Past projects

Low Income Families Together (LIFT) and the Wellesley Institute developed a project to explore community engagement strategies with diverse low-income youth living in an underserved urban community. Working with local youth and organizations in the St Jamestown community this project used community-based research to chronicle youth-led community engagement projects

LIFT, a resource education center run by and for low income people, has been working in the community for twenty years on a variety of projects including: self help advocacy and economic literacy workshops, popular education for youth, local gardens, community dinners and forums on poverty issues. The Wellesley Institute is an independent research and policy institute that works to advance the social determinants of health through community-based research, community engagement and public policy analysis.

In partnership, LIFT and the Wellesley Institute endeavoured to:

• Consult young people about the challenges that need to be addressed in a very diverse community in order to facilitate youth engagement.
• Work with youth led and other community based partners to recruit and engage youth in community activities.
• Identify ‘intercultural’ opportunities and develop strategies to overcome cross-cultural barriers.
• Build capacity among resident youth to engage in Community based research, program design and leadership towards a healthier community.
• Link youth with community agencies to work in partnership towards local program/project development to employ and engage local youth.

The project worked with a variety of partners to enable the youth of St James Town  explore the opportunities and challenges of creating projects that are accessible to a very diverse community. From there  support youth in developing projects to engage and employ resident youth, designed to meet the unique needs of the community.

The project  launched in May 2008 with a youth focused arts event. We invited  active local youth to come and help plan the event and the project during April. Youth who wanted  to get involved  also contacted us  during the summer of 2008

The result of this partnership created the U4Change project at www.u4change.org

To find out more contact Lift at 416 604 5749 or email youth@lift.to

The St. Jamestown L.E.A.D. Project:

Local Empowerment and Access to Democracy
A project for Human Rights
and a Healthy Community

Initiated by Low Income Families with Ryerson University
With funding from Wellesley Institute
Human Rights and Healthy Communities

The St. James Town L.E.A.D. Project is a joint effort by LIFT (Low Income Families Together) and Ryerson University. The aim of L.E.A.D. is to engage St. James Town residents in human rights education and a collective process to create a safer and healthier community. Using the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) as a guide, L.E.A.D will train community residents to facilitate focus groups with other residents to explore our human rights and identify the changes needed for a healthy community. This is a community-based action research project because it involves the whole community in researching, assessing and reporting its needs, as well as developing strategies to create desired changes.

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:

In 1976, Canada signed a declaration known as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights (ICESCR). The ICESCR recognizes that all human beings have the right to security of healthy food, safe housing, fair work and wages, social security, health services, education and other necessities of a healthy life. In signing this international, legally-binding treaty, Canada made a promise to ensure that every person has equal access to these basic human rights. The St. Jamestown L.E.A.D. Project is about making the connection between Economic, social and cultural human rights and the health of the community. In Canada, the “social determinants of health” indicators used by various levels of government, closely reflect the articles of the ESCR covenant, so we intend to use these “determinants” as well. One outcome of the LEAD project was a special report to the UN committee reviewing Canada’s compliance with the ICESCR (spring 2006), another outcome will be “state of the community” reports complete with recommendations submitted to all levels of government.

Why St. James Town?

We have chosen St. James Town because this community is likely the most diverse neighborhood in the world, has been damaged by years of government cutbacks to social services and housing and because many of us live here. In the past two decades, LIFT has hosted popular education and community economic development workshops, held all candidates meetings, helped in the struggle for school food and breakfast programs and the new community centre, and hosted community dinners in St. Jamestown.

L.E.A.D. Project Goals:

• To collectively assess quality of life in the St. Jamestown community through resident participation and action
• To develop and strengthen relationships between community members, community-based organizations and local service agencies
• To develop democracy and leadership within the community through participation
• To further public education about how respecting social and economic human rights can foster healthy communities
• To empower residents to hold governments accountable for public policies that impact on their communities and individual/collective human rights

The St. Jamestown L.E.A.D. Project: Residents of St. James Town  graduate focus group training for the LEAD project

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LIFT’s Diverse Youth Arts and Culture Engagement Project

Forum Login

Uforchange.ca – official site

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.Live footage – development of youth project

Project Overview

The UforChange project is a great opportunity for youth aged 16-18 and young adults aged 19-29 to learn about community building, human rights and promote a positive environment in St. Jamestown. Participants will be linked with professionals in arts and culture related fields in order to create and present/perform art projects, access mentorships and higher learning.  Participants can also work with LIFT to organize social change projects by and for youth.

St. Jamestown youth — this is your chance to

• Have your voice heard
• Meet youth from other cultures and build friendships
• Gain valuable leadership skills
• Learn about Human Rights and what they mean for you and your community
• Participate in something positive that pays for your time
• Gain valuable experience that can create further opportunities
• Find a career and or get a college scholarship

The development phase of the project involves working together to address issues that face youth in St. James Town such as racism, safety, environment issues and access to education. But the great thing is that YOU have a part in shaping the project. Tell us what youth in St. James Town need, what changes you want to see and what your experience is as member of this community. Childcare and othe supports are available.

Phase 1  connected youth in the community, learned about human rights and democracy, environmental issues, and developed skills in art projects within diverse teams. Professional artists were invited to share their experience about working in a broad spectrum of arts careers, and help with projects and events organized and led for youth by youth.

All participants make important contacts, learn about building community, further develop their artistic abilities and gain valuable insight into their potential. This is a great chance to get linked to careers in: Visual Arts, Dance, Music, Film, Theater, Media Arts/Web Design, Literature/Journalism and many more – you help choose!

This project is still in the development stages! We are presently looking for community input and are currently holding a number of meetings and workshops during September and October. Our office is located at 517 Parliament St. just south of Winchester.

The project will begin officially started in November 2009. We invite you to register and/or volunteer as soon as possible. For more information please call the project office at 647-348-0901 and ask for Chalo or email us at diverseyouth@gmail.com.

This project is brought to you by LIFT (Low Income Families Together), Banyan Youth, The Wellesley Institute, The Cabbage Community Arts Center, Canadian Community Initiatives and is funded by the Government of Canada.

Launch of Youth Empowerment Project

May 31, 2008

We had a great community event to launch the project in St. James Town. There was music, halal food, and activities such as the voting booth, the art wall and a raffle for an Ipod. Though the day started off dark and cloudy and the wind blew hard and almost sent the tents flying, the sky cleared, the wind died down and the sun came out just in time for Samba Elegua who started off with a bang playing their wonderful complex rhythms to catch the attention of the surrounding community. As people gathered, Imaaji and friends performed some original music as well as Bob Marley’s redemption song with guitar and percussion, and a bit later we listened to some of her excellent CD as well. Bryant Didier of bmusique compiled two CDs of music with a message in a variety of styles to play between live acts.

Sci Fi, a local artist from St James Town performed three very conscious and intelligent hip hop songs and he did them very well, it was great to hear really good local talent. A big shout out and thanks to the artists who donated their time and talent. The food provided by Humera was delicious and everyone ate well for free. Many youth got involved with the survey and voting activities and lots of art was created on the cloth and paper with pastels, paints and markers.

A huge thanks to everyone involved, including Rose Ave PS, the YEP project team and friends like Cameron and Taylor, our partner Banyan Tree Community Initiatives, The St Jamestown Safety Committee, Toronto City Mission, Snooky Tynes for the sound, Heinz for the wiring and filming, and our funding partner, the Wellesley institute. We hope to have more such events in the future!