OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Manitoba      

The BYH report “Needs Assessment of Newcomer Black youth and families” identified “racism in schools” as the #1 problem affecting the integration of newcomer Black youths” and outlined a series of recommendations. The report’s release brought national media attention to the problem.

Black Youth Helpline was identified as a ‘model program’ for presentation at a National Consultation of the Canadian Home & School and Parent-Teacher Federation. Sponsored by Multiculturalism Canada, the conference theme focused on programs considered a model for “REMOVING THE BARRIERS to the participation of ethno-cultural minorities, visible minorities and first-generation Canadian parents in the education of their children.”

BYH was identified as a national model for community action by a joint group of federal government departments including Multiculturalism, Health and the Solicitor General’s Office and was invited by those departments to participate in a jointly sponsored national information session on ‘Family Violence prevention’.

BYH sponsored “Partnerships for Change”, a National Networking and Strategic Planning Session focused on youth at-risk. The conference saw participation from Black Community Youth Serving Organizations in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Nova Scotia. The resultant report formed the basis for new initiatives in these provinces.

Black Youth Helpline Manitoba succeeded at impacting positive change in police-youth relationships across Winnipeg. Notably, the police service observed that BYH had effectively trained its youth and that instead of responding directly to what they saw as “police brutality” youth were instead telling the police that they were going to be “reporting them to the Black Youth Helpline.” Black Youth Helpline therefore became the conflict resolution interface between the community’s youth and the police and this essentially decreased confrontations and increased mutual respect between the police and Black youth. The BYH organization and several of its volunteers received Winnipeg Police Services awards for “exemplary involvement in crime prevention initiatives.” 

BYH published Manitoba and Canada’s first calendar of local Black community role models with the goal of helping Black youth see the potential for them to succeed as members of Canadian society.

Ontario      

Success in advocating for access to appropriate professional assessments for the most marginalized and complex needs youth is a key accomplishment of BYH in Ontario.

During the 2007 Toronto District School Board, School Safety Panel consultations, Black Youth Helpline (BYH) introduced the term “complex needs” youth as lens that are more appropriate to understanding problems affecting marginalized youth. The report authors credited BYH and adopted that language throughout the report replacing the term, “high risk” or “at-risk” youth. This is a major accomplishment and has huge implications for appropriate, professional staffing of services for complex needs youth.

Lessons learned at the BYH in Ontario (2003-present) have and will continue to shape the youth services field in Ontario including:

Identification of the multiple and “COMPLEX” NEEDS underlying youth violence and crime in Ontario. Issues such as the general gaps in mental health services but specifically, the barriers to access to appropriate mental health assessment and services for Black youth.

The MENTAL HEALTH challenges facing youth often goes unrecognized and therefore unaddressed.

Significant gaps are predominant in terms of the need for appropriate assessment and intervention with youth considered “high risk” (complex needs youth). As a result, key health and other issues continue to be missed and are discovered only after many youth are already in the prison system.  

“PARENTING SUPPORT” must become a key strategic policy priority if we are to succeed in addressing youth violence and crime prevention in Ontario. Lessons learned in Ontario have underline that “We will not be able to effectively address issues of complex needs youth without targeting the disadvantages of their single mothers.