Youth Empowerment Series (YES)

The Youth Empowerment Series (YES) is a bi-monthly lecture & forum series that touches upon personal, academic, career pursuits that inform, engage and empower the youth. The series is designed and organized by the Youth Empowerment Committee (YEC, @LondonYEC) and is open to all young people (15-29 years old) from diverse communities in London and surrounding areas.

EVENTS

BUILDING YOUR COMPANY: ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The last YES event on Entrepreneurship took place on 31 January 2015. At this event, four (4) successful entrepreneurs in London spoke about how they built their companies, their challenges and their success stories.

The event is also an opportunity to network, connect and mingle with several entrepreneurs who are at various stages of entrepreneurial success.

This YES Event was organized FREE with the support and partnership of Techalliance, Western Student Entrepreneurship Centre, Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities at the Stenvenson & Hunt Room, London Public Library, 251 Dundas St., London, Ontario.

ID-ENTITIES: UNSPOKEN CHALLENGES 

 Discussions on identity in multicultural societies – Wednesday 19 Nov., 2014 at Western University. Rescheduled due to bad weather and held on Tuesday 25 Nov., 2014. 

The  Youth Empowerment Series (YES) discussion event of November 25, 2014 was very successful and well attended at Western University. Our collaboration with Reclaim Honour, the African Students Association at Western University and LUSO Community Services to host the discussion on identities in a multicultural society was very rewarding. Participants, facilitators and speakers all worked together to create a rich discussion. The Youth Empowerment Committee will post a report of the discussions soon. Please watch out for it. You can request a copy by sending an email to yeclondon@gmail.com

MONEY MANAGEMENT FOR YOUNG ADULTS AND STUDENTS – SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

Alana Sutton of The Mortgage Store presented Young people no doubt deal with money issues and can make mistakes. At the September edition of the Youth Empowerment Series (YES), Alana Sutton of The Mortgage Store offered great tips on:

• How to budget your finance and expenses
• Debt managements
• Saving money for short and long term
• Applying for credit cards (tips and tricks)
• Protecting yourself from fraud

CAREER COUNSELLING TIPS: GETTING A HEAD START – SATURDAY, JULY 19, 2014

This workshop presented youths with the best practises for getting ahead in their career. The presenters covered goal settings, resumes, job shadowing, mentoring, volunteering and coop placements.

Event presenters include:

Pearlette Cassells, an aspiring Author, currently working on the “Success Action Plan for Teens”. She is a dedicated volunteer in her community and encourages others to “Don’t just wish for success…..set goals to achieve it!
Plan it…Do it…Achieve it!

Larry Rutherford, currently teaches secondary school students who are in care with the London Children Aid Society. He was a teacher and departmental head for 23 years with the Thames Valley District School Board, Malcolm, Thames, London Central. Larry earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at UWO.

The Student Success Centre at Western University, helps UWO students with all areas of career management. They offer job postings, classes and workshops, Western’s Employment Resource Centre, career and education fairs, employer information sessions, experiential learning opportunities, a resource library, and individual counselling and career assessments.The presenters from the Success Centre were Lisa Boyko, Community Engaged Learning Coordinator and Rick Ezekiel, Experiential Team Learning Coordinator.

PAVING THE ROAD TO SUCCESS: BE BOLD, SPEAK UP AND REACH OUT – SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 2014

This Youth Empowerment Series event featured three speakers who shared with the youths, their journey towards success in the personal and career goals. The speakers were Bernadette Karuiki, Mohamed Salih and Lakin Afolabi.

Bernadette is a graduate of the University of MacMaster and a Registered Nurse at Victoria Hospital, London ON. She is currently working on her certification in Palliative care and Gerontology. She holds other degrees and Diplomas in: Bsc (Education, Kenyatta University; Kenya); Msc (Education Technology, Moi University; Kenya), and Registered Practical Nurse (Fanshawe College). She worked as Senior Administrator in the Hospitality industry while in Kenya. As well, Bernadette worked as an assistant professor in the Faculty of Tourism and Business management before immigrating to Canada in 2004. She is a member of Kenyan Canadians in London Ontario (KECALO), a corporate member of ACFOLA. She volunteers with street feeding program for the homeless in London. Bernadette is married and has two boys.

