Our junior youth group began in October 2008 with three members, but has grown to six who attend consistently, with a total of 10 junior youth are involved in the activities of the group. Outreaching and service projects within the community have contributed to the way the group has grown. Our group meets on Friday afternoons and we usually begin by sharing news of what has happened that week with one another. Then we do an ice-breaker in order to get comfortable with one another, and go on to plan any initiatives that we are doing either that week or month. Some activities we have done so far include painting and arts and crafts, and a potluck dinner. Every week we read a lesson and do exercises from the book our group is doing together, a collection of stories from different cultures called Walking the Straight Path, followed by a discussion. The animators provide snacks every week. At the end of the meeting of the group, we all gather in a circle to share our thoughts and reflect on our time together.

The first community service project we did as a group was to clean up the park, because we felt that the environment was not being appropriately cared for. “The weather wasn’t the best, but we made the best of it,” said one of the junior youth. “We felt good about cleaning.” A second event grew in complexity as it involved more planning, holding a community information night that focused on the theme of unity. We wanted people in the community to learn about our group. Inspired by one of the stories in Walking, we performed a puppet show about the strength of teamwork that showed that it is wiser to share and support one another than for one person to try to dominate others. “I learned that unity is about working together and not to leave out a person just because of any mistakes they may make,” one of the junior youth explained.

We also made a presentation about actions we can do that contribute to unity in certain settings. For example, at school, if someone is being bullied, we can protect them. At home, we can contribute to the housework and help our siblings. In the community, we can work together to better its conditions. In our latest service project, we decided to focus on the idea of using creativity in a compassionate way, so we had an arts night fundraiser and donated all the proceeds to the World Wildlife Fund for orang-utan adoptions. We performed a play and had two activity stations, one for painting and another for pottery, as well as a bake sale. A lot of junior youth from the community came, four of them joined the group afterwards, and two of them are still coming today.

“The program teaches inner confidence by motivating you to help the community. By doing presentations in front of people it helps to improve your oral skills… It also teaches good social skills you need in tough times. I think we should do more presentations to help get people’s attention to help improve the community.”

“In our group we clean up to help the earth. We also experience meeting new people and becoming more and more knowledgeable about helping our environment.”

“I like that we listen. When I was here I met six new friends. The leaders are good to look up to. I enjoy coming to the program.”

“I learned great communication skills, oral skills, relationships, and academics. I also learned how to be nice to people that aren’t nice to me. I learned how to make the best of bad situation. I learned good qualities and had lots of fun at our community service projects. I feel good knowing that I am helping the community. I appreciate that some one is going out of their way to provide the youth of Malton with this opportunity. This group has a great impact on my life and I look forward to future events. I am grateful for this program.”

“This program has benefitted me by helping me to know that we are a community so if you fall they will catch you.”

“This group is a way to talk to people or members about our problems, so we can get advice. We are all like family – no one puts anyone down, and we give advice to help make everyone a better person. We have learnt not to envy, or hate anyone. It is our duty as citizens to contribute in making our community safe, clean, and a happy environment that we all dream of living in. Because of this youth group, I was inspired to help the community and am opening my own youth group so that there is a safe place youth can come to.”

These comments have been edited for clarity and length.

The Brahms community was discovered by four animators in the summer of 2006, while we were exploring neighborhoods where we could offer to serve. We were struck by the number of junior youth in the community and decided to approach both youth and parents to see if there was sufficient interest to start the Pebbles to Pearls program. The parents were encouraged by this possibility and thus the Health Promoter of the unit supported introducing the program. That summer we met with the junior youth every day and we saw their reading skills improve, their treatment of one another become more kind and respectful, and their sense of ownership grow as they undertook community service projects.

Now, we meet twice every week, with a total of 16 junior youth attending, and have covered a large percentage of the available materials for this age group. The result is demonstrated in the many services our group has carried out: we have organized potluck dinners for parents, arts nights for the community, have volunteered at other community events such as BBQs and Black History Month commemorations, dry-walled and painted our common room with the support of the building’s Tenant Council, helped organize an agency fair for the entire community, organized a food drive and a bake sale, and have held festivals and events for younger children in the community.

Our program has demonstrated its ability to strengthen the connections among all members of the community: between junior youth, children, seniors, parents and animators. It promotes diversity through its spirit of inclusivity, and junior youth in our group come from Chinese, Bengali, Somali, African, Jamaican, Pakistani, Ghanaian, and Canadian backgrounds.

“A bunch of kids from our junior youth group went a senior's home. Before we went to the senior's home we did an art painting. We chose a quote and wrote it on the back of the panting board, and then we used paint to make a picture that reflects the quote. We had to practice before we went to the senior's home, then we got there and split up into groups of 4 and an animator. I gave my artwork to an elderly man named Michael. He was willing to listen to me speak and him about my artwork. It was an honour to meet him and talk to him, he said that he appreciated what I did for him. I think they really appreciated us for coming, I learned that even young adults can make a difference in someone's life and make them feel good. I think there should be more people out there that is willing to take the time to appreciate elderly people and help in a senior's home.” – Katelyn, Age 14

“This program will help us with our talents and it will help us with our future.”

Sparroways is a very close knit community where the children and junior youth play together outside. However, in the past everyone played separately in their own groups, and now the junior youth group is breaking down social barriers. Our group in Sparroways started in the summer of 2008, initially attracting 10 junior youth. Now we meet every Thursday evening in the neighborhood recreation room, and 9 junior youth attend. Our mission is to help the community and also try to help ourselves by understanding our talents and working together as a team. A lot of younger children wanted to come to our program, so as a service we decided to organize a monthly children’s event that includes games, music, arts and crafts, problem solving and cooking. We also try to do things together as a group. For example, during March Break 2009, we attended a media camp for two days where we learned how to analyze advertising, took pictures to illustrate a story, made friends with junior youth from other groups, and made a craft. Another service activity we did was make paintings inspired by different uplifting quotations, for example, “Ye were created to show love to one another.” We then visited an intensive care home to give the paintings to the residents, and seeing the impact this service had on them in turn brought happiness to our own hearts.

“This program has helped me to learn new things like Musonda [the main character in the book our group is doing] who learns about what she wants to be when she grows up.”

“The program helped me write better, enriched my vocabulary, and also helped me with my reading skills.”

“This program has taught me how to be on time, it helped me to be around people, and it just made me happier.”

St. James Town is a large community with about 19 apartment buildings in one block, clustered around an elementary school and park where many children and junior youth, as well as their families, gather during the summer months. The neighbourhood is very diverse and many newcomers to Canada find a home here. Because the population is so large, there is a great need for programming for youth, and the Pebbles to Pearls program has only begun to realize its potential through the youth and junior youth here.

We have two junior youth groups in St. James Town, one for 12 year olds and a second one for 13 to 14 year olds. In the spring of 2008 two animators decided they would like to start a junior youth group by gathering some friends they made in the park. Over the summer the group grew and by fall, one of the junior youth’s older siblings expressed the desire to start a group with her friends. Another animator joined the team and together we visited some of her friends, telling them about what we wanted to do and encouraging them to come. The first few meetings were small, with only two or three junior youth, but gradually we got better at inviting our friends, especially during service projects. Now we have about six junior youth who participate in the activities of the group regularly, but sometimes there are ten of us, and we are always trying to encourage more junior youth from the neighbourhood to join us. In order for the group to grow, we face the challenge of bridging social divides between groups of friends. From the book Walking the Straight Path that we are reading and the service projects that we are thinking of and carrying out together, we are learning the importance of unity in diversity. In fact, junior youth who attend our groups come from Sri Lankan, Pakistani, Bengali, Nepalese, Trinidadian, Iranian, Indian, and Canadian backgrounds. As we understand this better and share our understanding with others, our group will become an increasingly loving and supportive environment that everyone will want to join.

Both groups have spent a considerable amount of time planning service projects to contribute to the community. The younger group is quite ambitious in this respect and the junior youth decided that they wanted to bike to Montreal to raise money for charity! We helped them localize their aspirations a bit and they decided to clean up the park and put on a talent show in the community centre, an opportunity to share what we are learning with our friends and family. The older group held a community dinner and a second talent show. Our next planned project is to visit the local library and suggest partnering with them to offer a regular reading program for younger children in the community.

“ I learned to be more patient. I learned about unity of course... Throughout the lesson I’ve learned more to talk with others and socialize more respectfully because after joining this group, I wanted more people to join. We do better when there’s more people in the group. The more people we have, the more widely it’s known, which is good because more people get to learn about unity… I think it only takes a few places to start a group, or even one, and it will grow.. Through this the youth in our community, their perspective, will change.” – Thusika, Age 14