NEWS RELEASE
GUELPH BLACK HERITAGE SOCIETY
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The Guelph Black Heritage Society (GBHS) continues its #ChangeStartsNow Anti-Racism Education Initiative with the launch of the Dream Makers Youth Program.
The GBHS desires to provide a safe haven for our young people - an area to develop friendships, to learn from their mentors and to allow them the opportunity to feed their souls by creating a space to have the freedom to be creative, the freedom to dream and the freedom to realise anything is possible.
The Dream Makers will present programming and activities geared towards students in grade seven to university and will launch in July 2021 with two initiatives - Code Black and Leaders of Today.
Code Black is a Black-centred program where participants will learn how to build a basic interactive website using HTML and Java. There will be one session which will run online weekly on Wednesdays from July 7 – Aug. 11, 2021 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Leaders of Today is a program designed to give youth in our community of differing races, genders, and socio-economic backgrounds the tools to use their voice by telling their stories through the visual mediums of film and photography. We aim to foster a space that brings together a diverse group of young people where they can creatively practice community engagement and activism.
The program will run as one-week intensives for three cohorts from July 5, 2021 to July 22, 2021 with a final exhibition on July 30, 2021. Each session will run Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Both of these programs are open to all members of the community and there is no charge to register. Space is limited.
To register for these programs: https://www.guelphblackheritage.ca/changestartsnow-dream-makers-youth-program/
The #ChangeStartsNow Education Initiative is an anti-racism project and is aimed at preventing and responding to racism in Guelph and Wellington County. This has been achieved by developing community resources and capacity to educate the community about racism, local Black history, and methods that members of the public can enact themselves to prevent racism and hate crime.
About the Guelph Black Heritage Society
Established in 2011, the mission of the Guelph Black Heritage Society is to restore and maintain Heritage Hall, originally known as the British Methodist Episcopal (BME) Church, built in 1880 by formerly enslaved Black individuals and their descendants who arrived in the area via the Underground Railroad.
Our mandate is to preserve the Heritage Hall as a cultural heritage building, representing the historical, present, and continued influence of the Black community on the quality of life in Guelph/Wellington and across the county. This is achieved by raising awareness in Guelph of both local (Guelph and Wellington County) and national Black heritage as well as addressing social issues of importance to Black Canadian communities.
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