FIND YOUR WAY BACK,
A new LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL
SERVICE LEARNING INITIATIVE
Find Your Way Back is an empowering and transformative program that explores Caribbean and African cultures through an immersive curriculum, civic engagement, and service learning in an effort to reconnect participants with their Caribbean and African heritage. This initiative aims to provide participants with a deep understanding of their cultural heritage, enhance levels of civic engagement, and foster leadership skills through an immersive culturally focused curriculum and hands-on experiences. The program culminates in an optional service-learning opportunity to support a literacy and leadership camp in Jamaica.
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Since the inception of The Power to Be, our mission has been to empower and support youth. With the growing number of African diasporic communities, Find Your Way Back is a PAID opportunity for youth to reconnect to their ethnic roots, and find grounding and safety within their cultural identities. It strengthens the capacity of youth with African and Caribbean ancestry to support their local communities as leaders.
The program is open to students ages 18-25 who will make up the PTBI facilitator cohort, engaging in a series of workshops centered on diasporic knowledge, anti-racism and equity, programming for youth, and civic engagement. The program begins in August 2024 with a leadership and learning retreat, followed by monthly meetings and checkpoints throughout the year (Sept 2024 - June 2025), ending with a volunteer option with PTBI’s literacy and leadership camp in Jamaica (August 2025).
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AKEELAH'S ROOM & ENGAGING GIRLS
Akeelah's Room is an initiative, run by Black girls for Black girls, providing safer spaces (face-to-face and online) and tools, which encourage critical thinking and engagement on issues that impact Black girls' diverse lived experiences. Akeelah's Room hosts a series of events, which now includes online programs. For details on drop-ins and other youth programs contact Ronaye at programs@thepowertobe.org​
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Engaging Girls is PTBI's girls' empowerment initiative, which focuses on longer empowerment-focused resources such as, overnight camps, short-term, and year-long workshops that are delivered to creatively support the education, development, and well-being of girls.
funded by:
AnTI-RacIsm Inclusion & Diversity Education Program
(AIDE) & YOUTH EDUCATING YOUTH PROJECT (YEYP)
Anti-racism Inclusive Diversity Education (AIDE) is a project which supports the education of youth on issues of inclusion and diversity. Participants are engaged in conversations about anti-racism, inclusion, and diversity.
The project employs and trains youths to develop a series of workshops, programs, and activities to support the goal of reducing the impact of racism in their schools and communities and by extension Canada while advancing broader cultural understanding and appreciation for diversity.
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The AIDE team is working on creating materials for anti-racism, diversity, and inclusion education for children and youth. We will be hosting a youth conference in Feb 2024!
funded by:
finding safety in self
Skills building workshop
Establishing your power through self-regulation, boundaries, mindfulness, and building an intentional community
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Finding Safety in Self is a 7-week mental health skills-building program aimed at introducing tools and strategies to support building skills, knowledge, and resources to connect with yourself and re-establish a sense of power, safety, and connection.
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Participants will find their power through self-regulation, boundaries, mindfulness, and building an intentional community. Our target population for this program includes folks between the ages of 16 and 24 years.​​​
funded by:
camp power to be jamaica
Camp Power to Be started out as a small program in 2010.
In our first year, we provided space for 36 children and implemented the camp in an open field area.
Since then, we have expanded the program to provide services for youth between the ages of 6 and 18 at Negril All Ages School in Negril, Westmoreland.
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Mt. Airy Primary and Infant School, located about 20 minutes from Negril, is the new site for the program for July 2023.
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Renewing and restoring Camp Power to Be after a three-year hiatus brought on by the impact of COVID-19
We are pleased to be restarting this program in Jamaica with our flagship Literacy and Leadership Camp. Our program at Mt. Airy Primary and Infant School will begin with two streams that concentrate on different aspects of child and youth development with a focus on literacy and leadership.
• Literacy Stream (6 to 11 years old)
• Leadership Stream (12 to 14 years old)
volunteer service learning
CAMP POWER TO BE
(JAMAICA)
Service learning volunteers will gain various skills including lesson planning, classroom management, and workshop and lesson facilitation skills throughout their volunteer placement with Camp Power to Be (see above program description) in Jamaica. Student volunteers are also responsible for leading arts and recreational activities during the camp!
In addition to the learning and professional skill building, student volunteers engage and share memorable fun moments with other post-secondary students who share similar interests! Join us in Negril, Jamaica for a learning experience of a lifetime!
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