City's youth cabinet, school boards call on Olivia Chow to invest in Toronto's young people

'We're not going to have a prosperous, vibrant city if our young people continue to be neglected,' said Youth Cabinet's Stephen Mensah.

Thestar.com
Jan. 26, 2024
Mahdis Habibinia

The city's budget must include robust investments for its young people amid a rise in youth unemployment and youth violence, said a collective of advocacy and school organizations in a call-to-action letter to Mayor Olivia Chow.

"We're not going to have a prosperous, vibrant city if our young people continue to be neglected and disenfranchised," Stephen Mensah, executive director of the city’s youth advocacy group, Toronto Youth Cabinet, told the Star. "Public safety is a prerequisite to prosperity."

The letter was emailed to Chow on Thursday morning and signed by Mensah as well as the Toronto District School Board’s chair Rachel Chernos Lin and the Toronto Catholic District School Board’s chair Nancy Crawford. It specifically called attention to underserved youth in Scarborough and north Etobicoke.

In the letter, the groups asked for a $3-million investment to create 15 more youth centres and hubs across the city for recreation and support. As well, they asked that the city double the money invested in violence prevention grants such as Identify ‘N Impact, plus additional money for employment initiatives such as TCHC YouthWorx and creating a Summer Youth Employment Program.

They also requested additional spending in the city’s Student Nutrition Program to address food insecurity, as well as more funding to create after-school programs year round.

Recognizing Toronto's budget constraints and competing priorities this year, Chernos Lin said the asks are "particular" because those support measures have been historically underfunded and under-programmed, especially in the east and northwest GTA neighbourhoods.

"The upstream work we do pays off in the long run," Chernos Lin said, noting the education system is "trying its best" with the funding it has but that it's insufficient. "It takes a village," she adds.

During public deputations earlier this week to the budget committee, dozens of young people pleaded their cases, including Norah Ramen who asked the city to help prevent youth violence by creating funding for programs -- especially in some of Toronto's most disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Ramen said she was shaken by a shooting last February at her high school, Weston Collegiate Institute, that critically injured a 15-year-old. "Often a young person committing violence is someone who has no place to go. So let’s give them one," said Ramen, who now attends the University of Toronto and is a member of the Toronto Youth Cabinet.

"Young people did their part, they showed up," Mensah said. "Now it's on the city."

"When bright young people fall through the cracks, who are we going to blame? We can't blame them," Mensah added.

Speaking at an unrelated press conference Thursday, Chow pointed to "extra money" in city staff's proposed budget going toward the student nutrition program, "because food costs have gone up … Is it enough? Probably not. Do we need to increase funding for this program? Perhaps."

According to budget documents, there is an inflationary increase of 8.5 per cent for the program's food costs.

"I will be looking at the letter very carefully to see what we may or may not be able to afford," Chow continued, acknowledging that investments in youth can help them toward a brighter future.

While Chernos Lin said she'll be disappointed if Chow's final budget -- expected to be released Feb. 1 -- doesn't boost its investments in youth, she remains hopeful the mayor will respond to the needs of the city's young people.

Chow -- who was appointed as Toronto's first Children's Advocate in 1998 when she was a city councillor, a position that later expanded to include youth -- spearheaded the creation of the Toronto Youth Cabinet, and has had a track record of supporting the city's youth.

"Show me the budget and it'll show me your priorities," said Mensah, adding he's tired of empty words from various governments.