Lakin Afolabi is an engaging speaker and a criminal defence lawyer with a passion for truth and justice.  He was born in Nigeria and raised in Windsor, Ontario where he obtained his first degree in political science before travelling to Australia for law school.  As a result of his education and unique life experiences Lakin is frequently sought to speak on a variety of topics ranging from proper business attire to sexting and cyberbullying. When not in the courthouse or captivating audiences with his talks, Lakin enjoys playing soccer and spending time with his wife and young son whom he unexpectedly delivered alone on his dining room floor.

Mohamed Salih,  born in Sudan and immigrated to Canada as a child. Fluent in English and Arabic, Mohamed grew up living in a number of cities across Southwestern Ontario, as well as having spent time living in the United States. As he matured, Mohamed felt indebted to his country and as a teenager decided to join the Canadian Forces and became a member of the Canadian Forces Military Police, a job that took him all across Canada. Mohamed eventually joined the Canada Border Services Agency, where he began his career as a Border Services Officer. Mohamed’s experiences in the private and public sectors have given him a well-rounded view of the diverse perspectives in London and the potential the city has. Recently, Mohamed has also organized a number of community events, such as the Nelson Mandela tribute in Victoria Park, and the very first Lincoln Alexander Day celebration in London. Mohamed’s passion in community work and efforts were recently recognized by CBC News Canada as he was recently featured as 1 of 7 inspiring Black Canadians.

PURSUING YOUR PASSION – FRIDAY, NOVEMBER, 22, 2013

Pursuing your dream career can prove to be a frightening endeavor. Which passion should I pursue? Can I take that leap? Will I succeed? These are some of the questions that were discussed at the Youth Empowerment Forum: Pursuing Your Passion. Guest speakers Adulis “Chedo” Mokanan, of The Come Up Show, and Program Director of 94.9 CHRW as well as blogger, writer, and founder of NecessaryChats Julia Katsivo shared their journey of how they pursued their passion.

Adulis radio journey started in 2007, when “Chedo” took action on his life long dream of running a radio show. Beginning his journey in the early hours of the morning (2am-6am), he worked on overcoming his nerves and organizing his content and ideas into a fluid, entertaining radio show. He’d dreamed of hosting a radio show since he arrived in Canada in 1996 and fell in love with hip hop. He started The Come Up Show with its own dedicated bloggers. TheComeUpShow.com is a current, relevant destination for news and music. Several videographers and photographers from both Toronto and London keep programming clean and crisp. And Chedo continues his tireless work hosting, DJing, coordinating and researching.

Julia is a blogger, speaker and writer on spiritual and personal development issues. She is a alumni or University of Western Ontario (Films Studies), Interdisciplinary Studies student from York University and currently a Creative Writing student at University of Toronto. She is in the editing process if a mystery Christian novel, as well as ghostwriting a Canadian Refugee’s heroic journey to Canada. She is a full-time employee with Canada Revenue Agency and in the editing process. She is a talent motivator and shares her thoughts on social media under the twitter handle @NecessaryChats. The conference necessary chat from Julia was on key lessons she has learnt in the pursuit of her passion.

NETWORKING MIXER – FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

The Youth Empowerment Committee was formally inaugurated at a networking event on November 15, 2013 at Asmara Cafe. At this event, the Youth Empowerment Series was also presented to the youths as they networked with one another. The committee received a great amount of suggestions for potential topics of the series.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO TALK ABOUT?

Is there a topic, or theme that you would like the youth empowerment series to explore? Please send us any suggestions to youth@acfola.ca

ABOUT THE YOUTH EMPOWERMENT COMMITTEE (@LondonYEC)

The Youth Empowerment Committee is a youth-led body for youths. The mission of the Youth Empowerment Committee is to act as a channel for the empowerment of youths to attain their personal, career and academic goals. The youth empowerment committee was conceived prior to ACFOLA’s 2nd Mocing Forward Conference in 2013, in efforts to develop a comprehensive youth mentorship program that will motivate and encourage youth to develop their potentials and pursue their goals. This youth-led committee is responsible for planning and developing the bi-monthly Youth Empowerment Series a program, which revolves around academic, personal and career oriented objectives that youths deal with.

INTERESTED IN JOINING THE YOUTH EMPOWERMENT COMMITTEE?

If you are interested in participating please e-mail yeclondon@gmail.com and tell us why you would like to be a part of the committee.