A first-of-its-kind national database tracking the lived experiences and unique challenges of Black youth as they navigate the university world will be unveiled later this year, with far-reaching implications for researchers and students alike.
Funds laid out in the federal government’s spring budget will guarantee long-term support for research and other initiatives at York University that create pathways to education for Black youth and future Black scholars.
The system for granting federal research funding in Canada fails to give Black scientists the support they need to optimize their work, professors and researchers say. Not providing that stability for researchers may result in a brain drain to other countries, says Lawrence Goodridge, who has worked in the U.S. and Canada. He said one common criterion for determining who gets grant funding in Canada is if a candidate demonstrates leadership or has received grants before.
York University recently launched a new initiative with the aim of enhancing the representation of Black youth at universities across Canada. Professor Carl James, York's Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora in the Faculty of Education; and Aliya Clarke, an undergraduate student at McMaster University, join The Agenda's Steve Paikin to discuss the barriers faced by Black youth in high schools and how this initiative could address the inequities in the education system.
York University has strengthened its commitment to the work of the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora (JACECD) by matching community contributions up to $500,000.
York University is launching a three-year initiative to enhance the representation of Black youth at universities across Canada by supporting upper-year high-school students as they plan for their future, such as pursuing post-secondary education or work, and aiding in the transition and retention of those who pursue university.
More than 700 faculty, staff and students attended York University’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation virtual panel, “Reflections on Truth and Reconciliation,” which took place Sept. 30. The panel focused on reconciliation in action and was the University’s keynote event leading into a full day of activities created for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Students who have fallen out of the education system due to the pandemic risk forming an underclass with diminished prospects, and the Ontario government needs a major outreach effort to bring missing students back to its classrooms, says the head of a global commission for education recovery.
One of the most anticipated events of the academic year, the York Research Awards Celebration, took place May 11 with a number of professors in the Faculty of Education being recognized.
Carl James, professor of education at York University and Kulsoom Anwer, a high school teacher who works out of one of Toronto's most marginalized neighborhoods, Jane and Finch, were on The Conversation Canada Podcast episode 3 to discuss the injustices and inequalities in the education system – and the way forward.