encourage stu-dents to go to university directly from High School. However, not everyone will be able to take this path as some individuals may enter university after completing community college or as mature students.
"Parents can provide a great example and motiva¬tion to their children by attending a community college or university even as part-time students," Fearon, a York University educator said.
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