Charity helps students find path to better future through squash
CBC
At Urban Squash Toronto, playing the game is only the start of a path toward community, belonging and academic success.
Since 2011, the charity has served students in Toronto's Jane and Finch neighbourhood, busing them from school to the courts for an after-school program that includes a healthy meal and free tutoring services as well as squash.
The program serves 113 students, and staff say they can't keep up with demand.
Every student who's gone through it has graduated high school, and 94 per cent have gone on to post-secondary education. In 2018, the Toronto District School Board said 86 per cent of students across the city graduate high school.
"It gives kids a safe place to be in this neighbourhood," said Andrenella Browne, the charity's program director. "There's a lot of gun violence. Things are happening in families. And I don't want to stereotype the neighborhood necessarily, because a lot of this is going on all over the place, but this type of program allows the kids to be somewhere where they can feel welcome, community, at home."
The program's executive director, Brent Adamson, credits their success to the time they invest in the students. Kids join the program in Grade 6 and are encouraged to stay with it through Grade 12, showing up six days a week during the school year.
"You have a huge opportunity to impact a child's trajectory when you have that long period of time," Adamson said. "It's not a drop-in program. It's not a time that you show up for eight weeks and we might see you next year. We want you here every day."
The program was founded in 2010 by squash enthusiasts in the city. Adamson said it's funded through individual donations, grants and foundations.
With the focus on squash, students get to experience a sport typically reserved for the affluent because of the high club initiation fees and other costs involved, he said. But the sport is really just a tool to help the charity achieve its overall mission.
"It's kind of an opportunity to provide access to recreation that will get the students in here so that they can really benefit from one of the other aspects of our program — the classroom and the academic enrichment program," he said.
Naela Shallo has had four kids involved in the program, with her son being part of the original cohort. She said they live in an under-resourced community and Urban Squash Toronto has found a way to bridge the gap between academics and athletics in a way that provides opportunities for children.
"It's been a great help for the parents to know that your child is coming to a program where they really care for the students, where they really care for your child and they want their child to succeed," she said.
Her daughter, Haneen, is going into Grade 9 and is taking part in the program. She said she likes the squash, but her favourite part is the community.
When Stephanie Gamble watched her mother model the first dress she made, smiling wide and walking an imaginary runway, she knew that was what she wanted to keep doing in her life.
'Tis the season for cuddling on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate and watching holiday movies. And for people in B.C.'s Interior, that can increasingly mean seeing their home communities on display.
Every year, snowy owls spread their wings and migrate down to the Prairies, where they enjoy access to plenty of rodent prey in vast open spaces.
This month has been a busy stretch at the Upper Room Food Bank in Charlottetown.
N.W.T. Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland says she has received the final report from an independent investigation into education bodies in the Dehcho region.
P.E.I.’s auditor general says he’s concerned and disappointed that the projected deficit has doubled what government initially estimated it would be — and he's urging the province to balance its budget.
A man found not criminally responsible for stabbing five people to death at a Calgary house party is getting more freedoms but not an absolute discharge.
A man has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of a Toronto mother outside a supervised consumption site in Leslieville.
Russian olive trees — sometimes known as silver berry or oleaster — are small, ornamental plants with silvery leaves and black bark, and small yellow flowers and silver fruit that look like miniature olives. They’re pretty, but they’re a problem.
The Yukon Legislative Assembly’s fall sitting ended on Thursday after the territorial government introduced and passed a supplementary budget.
A Canadian military counter-intelligence operative, who stands accused of passing sensitive information to Ukraine, was involved in an investigation into allegations that a leading Canadian defence journalist was a longtime Russian asset.
An Alberta panel aimed at finding ways the province can strengthen its autonomy has offered up seven recommendations, including options for referendum topics.
People won't be able to travel along B.C.'s Highway 3 without significant delays and detours over the holiday season, says the Ministry of Transportation.