Youth School Success Initiative offers exciting free after-school programs in the GTA

BY PAUL JUNOR

Youth School Success Initiative is an ethno-specific collaborative made up of seven York and Toronto-based agencies working harder to empower the educational and holistic success of black youths in York and Toronto regions. It is intended to deliver a wrap-around program that best meets the needs of identified Black youth in the York Region and Toronto District School Boards.

The partnered agencies that collaborated to make the YSSI possible include: Delta Family Resource Centre, Boys and Girls Club East Scarborough, Markham African Caribbean Canadian Association (MACCA), Newmarket African Caribbean Canadian Association (NACCA), ANCHOR, Parents of Black Children (PoBC), York Region Alliance African Canadian Communities (YRAACC) and the United Way Greater Toronto.

The goals of YSSI are geared toward supporting 100 Black youth from grades 6 – 8 toward high school preparedness through the following:

• Academic supports
• Cultural history support
• Social and emotional self-identity supports
• Life skills support

The objectives of YSSI are to ensure that the partnered agencies do the following:

• Deliver youth programming that best meets the needs of Black youth in York Region and Toronto District School Boards
• Collaboration consisting of five York Black led agencies and two Toronto agencies
• Increase positive relationships between school and parents
• Support by United Way Greater Toronto

In order to register your child for the YSSI program, it is necessary to complete four forms:

1. Student Registration Form
2. Program Consent Form
3. Consent to Release Information Form
4. Media Consent Form

Any parents/guardians or caregivers who are interested in the YSSI can register at www.macca1987.com/YSSI. For additional information please contact: education@macca1987.com