Bringing Gaps, Creating Community: Newcomers without Borders launches with peer mentorship
As an already active student in Mississauga with leadership roles on MYAC, Red Cross YAC and as a Student Trustee for the Peel School Board, Kaustav Chaudhuri identified an emerging need and decided to create his own initiative to address it.
“My inspiration behind starting this program was based around the fact that many newcomers are not aware of the level of opportunities that can be found in their community when they first come to Canada,” Kaustav shares. “Now, in secondary school, having these opportunities at your fingertips is crucial in order to stand out on college/university applications — this is where I saw clear disparity between newcomers and the other youth.”
Kaustav explains that often, newcomer students applying to postsecondary institutions “have brilliant marks, but when it comes to extracurricular activities, their profiles are often lacking”. So his organization Newcomers without Borders aims to eliminate this disparity by providing the newcomer students with a clear platform to get out into the community and immerse themselves in leadership and volunteering opportunities that are relevant to their interests and future aspirations.
The main goal of Newcomers without Borders is to pair youth who are new to the community with experienced mentors to help build extracurricular profiles, increasing their level of success in various future endeavours. The youth-led organization welcomes newcomers with open arms into the youth community of Mississauga in a simple, non-intimidating manner, providing a strong sense of community throughout the mentorship program.
Applications are now open for Mentors and Mentees (newcomer youth) as well as two support roles: Outreach Officer and Mentorship Coordinator.
“ACCESS Innovation was instrumental in helping get this idea off of the ground — it was Daniel Francavilla who had helped me decide how condensed this program would be during the period of inception. The entire concept of using a system through which mentees with specific needs would be paired with exclusive mentors was guided by ACCESS.”
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.
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.
Speak Up Conference helps students get their voices heard
The buzz of idle chatter among more than 700 adolescents filled the gymnasium at Brampton’s Cardinal Ambrozic Catholic Secondary School as the young crowd waited for start of the Speak Up Student Conference, organized to inspire students to use their voices to make a difference in local communities and around the world.
About 750 Grade 7 students from 19 schools at northeast Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board schools attended the January 28 event designed to help youth find issues they are passionate about and spur them to action on those issues.
The event opened with lyrical inspiration from country singer/songwriter Sacha, who was followed by presentations by ACCESS founder Daniel Francavilla, school board student trustees Izabella Balcerak and Meghana Benoy and members of Cardinal Ambrozic’s student-led anti-bullying and leadership group.
After the presentations, students moved into workshops to discuss ideas on local and global issues, education and learning, student well-being and Catholic education.
“I think it’s important to be heard,” said Rheana Isaac, a Grade 8 student at St Agnes Catholic School, who was helping present the conference. When youth speak up they can help themselves and others, insisted 13-year-old schoolmate Therese Perucho.
Speakers and presenters were in chorus in telling students they have a powerful role to play in their communities.
“There’s no better time to speak up than now”
Francavilla, 24, told the elementary school students.
A graduate of St. Marguerite d’Youville Secondary School, Francavilla recounted how he started a charity, now supporting projects locally and abroad, when he was in Grade 10.
He signed up for a school trip to the Dominican Republic. What he saw opened his eyes to the reality that most of the world lives in poverty.
“It was very different than seeing it on TV,” Francavilla said.
He recalled returning home and sharing his experience with the congregation at his church and launching a fundraiser to buy school uniforms for children in the Dominican Republic. He collected over $8,000 that weekend and essentially started ACCESS.
The youth-led non-profit, originally founded to help students in developing countries access education, has evolved to also empower youth who want to make positive social change.
“If you come together as a group and you focus on an issue, you can come up with a solution right on the spot,” he said, and suggested change doesn’t always have to take years.
Conference activities culminated with a “call to action” by St. Patrick’s parish pastor Father Vito Marziliano.
Originally published by Roger Belgrave in The Brampton Guardian on January 25, 2015. Photos by Rob Beintema.
Bringing together youth-led organizations in Peel Region through Regional Youth Roundtable
MISSISSAUGA, ON – ACCESS is pleased to be supporting the Regional Youth Roundtable, a grassroots initiative bringing together youth-led organizations, alleviating pressures facing minority groups, sharing experiences and advice, and collectively taking action on issues in the community. The Regional Youth Roundtable (RYR) is funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation's Youth Opportunities Fund with the Organizational Mentorship of ACCESS.
