Still young at 40

NDG youth outreach centre Head and Hands celebrates four decades of survival

Last month marked the 40th year anniversary of NDG’s fabled youth centre Head and Hands. Born out of frustration after two NDG YMCA street workers, Mark Early and Pat Crawshaw, left the Y after untold amounts of grief were sent their way for the sin of accompanying frightened young women to their abortion appointments, Head and Hands can now boast of being “the longest running youth organization of its kind in Canada,” as its current executive director Marlo Turner-Ritchie is keen to point out. To mark the occasion, the H&H team is inviting both alumni and the general public to come celebrate the milestone with them at the Rialto Theatre this Saturday, Nov. 20.

“1970 was an exciting time in Montreal,” recalls Turner-Ritchie. “The city was a hotbed of civil rights, feminism and anti-racism work. Identity politics were high on the agenda and people were looking for an accessible, non-judgmental, safe place to send youth who needed services—particularly in English. But it was also a super stressful period for Head and Hands. Throughout the 1970s, we were forever this close to closing our doors, our team members were literally working hand to mouth, and, in fact, many would wind up working for weeks without getting paid.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, securing the funds to keep the organization afloat continues to be a struggle, hence Saturday’s 40th anniversary celebration will be doubling as a fundraiser, with tickets for the event ranging from $40–$400, although that comes with a tax receipt so party-goers will be able to get much of that back come tax season next spring.

Turner-Ritchie is hoping the gala celebration will net them a cool $10,000, funds that will be directly channelled towards the centre’s numerous programs and services. “One of our priorities these days is sex education for youth,” notes Turner-Ritchie. “But in addition to our sex education program—the Sense Project—racial profiling is something we’ve been fighting very hard against lately, so we’ve created alternative empowering learning opportunities for youth facing systemic discrimination. For example, we have our awesome film collective, Next-Gen, and a drop-in centre offering a wide range of creative programming and support for youth who are struggling.”

Turner-Ritchie is also proud to point out that Head and Hands actually operates its own bona fide health clinic for youth. “Health and wellness for youth aged 12–25 has always been a huge priority for us,” she says. “Listen, when the majority of Quebecers don’t even have access to a GP, that’s a real problem. So we’ve stepped in to make sure youth can not only get the pill and their condoms, but also a very high quality of health counselling from our team.”

Although funding remains an ever-present concern, Turner-Ritchie says Centraide, which recently boosted its donation, has been a huge help over the years.

“I just hope that we can keep on going forever, that we can exist in perpetuity and are never again so closely faced with closure like we so often were in the ’70s,” says Turner-Ritchie. “We’ve watched so many other youth clinics and organizations serving ethno-cultural communities close down over the years, and I think the fact that we’ve been so resilient and adaptive and creative is what’s kept us here—because we’re no longer dealing with 1970s West End Montreal, we’re dealing with a really diverse community across the island. But we’ve adapted, so everybody feels welcome when they walk through our doors.” ■

HEAD AND HANDS ANNIVERSARY GALA WITH SOCALLED, LAKE OF STEW, MATTHEW DAHER TRIO AND MORE TAKES PLACE AT THE RIALTO (5723 PARC) ON SATURDAY, NOV. 20 , 7:30 P.M. FOR TICKETS AND INFO, SEE ANNIVERSARY.HEADANDHANDS.CA

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