FYI also aims to develop young people with a more profound understanding of civic engagement and citizenship. Therefore, this year we have engaged in various projects in support of this vision.

We are committed to educating the broader community and advocating on the issues that pose as barriers to the success of inner city youth. To this effect FYI is moving forward on a number of advocacy pieces relating to youth and policing. This is conducted in collaboration with other service providers and the Office of Provincial Advocate for Child and Youth.

Some other tables we are involved in are the Educational Attainment West, a YCF Legacy Initiative where we supported the development of an initiative which is focused on youth for whom existing educational supports have been ineffective.

We sit on the York Youth Coalition where we work with partners in the Weston Mount Dennis neighbourhood to advocate for youth in regards to increasing access to relevant services and supports as and when needed.

Youth Criminal Justice Working Group

FYI in partnership with the City of Toronto hosted the “YOUTH SPEAK!” conference at the University of Toronto – Chestnut Residence on April 20, 2010, to provide a forum for youth to dialogue with stakeholders around the topic of youth and the criminal justice system in Ontario. In addition, the purposes of the conference were to bring relevant and personal experience to the discussion concerning the challenges that face youth who encounter the criminal justice system and to provide accountability on the part of stakeholders to improve the lives of youth.

The conference consisted of one keynote speaker and three plenaries that were comprised of (a) youth who have already gone through the criminal justice system; (b) youth who are currently involved in the system; and (c) youth considered at-risk of encountering the system due to their socio-economic status. The panel discussions sparked important dialogue amongst youth and different stakeholders; and brought important questions to bear concerning the responsiveness of the youth criminal justice system and community organizations to the needs of young people. This report will build upon the foundation that “YOUTH SPEAK!” laid and continue the dialogue around the key issues that affect youth.

Subsequently, a working committee was formed with service providers who are passionate about addressing issues within the youth criminal justice system. They have been reviewing the recommendations that arose from this conference and are arriving at strategies to move forward on key recommendations. The committee has been meeting since September 2010 and has chosen issues revolving around restorative justice as a focus for this year. The committee is also actively seeking new members to join them.

Please contact Maria at maria@foryouth.ca for more information.

Youth and Policing Dialogues 

In May 2010, FYI witnessed some of the detrimental effects of Toronto Police’s “Project Corral” raids on the minds of our community’s youth. The wide sweeping net cast during these raids led to some innocent members of the community, especially young people, being wrongfully subject to suspicion and criminalization. The often contentious relations between youth and the police are escalated by incidents such as these raids. FYI felt that considerable efforts need to be undertaken to develop a positive and constructive policing system that recognizes the challenges that youth from marginalized communities face and works to support them through the challenges.

 FYI intended to have this dialogue of advocating for a more community and culturally conscious policing system to transpire at a provincial level. Therefore, we reached out to OPACY to further develop this conversation; they were eager to support this endeavour. Together we have reviewed recommendations from various reports and documents that will inform further conversations with other youth stakeholders. These include promoting cross cultural training, community policing and education for youth in the criminal justice system.

In Feb 2011, FYI and the Advocates Office brought 20 youth from across the province together for a monthly dialogue about interactions between police and marginalized youth. These dialogues were formatted into 5 sessions over the course of six months. There were three components that we aimed to explore as a collective group: individual, community and provincial approaches around advocacy strategies and community policing. There were many new recommendations that came to the fore through the critical dialogue that they were engaged in. The report is being devised at present and should be available in spring of 2012.

10, 000 Youth Will Stand

10,000 Youth Will Stand was a youth-led, youth-based initiative geared towards creating advocacy, awareness and promoting civic engagement for the upcoming municipal elections on October 25th. This initiative was fostered through the collaborative efforts of a group of community based organizations events were held throughout the city (East, West and Central) in an attempt to generate interest amongst youth and participate in the electoral process. The goal of this initiative was to register and have 10,000 youth vote in the upcoming elections while also educating, engaging and enabling these youth through a series of capacity building events.

10000 Youth Will Stand Events
The first of our events called “The Toronto Youth Priority Symposium” (TYPS) was a mayoral debate held at University of Toronto and included all six top candidates. The TYPS was organized and implemented by six recent graduates of the Creative Institute for Toronto Young (CITY) Leaders. This was a very successful event which generated interest and a huge turnout of youth and adults alike.

The second of our events called “Be Heard” took place on September 17th and provided an opportunity for young people to learn more about the initiative itself and participatory voting process in the city.

Finally, our third forum called “Your Vote is Your Voice” was on Friday, October 1st at 6pm, and was held in Scarborough’s Dorset Park neighbourhood. It included a Youth Panel with members from the Dorset Park Youth Council who discussed key issues that concerned them in the elections, such as TTC. A representative from Elections Canada was also present to provide information on voting procedures.

The story about the 10,000 Youth Will Stand 3rd event got published on openfile.ca. OpenFile is a “collaborative community news site connecting citizens to their city and the reporters who cover it”. Here is a link to the story: Scarborough Youth Speak out About the Vote where you can also watch a short YouTube video.