Formally launched in Fall 2014, the the group hopes to offer support towards all youth-led organizations in Peel Region, helping them grow and reach their full potential thanks to collaboration, events and community consultations.
ACCESS is providing the RYR team with organizational development and ongoing mentorship, supporting the young leaders in creating change in their community.
Daniel Francavilla, who founded ACCESS in 2006 as a high school student, is pleased to be supporting the initiative:
"Connecting the Peel non-profit community has always been a goal for ACCESS, where we have promoted collaboration over competition. ACCESS is proud to support the Regional Youth Roundtable in uniting the region's many youth-led organizations. It is an honour to be working with such dedicated, talented youth, working towards key issues affecting youth in the community."
The RYR Team was thrilled to have hosted a successful launch event at Mississauga City Hall's C Cafe on September 20, where over 30 executive members of youth-led organizations across Peel Region came together to celebrate the launch of RYR.
Emilia Nowicki, Communications Officer of RYR was very moved by the turnout:
Seeing so many passionate members from different organizations come together and find their common interest in simply wanting to help others and make a change in the world was so inspiring. It made our team believe that the Roundtable is on the right path towards improving our community, and that this is only the beginning.
Trevor Sookraj, a high-school student from Mississauga, is the Founder and Executive Director of the Regional Youth Roundtable and is excited to see his concept coming to life:
It started as an idea and now it's a reality. The support over the past few months has been incredible. The dynamics of having so many organizations in the same room was incredible for the launch, and we can only expect more from our Roundtable meetings with a solid focus.
The Regional Youth Roundtable team has begun work on planning and executing their goals for the 2014-2015 year. The team hopes to create strong relationships among their member organizations, helping to increase their members' awareness and outreach. The RYR hopes to serve as a platform for the sharing of best practices and useful resources, networking, and representing leadership initiatives and activities in Peel Region.
The organization will also help to raise awareness about several issues concerning youth through different media campaigns, consultations, and events. Groups such as LGBTQ+ youth, disabled youth, and newcomer youth have been identified by RYR and the Youth Opportunities Fund as a focus. Member organizations will meet once a month with the Roundtable Team to discuss goals, aspirations, and future plans, based on their collaborative efforts.
The Regional Youth Roundtable is providing youth of Peel Region with a brand-new perspective on how to make a difference in the community, through working together. The RYR hopes to prove that although the region's many initiatives are valuable individually, they can grow to become significantly stronger and drive greater change by collaborating and inspiring one another.
For more about the program, visit YouthRoundtable.ca, and connect on Twitter and Facebook.
Media Inquires Emilia Nowicki | Communications Officer, Regional Youth Roundtable | peelcomm@youthroundtable.ca Daniel Francavilla | Founder and Executive Director, ACCESS | daniel@accesscharity.ca
Youth Leaders in Peel Region invited to Learn Skills for Social Change at ACCESS Workshops
MISSISSAUGA – On August 14, 2014 ACCESS presents: DO GOOD, BETTER, the first of a free two-part workshop series to equip youth-led initiatives in Peel Region with the tools and skills to succeed. Youth leaders and activists will receive hands-on learning opportunities from experienced facilitators who have worked with countless youth-led organizations and initiatives across the Greater Toronto Area to build stronger organizations and create greater impact in their communities.
DO GOOD, BETTER will take place over two summer evenings at Studio 89, a social enterprise café in Mississauga whose proceeds fund an artademic resource centre and youth programming. The workshops will help young leaders learn to find funding and build budgets for their social good projects.
“Having founded ACCESS as a high school student 8 years ago, I am thrilled that we are now able to share these vital resources with other youth who are working on their own initiatives. Finding funding is a huge challenge for organizations of any size – especially for youth entering this complex sector. We have learned that the non-profit sector is all about collaboration, and are honored to involve our mentee organization, Regional Youth Roundtable, as well as to bring in experts in youth organizing from across the GTA.” – Daniel Francavilla, Founder and Executive Director, ACCESS
On August 14, part one will help participants learn how to develop and write an effective grant application through the exploration of tools and processes for designing programs, framing applications, and embedding grant-writing planning in all that they do.
On August 21, part two will help youth leaders learn to build budgets with confidence. Participants will learn how to develop a budget for their organization or project using simple tools and software. They will explore what to take into account when building a budget, from salaries to rent to program expenses.
The workshops are being promoted in partnership with the Regional Youth Roundtable, a new local youth-led initiative mentored by ACCESS. The Speak Up for Change Workshop Series is funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
Spaces are limited, so we invite interested participants to register online at speakupforchange.ca/workshops.
About ACCESS ACCESS is a youth-run, non-profit organization that educates, empowers, and inspires youth to drive positive change. ACCESS is run exclusively by youth, ranging from high school students to university students and recent graduates. ACCESS focuses on social innovation and youth social entrepreneurship, to educate, empower and inspire youth to create change locally and globally. | accesscharity.ca | speakupforchange.ca
About Regional Youth Roundtable Regional Youth Roundtable aims to alleviate pressures facing minority youth groups (such as newcomer youth, special needs youth, racialized youth) by creating a collaborative impact through youth-led organizations in Peel region. The Roundtable also acts as a platform for the sharing of ideas and initiatives between youth-led organizations, ensuring said organizations are reaching their full potential and mandate. | youthroundtable.ca
Media Contact: Daniel Francavilla, Executive Director, ACCESS | daniel@accesscharity.ca
Redefining Normal: ACCESS presents TEDxYouth@Brampton
Brampton's first-ever TEDx event for youth is being hosted on March 1, 2014 by a group of local youth. Sponsored by ACCESS, the theme is Redefining Normal. The event will focus on empowering youth to lead creative, self-satisfying lives that will enable them to look beyond the conventional forms of living.
TEDxYouth@Brampton will be taking place at St. Marguerite d'Youville Secondary School. The March 1 date will connect it with other TEDxYouth events worldwide.
Ideas worth spreading
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED created TEDx, a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience in their community. The official title, TEDxYouth@Brampton, indicates the event is directed towards youth in the Brampton-area, but we also hope the talks will inspire those of all ages, in all regions as well.
Live speakers and TED Talk videos will combine to spark in-depth discussions related to the theme, Redefining Normal. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.
Redefining Normal
Adolescents and young adults are faced with the monumental challenge of determining their fate. They have been told by parents, teachers, and society what a "normal" life should look like, which leads them to set off into the world, constraint by vision blinders, never realizing to the full extent what life can offer. The TEDxYouth@Brampton event focuses on equipping today's youth with the wisdom to create a life for themselves that falls on the positive sidelines of normal.
The youth organizing the event strive to empower audience members to look beyond what has been done, and focus on what can be. It can only be through constant disapproval of our system that real change and happiness can be captured.
The conference's speakers range from Noble Lauriets to charismatic leaders, who all share a single vision: to share their ideas in the hopes to alter our mindset. These Speakers and Entertainers are being announced weekly leading up to the event at tedxyouthbrampton.com.
Tickets are now available online here.
About ACCESS ACCESS is a youth-lead, non-profit organization that educates, empowers, and inspires youth to drive positive change. Currently based in Brampton and Toronto, ACCESS is run by a dedicated group of youth, ranging from high-school to university students and recent graduates. Originally founded to help students access education in developing countries, ACCESS has grown to focus on social innovation and youth social entrepreneurship, continuing to empower youth to create change locally and globally.
The Journey Continues: Reflecting on 2013
ACCESS reflects and looks ahead in annual message
One year in the life of a youth-run, non-profit organization quickly passes – yet is jam-packed with progress, challenges, changes and goals. The calendar year of 2013 – the final year of our 2-year Ontario Trillium Foundation funding – included much planning and change as we continued to deliver fresh programming and active community involvement.
The last few years, I have written a year-end message in a format similar to this. For 2013 I would like to note that, while this is a list and description of major activity, there are countless contributions, presentations, events, acts of kindness, student stories, connections, meetings, role changes, partnerships and more that would leave this page crowded and in-cohesive. We are proud and thankful of the dedication of our team, partners, funders, volunteers and of program participants who have been present at various points throughout the year. The journey continues, as ACCESS and its team evolves and grows.
I would like to thank you for taking the time to read on, even briefly, to recap ACCESS' busy year.
In January, we kicked off 2013 by opening registration for our Youth Making a Difference Conference, hosting an Innovation Challenge, working with our Team Empower students, and fundraising at York University. We will take you through everything as briefly as possible, below.
Take-Off for Team Empower Team Empower, our pilot Youth Ambassador program, emerged in the 2012-2013 school year, geared toward high school students who want to become leaders and have the passion to go out and inspire positive change – starting in their own high schools. Ambassadors from across the Peel Region – representing schools from both Peel District School Board and Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board – attended regular sessions with guest speakers, organized their own events, and hosted ACCESS workshops within their schools.
Continued Activity from ACCESS U Campus Clubs Our active chapter at Wilfrid Laurier University, ACCESS U – Laurier, hosted the Laurier Innovation Challenge with LiTC. Focused on social entrepreneurship, the case challenge focused on Education and creating a stronger system for students, offering young leaders a chance to to collaborate around an important topic. A summary of the event is at accessu.ca/futureofeducation. Also in 2013, new ACCESS U Campus Clubs have launched at both the University of Waterloo and McMaster University.
Community Challenge: Youth Making a Difference Conference, Spring 2013 On the World Day of Social Justice in February, we hosted our 5th Annual Youth Making a Difference Conference. Our largest YMAD to date, the event took place at University of Toronto Mississauga, and featured a huge variety of speakers and facilitators – from a social entrepreneur visiting from Ghana to an empowering keynote on from a creativity architect, community builder and designer. We hosted 5 distinct topics – Poverty Alleviation, Environmental Issues, Diversity and Inclusion, Aboriginal Issues, and Mental Health – with local experts on each. Some of our favourite feedback came from students on Twitter, which can be read here. The local news filmed a feature story, available below.
Speaking Up for Change in-person with Youth Workshops In April, we hosted our first-ever Speak Up for Change Workshop Series – free workshops for youth, with discussion centred on key social issues. The theme of this series revolved around Bullying and Inclusion – issues which had taken centre stage in the news, and in the minds of many young people (including those at our YMAD conference). We have made the free workshops available on YouTube. This series was an opportunity for our Media/Journalism Co-Op student from University of Guelph-Humber to be involved in the planning, promotion and coverage of a youth program (based around our own media platform, SpeakUpForChange.ca).
Working with ACCESS: Student Placements Throughout the Summer at ACCESS, we had the opportunity to welcome 2 High-School Co-Op students and one intern. The students gained experience in the Non-Profit Sector, a requirement of their Specialist High Skills Major.
Making Connections The summer and fall included networking and new connections for our future direction. We partnered with a group of youth innovators to host a first for Peel Region: A collaborative discussion on Youth Social Entrepreneurship, in the format of a GenImpact Social. Earlier in the year, we participated in Community Consultations with the United Way of Peel Region's Young Leaders Council, developed and facilitated a Diversity/Equity conference for a Brampton Family of Schools in the DPCDSB, and spoke at Be Good Be Social on using Social Media for Social Good, to name a few.
YMAD6: Youth Making a Difference Conference, Fall 2013 In November, we hosted our 6th Youth Making a Difference Conference, this time re-designed to be fast-paced and highly participatory, on a smaller scale. Students learned and practiced skills needed for social action. They created concepts in groups, of which we selected 3 projects (from 2 high-schools in Mississauga and Brampton) to work with ACCESS and their schools to have their projects developed and turned into action. A recap with videos is available on our YMAD website.
Collaboration to Continue: Speak Up for Change Workshops with STEP As a young grassroots group, the STEP team has been working with ACCESS to develop and strengthen their student-run organization, so we decided to work with STEP to develop and plan our next Speak Up for Change Workshop Series. The goal of these free workshops is to provide youth in the Peel Region with the opportunity to become aware of their potential to take action and collaborate. With one being hosted this month in December, a 3-part series is planned for February 2014.
Transitioning Our Location As our 2-year grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation comes to an end, so does our time at The Community Door, which has been our home-base in Brampton since the spring of 2012. While we have officially moved out of this office, ACCESS remains an active member of the Brampton and Mississauga communities, and works with many Peel-based organizations. In 2014, in addition to our work in Peel, we will have a home in Toronto — helping us to serve the GTA region as a whole.
A Really Big Thank-You. We experienced transitions and triumphs, and sincerely appreciate your support. For all of our announcements this past year, visit accesscharity.ca/2013 and our active Facebook Page and Twitter.
On behalf of the ACCESS team, best wishes to you for the upcoming year!
Daniel Francavilla, Founder + Executive Director ACCESS: Allowing Children a Chance at Education
Youth Workshop Series offers youth a chance to step up
ACCESS is working with Brampton student-run group STEP to present a helpful workshop series for local youth, to be hosted in February 2014. ACCESS extends its online Speak Up for Change blog program by facilitating such in-person workshops. The goal of these free workshops are to provide youth in the Peel Region with the opportunity to become aware of their potential to take action and collaborate.
"There are a great deal of people out there that need assistance from others, and there are also a great deal of people that have the ability to provide that assistance. Some of whom may have the necessary good intentions and ideas, but not the ability to implement them," shared Vithuran Sukumar, VP of STEP.
"We hope that by holding these workshops, we can help others create their own projects, so that we would be able to, even in an indirect manor, help even more people," expressed Vithuran.
Registration for each workshop is free at the links below or SUFC.ca/Workshops. Youth can participate in one or all of the sessions, at no cost.
Winter Workshop Series
Workshops for youth looking to make a difference
- December 10 | What: Determining Your Drive
- February | How: Stepping Up
- February | Who: Partnerships and Mentors
"As a young grassroots group, the STEP team has been working with ACCESS to develop and strengthen their student-run organization," Daniel Francavilla, founder of ACCESS, shared. "Several months later, we were pleased to provide STEP with the opportunity to develop and plan this workshop series."
For more on the December Speak Up for Change Workshop series, or to register, please visit SUFC.ca/Workshops.
Contact sufcworkshops@accesscharity.ca with any questions.
About ACCESS
ACCESS: Allowing Children a Chance at Education is a youth-run, non-profit organization that facilitates education and empathetic leadership development through initiatives that engage, inspire, and motivate youth to drive positive change, locally and globally. ACCESS envisions the empowerment of generations of leaders through education in order to inspire meaningful development in their own communities.
ACCESS to host 5th Youth Making a Difference Conference: Community Challenge
ACCESS is proud to announce its fifth annual Youth Making a Difference Conference to be held at the University of Toronto – Mississauga Campus on February 20, 2013. ACCESS is challenging the community to come together for social change – starting at the grassroots level – through local youth. Registration for schools is now open at ymad.ca/register.
The conference aims to highlight interdisciplinary skills through a case competition assessing current local and global issues, while fostering key relationships through a variety of mediums – including networking opportunities, inspiring speeches, and Community Challenges. The Community Challenge topics range in topics from Human Rights to Aboriginal issues.
ACCESS is a youth-run, non-profit organization providing education opportunities to youth in developing countries, while raising awareness and inspiring youth locally to become leaders. Though the Community Challenge, ACCESS strives to inspire youth to work towards change in their communities through a realization of their individual strengths.
“The Youth Making a Difference Conference doesn’t tell youth what to think; it asks youth how they want to confront issues affecting their local and global community. The collaborative nature of finding resolutions to the Community Challenges mimics the real world as a democratic collaborative space. The conference underlines important for youth to feel empowered in decision making in the future of their communities.”
– Damon Pfaff, Youth Making a Difference Coordinator
This daylong conference invites 200 high school students from across the Region of Peel to participate – individually, with their schools, and within in teams – to evaluate concerns and come up with real-world solutions that make a difference.
We invite community organizations to get involved through becoming a Community Change Agent: ymad.ca/ChangeAgent
Register now online at ymad.ca/register.
View or Download the full School Registration Package below.
Media Inquiries: Aminah Haghighi, Communications & Outreach Director | mina@accesscharity.ca Sponsorship Inquiries: Mark Llanes, Director of Finance | mark@accesscharity.ca Programming Inquiries: Damon Pfaff, Youth Making a Difference Coordinator | damon@accesscharity.ca
About ACCESS: Allowing Children a Chance at Education, Inc. ACCESS is a youth-run, non-profit organization that facilitates education and empathetic leadership development through initiatives that engage, inspire, and motivate youth to drive positive change, locally and globally. ACCESS envisions the empowerment of generations of leaders through education in order to inspire meaningful development in their own communities.