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In this video RPTV interviews the leadership of the Regent Park Neighbourhood Association about their involvement in the association. The Regent Park Neighbourhood Association (RPNA) was formed in early 2015, with an aim of having an equal proportion of TCHC and Market residents involved in its membership. RPNA represents residents of Regent Park and provides a broad range of advocacy, services and events. RPNA vision is to foster an inclusive, diverse and healthy neighbourhood in which all residents can feel at home. Recently, in a public announcement made to the community in February 2022, it was announced by members of the leadership team that RPNA had incorporated as a not-for-profit organization and will soon establish an office on the third floor of the Daniels Spectrum Arts Centre. As a not-for-profit organization, RPNA feels that this will give them more access to resources to support membership initiatives and activities. More importantly RPNA feels that resident involvemen...

Regent Park Community groups work make the “Access to Space” project a working reality for area residents. The Regent Park Revitalization has substantially altered the landscape of Regent park with new buildings and amenities, among them the Pam McConnell Aquatic Centre, Daniels Spectrum, the Regent Park Athletic Grounds and the Regent Park Community Centre. The Regent Park Community Centre located at 402 Shuter Street, which is operated by the City of Toronto, is a multi-faceted recreational centre with an employment centre, child care centre, athletic field and connects to Nelson Mandela Park Public School. Additionally, it has an extensive array of arts programs, camps, fitness facilities, sports programs, and the centre has some youth-specific programming. At a recent community meeting held on March 11, 2022, facilitated by representatives from The City of Toronto Recreational Services and members from the Social Development Plan(SDP) working groups, residents a...

Community Organizations and Local City Councillor Call for Action to Acquire Vacant Sherbourne-Dundas Property for Real Affordable Housing. On Monday March 7th, members of local agencies and organizations along with local city councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam gathered outside at 214-230 Sherbourne St. vacant property (just south of Dundas St. East) to intensify their call on the city to acquire the seven-lot parcel, which has sat vacant for more than a decade. They also want the provincial and federal governments to support the City of Toronto by providing funds to purchase this prime development site as well as address Toronto’s housing and homelessness crisis. “Losing this property to developers would be such a huge blow to the community and it would create further gentrification,” said social worker Sheryl Lindsay of Regent Park Community Health Centre’s advocacy committee, which organized Monday’s news conference/rally and has long advocated for the city to expropriate or purchase the...

Regent Park Youth involved in the Climate Conversations radio show, speaks to Michelle Bird, Operations and Project Manager with RESCo Energy In the third episode of Climate Conversations, a show where young people from Regent Park discuss various aspects of environmentalism with experts, organizers, and artists in the field, Jabin Haque and Victoria Nannetti, sit down and have an engaging conversation with Michelle Bird, the Operations Manager and Project Manager with RESCo Energy. They discuss the company’s role in the solar power industry, barriers the industry has faced, who their target audience is, and the upsides and downsides of using solar power in our modern world. In this interview, Michelle Bird describes RESCo Energy as a “one stop shop” for all of your solar energy needs. Created in 2006, RESCo has been providing solar PV services to commercial and industrial customers across Canada, on their website, they describe themselves as “setting the bar for turnkey expert l...

Presenter Joy Henderson, stresses the importance of Allyship as practice to counter the inequities brought on by privilege and power. The Regent Park Neighbourhood Association (RPNA) was formed in early 2015 by an equal parts small group of both Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) resident & Market resident living in Regent Park. The Association looks to represent the interests of all resident of Regent Park by providing a broad range of advocacy services, as well as building community through events and meetings. Mission: “The RPNA seeks to create a safe space where where resident voices are amplified on issues that are important to our neighbourhood & take action.” - RPNA In the first of a series of monthly meetings, the RPNA hosted a virtual community meeting to celebrate Black History month. The featured guest was Joy Henderson, a former Regent Park resident, and Afro-Lakota Child and Youth Care Practitioner/Professor, and writer. Joy Henderson's has...

