Troubles in the global 'hood

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Over 1,000 community workers from around the world gathered at Concordia U this week for the International Conference on Developing Civil Society Through Community Action.

At a big opening event on June 12, a panel discussed a number of issues, ranging from the political structure in Malaysia to civil society in Chile. But some of the talks were about problems here at home.

Former CKUT station manager Adrian Harewood--who now works with troubled teens at four Toronto schools--said that 66 per cent of Quebec's black teens drop out before finishing school. He also reported that between 40 and 50 per cent of Toronto's black teens are failing.

"In the current hostile political climate in Mike Harris' Ontario, school boards are strapped, teachers are stressed and demoralized and programs are slashed," he said.

Harewood believes this plays a role in the increase in school violence, something he encountered personally when one of his students was shot last February at Emery Collegiate Institute in North York.

Harewood suggested that community organizations, as opposed to major corporations, get involved in education by offering workshops, job shadowing programs and financial aid in the forms of scholarships and bursaries. : --Lorraine Carpenter

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