World Literacy of Canada

Participants went on five trip days over the two-week period during which they took pictures and made journal entries documenting their adventures. The excursions included a visit to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, a sail on a schooner on Lake Ontario, and a private screening of animation films at the National Film Board. The journal entries made by the participants were used afterward as notes to help generate ideas for articles and stories. The final product - the Big Day Out publication - will be printed and distributed to the participants, local libraries and schools after the launch on August 19th, 2008. 

The Jane and Finch neighbourhood in the North York region of Toronto has faced numerous social and economic problems since it was originally developed in the 1960s. Designed as a model suburb to accommodate the culturally diverse immigrant and refugee population surging into the city, it quickly became a hub for poverty and crime. Many of the youth living in the Jane and Finch community have very little mobility and rarely leave the neighbourhood to visit other parts of the city. This is due to the high portion of families that have two working parents and little expendable income for day trips or family outings. The inability of youth to venture outside their surrounding neighbourhood makes it difficult to see the possibility of a future that extends beyond the narrow scope of the Jane and Finch neighbourhood.

With support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and local sponsors, World Literacy of Canada invited Jane and Finch youth to see beyond their neighbourhood.

Project goals for ‘Big Day Out’:

• To bring participants on excursions that allow them to experience the unfamiliar and adventure beyond the Jane and Finch neighbourhood in a safe and educational atmosphere.
• To improve literacy skills in participants by encouraging imaginative and informative writing of journalistic articles as well as the editing of others’ writing.
• To increase the confidence and pride of participants by making each a published author/journalist.
• To create a reproducible day camp model for other neighbourhoods with similar demographics.
• To ease the transition from middle school to high school by bringing together youth in an informal system of mentorship. 

 
The Big Day Out Collaborative:

 
For more information send an email to:

info@worldlit.ca

or call 416.977.0008 

 
Sponsors: