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primaries attaches
and that i am a teacher but cannot just it's school board
and also a mother of three
and i started teaching and 2006 because I want make a difference in
my community
acts for the year of the garden in two thousand five when
several young men were shot
I think I went to teaching because
tired was waiting for somebody else to do something
i realized that
living in Jane and Finch
a community that is a very diverse in terms of
ethnicity and different racial groups
i
really
was
saddened
the oppression, by the poverty
by what i felt was injustice
uh... for a lot of the things that i was seeing and
I didn't want to wait for anybody to do anything anymore
There's a saying from Ghandi: Be the change that you want to see in the world
and so
i thought that i've needed to be that change
and so
after teachers college in 2006
I sent an email to my friends and colleagues, and asked them if they would
help me
start organization called WORC IT
It's Women of Race Climbing It Together
and so through that organization we were able to
mentor young girls and boys
to help find their voice and to be empowered
to really make a change in our community to give back to their community
to be able to make decisions
and and know how decisions are made
and so one of the things that i thought i saw as a teacher was alot of
young black men dropping out of school young black males
dropping out of school
Through one of our
Toronto District School Board reports
it says that
as much as forty percent of young men drop out of school and that really
perplexed me
and so
through
much of my own organization i was able to manage an organization
called Educational Attainment West where I was able to work with
young men
that dropped out of school
uh... and so through that
experience i think i learned a lot more
than i had anticipated because it showed me
directly
the issues that they were dealing with lake homelessness
like food security
like young parenting
issues that
as a teacher we don't deal with when they walk into a classroom
and so through this
profession, through this job that i did
i was able to help
them
connect with the youth service organizations but also help them to find
their identity
and help them to a voice and happened to be able to write down their
stories
and help them sweat adults uh... democracy and what that means for them
and that they're not written off
from society but that they still batter
and one young man in particular i remember when he was anita reading a
test to see if you can go into college
and he threw the test on the floor i walked out crying
because
understand it
she could do the test
and it's
i came to him and i told him it's okay
and i'd be able since i was able to tutor him for the next two or three
months
and work with him and he told me his story of being pushed out of school
and being on the sports team and read after the see that had finished
they told him that he
to have enough credit so why was he taking up time
with taking up space in the school
and i remember he started crying
anne actually came home a bull
and stand says you know if this is why i went into elect of crime
and so
through our relationship through our friendship
i was it will too
not necessarily save him but at least understand him
and
and understand and let him know that people actually care
as a wind up reading a map a paper together uh... an essay a ten page essay
which i share with people like you know you way
people like are crowding tigert university
and and has a really
but they will too
shel another side
out their story
of so many young people
who felt that they were given up on
and so and order for them to find their voice they're able to make a difference
in the community
and now this young man
is able to see tech change that and his story
by dating back to his community
an understanding that he does
and can make a difference
and so my feelin my vision is to continue working with the young people
but also with parents
and working with
without the people in my community so that together we can find our voices
and continue
to work together so that we could make a difference
and our community to be a better place
teach young people
that's education is important another voice matters
i think that's what democracy means it means that we all have a part to play in
the decisions that i made in our community and that in our society
uh... that's what i wanted to do with the teacher
is to
helped people find their voice
and help people understand that the decisions that are made
uh... prior imports it's because it affects all of us
and the way that were way too
deal too
lift our community out
each of us understanding how to do that
and the tool that allow us to do that