Learn to Create with Cipher's Circles: Free Coding Community
Cipher presents Circles. Create, together.
Circles will be a launching pad into the world of code for high schoolers. Applications are open to this free program, presented by local youth-led grassroots group, Cipher (apply now).
The goal is to have just enough knowledge to hack something magnificent and incredibly rewarding together because once you get that first taste of how much power you have to create, it’s an itch that needs to be scratched consistently.
Hackers will work in tandem weekly in a 8-month season to "move fast and break things" with various technologies, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, frameworks, Python, Ruby, C, through project-based, peer-to-peer learning.
These free sessions will take place at Redwood Studio, a studio space in Brampton for registered participants.
Circles adopts the element of community from school, but breaks the student-teacher hierarchy, opting for peer-to-peer learning. Consequently, the community offers a more effective model of learning, while maintaining the crucial element of collaboration.
The community is not bound to a specific curriculum. Teachers are afraid to experiment what they aren’t comfortable with. Programming is uncomfortable and scary constantly — that’s the fun part.
Beyond support with Program Development, a visual identity design was developed to represent the program. “ACCESS was also very gracious in designing both my logo and also linking me to another youth-led grassroots group, Cipher, who had helped me design my website,” Kaustav explains.
The Newcomers without Borders website was recently launched at newcomerswb.com. Follow the organization on Twitter and Facebook for progress and announcements of programming dates.
“Overall, it has been an extraordinary experience working with ACCESS on this project so far, and I am very excited to see what the future holds for Newcomers without Borders.”
To apply for support for your own initiative or to learn more about the ACCESS Innovation program, visit accessinnovation.ca.
Phil Anth: Humanitarian apparel company launched by local student
It's not every day that a high school student launches a clothing line as a way to make a positive impact, not profit. The student is Brampton's Youssef Eid, and his company is called Phil Anth — a social enterprise that ACCESS is pleased to be supporting. Fuse Brampton provided Youssef with support and startup funds. ACCESS connected Phil Anth with initial custom orders including Impact Tomorrow and Redwood Studio. Now, Phil Anth will be focusing on growing a unique line of their own.
This shirt supports a student conference and a student social entrepreneur at the same time! http://t.co/F1p8LJ5hNo pic.twitter.com/OULRNoGCZb
— ACCESS innovation (@accesscharity) March 22, 2015
The full inspiration behind Phil Anth
As told by founder Youssef Eid
"A couple years ago I went on vacation with my Dad to Aruba. We thought it'd be great to rent a car and explore the country. The trip started off amazing, the scenery, palm trees, happy tourists. Then we got lost and winded up in a small impoverished village. The images I have tucked away in my memory are so vivid: red dirt roads, broken homes, donkeys as transportation, it was exactly what you would see in poverty commercials for charities. The houses were beaten down, made of rock, without windows, no electricity. I couldn't believe it when I saw families, mothers, and their children living inside these homes. Like most when they see poverty, I tried my best to look away, but no matter where I looked in this village, I saw the same conditions.
The rest of my vacation was fine as I tried my best not to think of what I saw. I didn't want it to ruin my vacation but no matter how hard I tried my mental images kept creeping back. So on our flight home from Aruba, the plane started to shake, it felt like nothing at first. Then it happened, the plane fell through the sky for 10 seconds in severe turbulence. I remember VERY clearly passengers floating in the air, their cellphones, I-Pods...all floating. If you've ever watched an episode of Mayday on Discovery channel, the experience was exactly the same. The man sitting beside me held his wife's hand and yelled "we're going to be okay honey" as I sat in my seat, calm. There wasn't time to panic, my thoughts started racing through my mind. All I've accomplished thus far, and then a mental image of the village popped up and stuck. The plane landed with several injured: sprained necks, broken arms, etc. Paramedics were in the airport ready for when the plane landed. I knew I needed to do something about the poverty I saw. For months I thought: what if that plane were to crash? I've always wanted to create impact, but I had no clue what type and how. But after that day in the back of my mind, I knew what I needed to do. It took a couple of months to get over the experience. Then in the summer I contacted the Brampton Entrepreneur Centre and connected with Lisa Rosetti. We sat down a few times and developed the idea together. That was over 6 months ago. Ever since, I've been developing the idea, the products, and the process. That way it's something I can be proud of, and highly effective in terms of impact.
Most ask me why I chose clothing, the truth is, I didn't choose to sell clothing because I love fashion, I chose it because it's visual, and a way to show art on a moving poster: our bodies. I wanted something people could talk about, and putting a story behind it through youth designs with Eclypse, and our concept gives more reason to. I realized we're not in the business of selling shirts, we're in the business of selling stories. At the end of the day I'm not a fashion designer. I've never cared about what I wear. I see this as the start, it's the model of giving through day to day purchases that I'd like to exploit. Imagine going to the supermarket to purchase groceries at the same price, knowing you're changing the world."
We've eliminated the need for change rooms, brick and mortars, and the nasty 5x markups of this industry. Replacing it...
Posted by Phil Anth Clothing Co. on Saturday, August 8, 2015
Phil Anth is now participating in the City of Brampton's Summer Company program, with funding from the Ontario government.
Learn more about Phil Anth by visiting philanth.ca. Follow on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
Inspiring a Community of Creators: A Collaborative Approach to Teaching Code
Cipher is on a mission to make coding education universal, free and life-changing for youth
Cipher is an innovative youth-led code-oriented community for secondary school students in the Peel Region. The program was created by 4 high schools students and ACCESS is excited to be supporting this innovative concept, after it was presented at Impact Tomorrow's Pitch Competition.