It wasn’t so long ago that young people growing up in the low-income community of Regent Park, once Canada’s largest community housing complex, would venture outside their community to neighborhoods and the city beyond.  Today, with the popularity and use of cell phones, Regent Park youth have the world at their fingertips.  The advent of modern technology is something that shook the core of the world. It fundamentally changed the way we perceive our own humanity, has changed our habits, exposes us to new worlds, connects us to the larger world, and has completely uprooted the established normality of the upbringing of young people. The current generation of young adults, teenagers, and kids are growing up in a world with resources that would be beyond belief to previous generations of Regent Parkers just a few decades ago.  Because these young people were born into a world where these technological advancements were in the process of being made as they grew up, the...

Agencies serving the Indigenous community in Toronto estimate that there are 70,000 residents living in Toronto. Many indigenous habitants reside in the downtown, low-income neighbourhoods of Regent Park, Moss Park and St. James Town. However, far too often Indigenous residents are invisible and only reflected in issues related to homelessness. In an effort to change this, there is a need for stories that better reflect the diversity of Indigenous communities. In recognition of this fact and in honour of international Women’s Day, we present a conversation with Sandi Bourcher. Sandi Boucher is an Indigenous author, story teller, social activist, and motivational speaker who identifies herself as a Red Thunderbolt woman of the Moon Clan, and a proud member of Seine River First Nation located in Northwestern Ontario. Sandi feels that her role in life is to empower people by renewing their beliefs in themselves and by increasing their awareness of their own capacity and their own ...

Community ambassadors promote Covid-19 Vaccine Awareness With the emergence of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron residents of Regent Park along with community organizations have mobilised to confront the specter of this new challenge. Rallying around getting the word out about where to go and what to do has always been the mainstay of Regent Parkers sense of community – no matter the issue – Regent Park people tend to look out for one another. In this short video, Lamisa Ahmed, a youth ambassador with the Vaccine Engagement Regent Park, and Murshida Samsun Mueen, community ambassador with Regent Park Community Health Centre, join Walied Kjolagli Ali, a community vaccine educator to unpack the plethora of new and old phenomena that now crowd the corona virus landscape. With so much information competing with one’s attention, no one can be faulted for losing sight of even the most fundamental concerns, and so it is no surprise that Walied asked Lamisa to once more remind people...

Regent Park Youth Video-Podcast, Climate Conversations, speaks to Assistant Professor Rochman of the U of T Trash Team Our new youth video-podcast, Climate Conversations (CC), led by Jabin Hauqe, Victoria Nanneti and Harris Ali, focuses on learning about and discussing climate change, environmental consciousness and issues. In this very first episode of CC, the Regent Park youth hosts spoke to Chelsea Rochman, Assistant Professor and researcher at the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at U of T, as well as the Co-founder and Program Lead for the U of T Trash Team. Rochman spoke to Jabin, Victoria and Harris about the Trash Team initiative, waste management/research and waste literacy. Getting us thinking about small changes that urban communities like Regent Park can implement in our daily lives, to have an impact on reducing plastic pollution. The U of T Trash Team is a 5 year old organization of students, early career researchers, U of T staff and volunteers whose goal is t...

TCHC launches the 2022 scholarship program for TCHC youth residents ​​​​​​​​​​​​The Investing in Our Diversity Scholarship Program recognizes the commitment of young people involved in anti-racism, diversity initiatives, and in building safe and healthy communities such as Regent Park and the surrounding areas. Between the cost of tuition, books, food, and transportation, it can be tough for many students to find the money to cover the cost of postsecondary school. Regent Park youth can apply today for the Investing in Our Diversity Scholarship. A scholarship recipient can receive:  Up to a $4,000 scholarship award towards tuition fees for the first year of postsecondary education or training (college, university, trade school, or apprenticeship).  Opportunity for second-year scholarships of up to $4,000 to be applied directly to tuition fees, if you attend one of the following institutions: Ryerson University, University of Toronto, York University, Humber College, George ...