Agents of Change is a program affiliated with York’s Calumet and Strong Colleges that supports Health students with the implementation of their own personal, community oriented, health-related initiative – from idea to implementation and evaluation. Established by an alumni donor in 2013, the program aims to promote applied learning opportunities geared to addressing the social determinants of health. The program offers mentorship, networking opportunities and $500 in seed funding to help students actualize their ideas.
Seven years on, the program has achieved noteworthy outcomes and impact through 20 student-led initiatives focused on meeting the health-care needs of vulnerable or marginalized community members. In 2020-21, Agents of Change gave rise to six innovative student-run projects pertaining to a mix of causes and populations which were recently featured in the Agents of Change Program’s 2021 Expo.
Focused on providing the homeless community in Toronto with free oral hygiene products is Toronto Tooth, a non-profit started by Dayana Davoudi to improve social justice in dental health. Through networking with dental clinics and hygiene corporations and fundraising online for monetary donations, Davoudi and her six teammates were able to distribute 1,493 toothbrushes and 2,117 tubes of toothpaste to four homeless shelters in 2021.
Tatiana Espinosa-Merlano is the co-founder of Empowering Women in Health, which aims to celebrate the achievements of female leaders in the field of Health, in turn highlighting the gender inequalities in health care leadership. Through a website, awareness campaigns, healthcare mosaic, webinars and panel discussions, she is inspiring young women to be trailblazers in health.
Zeal, co-created by Sarah Labib, offers virtual peer support groups for first-generation York students. Building leadership skills amongst GTA youth is the aim of Humans in Progress by Haniah Saleem. Rupkatha Basu and Gwyneth Campbell launched the online Luminate Mental Health Conference Series to support mental health on campus through evidence-based skills workshops and a virtual student-centric academic conference. And the Discover You program by Concetta Barranca and Mohammed Elghobashy offers local high school students the opportunity to build their professional skills.
With continued support from donors, the Faculty of Health is working to expand Agents of Change by funding more student projects. Efforts are under way to establish the program as a Social Innovation Hub in the Faculty that will encompass a bootcamp for new project teams, workspace, webinars and in-person workshops, and mentorship and coaching with social innovation leaders. For more information regarding the Agents of Change program and how to help advance this broader vision, please contact Julie Castle.