The community the students have created around Cipher will work in tandem to explore, experiment and hack with various programming languages, fostering an engaging community through a season of Cipher Circles and a conference entitled Campfire. An innovation on traditional education, Cipher adopts the element of community from school, but breaks the student-teacher hierarchy, opting for peer-to-peer learning. Consequently, the community offers a more effective model of learning, while maintaining the crucial element of collaboration.
Cipher will introduce enough of a particular language in order for one to hack together a small project, but not delve into mastering it. When learning a programming language, there is exponential growth at first, but it quickly plateaus. Cipher wants to continually hit that stride over a variety of languages.
"Imagine learning to code in a social, inspiring, competitive atmosphere. That's Cipher."
Cipher's primary program is a pilot season that will launch in September. A season is an eight-month term consisting of sessions labeled Cipher Circles. The timeline for each series of Circles will be flexible, accommodating the needs of the community and featuring a different concept/programming language for each series. Cipher Circles will be held at Redwood Marketplace in Brampton.
Cipher's Campfire Conference will be held this August with the aim of discussing community-centric learning with students in the Region of Peel. Speakers will present on topics pertaining to community, education, programming and technology. Cipher promotes learning through an inclusive community; speakers are encouraged to evoke that same atmosphere. We want you to help us create a community of forward-thinkers within the Peel Region. Help us crack the code.
You have the drive, ability and smarts to be a changemaker, we just want to help make it happen.
Learn more about Cipher and sign up for their launch announcement at ProjectCipher.ca.
Introducing Torch: A custom online platform for youth-led organizations
ACCESS, as the organizational mentor of the Regional Youth Roundtable (RYR) is excited to announce the launch of Torch: A platform designed to connect all youth-led organizations, fostering collaboration and idea-sharing. The custom-designed system allows the Youth Roundtable's member organizations to excel in growth by utilizing advanced databases, interacting with community partners and accessing resources. Through the platform, organizations in the region have the opportunity to collaborate using forums and a unified calendar. Beginning in the fall, youth-led organizations from the York Region will also have full access to this platform.
Beginning with the Region of Peel, with funding from Ontario Trillium Foundation's Youth Opportunities Fund, as well as York Region, with funding from the Laidlaw Foundation.
What does the system look like?
The landing page consists of a feed that presents all of the newest information uploaded to the platform – from calendar events to resources. Youth-led organizations have the opportunity to use the platform in a variety of ways, positively contributing to the development of the structure of their organizations. As well, members have the ability to upload or respond to requests, promote their events to the general public by adding them to the community calendar and finally upload or download resources (documents, links, and important contact information).
As described by Emilia of Peel's Youth Roundtable:
The RYR has high hopes for the future of Torch, which will allow Peel Region’s youth-led organizations to easily interact and collaborate to create a better future for youth. Thanks to Torch, the Roundtable hopes to prove that, although each organization’s initiatives hold great value, they can inspire one another to grow, become even stronger and create significant value in the community by working collaboratively.
How do you access Torch?
Although event calendars are public, posting and access to resources is reserved for youth-led organizations officially registered with Youth Roundtable. Youth-led organizations should use the contact form at youthroundtable.ca to request an account; other organizations should email torch@accesscharity.ca for membership options. Visit myTorch.ca and login.
A recap of the launch event through social media follows.
Supporting Startup Weekend Toronto for Youth
Inspiring Entrepreneurial Greatness in Youth
ACCESS is pleased to support Startup Weekend Toronto: Youth Edition which takes place from May 29-31, 2015. ACCESS is sponsoring a student to attend and is judging the competition.
Startup Weekend Toronto: Youth Edition is a great event for youth to learn more about business and entrepreneurship by coming together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch lean startups. Startup Weekend is a global non-profit organization of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding start-ups and launching successful ventures.
Participants are grade 7 to 12 students interested in learning more about business and entrepreneurship.
Students should attend to foster entrepreneurial skills such as innovative thinking, effective communication, and teamwork. They will also have the chance to:
Build strong community and peer connections through networking and event participation
Develop transferable skills with a strong emphasis on experiential education
Understand business concepts such as ideation, lean launch, pivoting, product development, minimum viable products, presentations, customer validation, and more
Enhance future educational (i.e. post-secondary applications) and professional endeavours for students
Celebrate Toronto's diverse pool of talent and future entrepreneurs
Participants are invited to register online now here.
ACCESS supports youth-led social change. To learn more about this support program, visit accessinnovation.ca.
Celebrating youth-led organizations in Peel at UNITE
Join ACCESS in celebrating an incredible inaugural year for the Regional Youth Roundtable! Learn from the progress of youth-led groups from across the Peel Region and connect with amazing youth. The Regional Youth Roundtable brought together dozens of incredible youth-led organizations throughout Brampton and Mississauga during the first year, hosted community consultations on key social issues, produced video campaigns, created an online platform and more.
As organizational mentor and a member of the RYR, ACCESS invites you to celebrate the great work these dedicated youth have been doing in the community.
Tickets are available online below. Proceeds support Youth Roundtable's 2015-2016 programming.
Impact Tomorrow: Youth Entrepreneurship Conference and Competition
Develop a startup idea, learn from inspiring speakers, and enter to win
The Impact Tomorrow Expo is an Entrepreneurship Conference and Pitch Competition being hosted by youth, for youth on March 28, 2015 at University of Toronto's Mississauga campus.
ACCESS is pleased to be a lead Sponsor of the conference, which has evolved from the first Impact Tomorrow expo in 2013, started by Mississauga high school students who chose to donate proceeds to ACCESS which is now a mentor of the team.
Impact Tomorrow Expo 2015 will feature inspiring speakers and INNOVATE Workshops developed to help youth create their own startup from scratch.
It will also include a #LAUNCH Entrepreneurship Pitch Competition presented by Mississauga City Youth Council, where the top 5 submissions will get to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges for the chance to win cash prizes. Ideas can be submitted here.