TORONTO, February 15, 2006 -- If young people feel like they belong somewhere, they are less likely to become involved with guns and gangs.
That’s the message that football player Eric England of the Toronto Argonauts will be delivering to 250 people – high school students, teachers, business and community leaders -- at York University tomorrow for a youth forum and teacher workshop.
"People get into gangs because that's the only place that feels like family," says England, who grew up in a single-parent home in a tough neighbourhood in Texas. "But if we can make them feel less alienated and more welcome in our bigger family, they won't want to be in a gang. Then they can make a decision to want something better for themselves."
Photo: Eric England of the Toronto Argonauts.
England's talk on the Stop the Violence Campaign, being led by the Argos and the City of Toronto, will address high school students from across the GTA on Thursday, February 16 at 12 noon in The Underground restaurant in York University's Student Centre. HIs talk is part of a one-day youth forum, Sustainable Communities: Linking Education to Action, aimed at motivating young people to make a difference in their school or community through social, health and environmental initiatives.
“We are all deeply concerned about violence in our community, and the recent shooting death of York University student Chantel Dunn brings it very close to home,” says Robert Tiffin, York University Vice-President Students. “The goal of this forum is to inspire young people to take positive action to make a difference in their communities, in a wide variety of ways.”
Speakers and workshops will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., mainly in Vari Hall A. The opening session, “Motivating Action” will be led by John Havercroft, Superintendent of Education for the York Region District School Board. Keynote speakers are: Peter Love, Chief Energy Conservation Officer at the Ontario Power Authority, who will discuss what young people can do to create an energy conservation culture in Ontario; and Ally Carlson, a Grade 12 student at Whitby’s Anderson Collegiate, an active participant in the United Nations program Culture of Peace, who will talk about how youth can get involved in their schools.
Forum organizer Elaine Rubinoff of Learning for a Sustainable Future, a not-for-profit organization at York University, says the 28 similar youth forums held across Canada over the past six years prove that young people are part of the solution. After the forums, students have developed a range of projects to improve their school or communities. They include: mentoring programs for elementary students, car pool and anti-idling programs for vehicles, healthy food choice programs in school cafeterias, recycling and tree planting initiatives.
“If kids are given the tools, knowledge and skills to make a difference, they will,” says Rubinoff. “They are true leaders.”
The youth forum coincides with the United Nations Decade for Education for Sustainable Development, as well as the York Region District School Board’s Character Matters Program. Organizers of the forum are: Learning for a Sustainable Future, a strategic alliance of the Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS) at York University; York Region District School Board, Don Valley West One Tonne Challenge, and Environment Canada. For more information, visit www.lsf-lst.ca/.
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 190,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 faculties and 22 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
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For more information call:
Mary Ann Gratton
York University Media Relations
(416) 736-2100 ext. 22091
Elaine Rubinoff
Learning for a Sustainable Future,
Institute for Research and Innovation
in Sustainability, York University
416 327-2032
