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Somali Youth Horizons
Toronto, Canada, June 2005
Challenge: disproportionate number of young male Somalis dropping out of school, becoming involved with gangs and drugs, and being incarcerated
Location: Toronto, Canada
Date: June 2005
Client Contact: Ibrahim Absiye and Mohamed Tabit of Midaynta
FWB team: Tim Hurson, John Sedgwick, Kristen Peterson, Peter Bouffard, Alison Cohen, Belinda Morris, Jessica Tudos
FWB, the NGO striving to help communities in need to develop solutions to their own challenges, once again achieves a successful outcome in Toronto with the Somali community of Regents Park.
Through a partnership with Midaynta, the local Somali community development organization, a participative program was designed to address the disproportionate number of young male Somalis who are dropping out of school, becoming involved with gangs and drugs, and being incarcerated.
The purpose of the FWB sessions was to enable the Somali Community to develop a program to inspire male Somali youth in the Regent Park area so that they can channel their energies into positive behavior.
The program involved the running of 3 one day weekend workshops in May and June 2005, at the Somali Community centre in Regents Park, Toronto. The workshop participants included three groups of knowledgeable, passionate and committed community members, namely the concerned parents and community leaders as well as the youth themselves of the Somali community.
A Somali parent said of the workshops: "There was a high level of participation, integrity and desire to make programs a reality."
The outcome of the sessions was that the following creative solutions were identified for developing a sustainable program encouraging male Somali youth to feel empowered to make a positive contribution to their society:
- a community issues program
- an after-school programs that loop back to family and community
- a Somali operated foster parent program
Feedback from Midaynta and Somali workshop participants was positive, especially the interactive nature of the workshops and the diverse mix of people from different backgrounds. Some of the words used to describe the sessions were: "Hopeful, fulfilling, a beginning, worthwhile, fantastic, exhilarating, educational, understanding"
As next steps the participants indicated a particular interest in:
- learning more about the facilitation process
- making the outcome of the workshops a reality by implementing: a Somali community issues program, a foster parents program, after-school programs for kids and education workshops for parents.
- sustainable programs
The outcome of the program is encouraging and can be summed up in the words of one of the Midyanta representatives who said "The three projects are relevant and achievable and can have a huge impact on the Somali community."