Innovative learning centre invites community collaborators

By Kimberly Spice –

Daniels Corp.’s Martin Blake, the TCHC’s John Fox, Pam McConnell, and board president Christine Hughes of the Toronto Centre for Community Learning & Development.

Regent Park for many years has had a consistent reputation of a “no go zone”—but with the help of projects like Regent Park Centre for Learning, the downtrodden area is slowly being gentrified and transformed into a family, friendly, residential area.

Officially opened on Dec. 1, the centre will act as a beacon in the neighbourhood empowering residents through education and community discussions covering topics such as safety, social inclusion, relationships with condominium owners and the design of new buildings.

“One of the recommendations from the community was to create spaces where tenants can come together to share skills, knowledge, and their experience and also to learn new things,” John Fox, vice president of development for Toronto Community Housing, told The Bulletin. “By creating a space at Regent Park where that can happen and where community dialogues like this evenings can happen, it’s supposed to be, and I think it will always be, a very positive thing.”

The series of community meetings, which are tentatively scheduled for once a month, will encompass old and new residents, professionals, academics and community workers who will work together to address neighbourhood concerns.

The centre, located at 540 Dundas St. E., along with sharing an open dialogue, provides the community with a gateway to formal academic growth through courses such as Mature Student Preparation for College Entrance, while providing unique, innovative learning opportunities, which close the gap between area youth, parents and residents.

The newest program has young people teaching their parents a number of skills such as computers and English, which provide the neighbourhood youth leadership training while enabling them to have a strong link to the community.

“We have our board meetings Saturday morning here and every Saturday that we come there are lots of people using the facility,” said Christine Hughes, board president for Toronto Centre for Community Learning & Development, about the already-popular centre. “There is a new program that started up called Youth Empowering Parents, where young people are actually teaching their parents skills. I think you’re going to see more and more, that the centre is going to be really well used.”

All programs are free at the centre and include such courses as the Civic Engagement and Community Development Initiative course, which teaches residents how to establish workshops that are needed in the area and also courses on basic computer skills.

More information about the centre can be found at www.tccld.org. People who want their questions and concerns to be part of future community dialogue sessions can submit them to alison@tccld.org.