PRESS COVERAGE

Boosting a neighbourhood, one kid at a time: Fresh Air Fund

It’s gotten a bad rap, but for those who know Jane-Finch as well as Betty Bailey, it’s a community where good things happen every day.

And she’s helping the neighbourhood reach its full potential one child at a time, at Seeds of Hope — a summer camp for kids 6 to 12.

For Bailey, assistant director at the Youth Unlimited program, camp is where magic happens. It’s also in her DNA; Bailey’s love of outdoor adventures began when she was a girl in Jamaica. She loved camp so much she became a teacher so she could keep summers free for camp. All these years later, Bailey is still a very happy camper, organizing day and overnight camp programs at Seeds of Hope.

“I just love camping and working with young people,” she said. “If you really want to make a difference for the future, working with young people is the way to go. Kids have so much potential, and camp brings out the best in them. It’s where I became a leader.”

Jane-Finch neighbourhood

Benjamin Osei sits alone on a plastic chair in a small community-centre basement. He's wearing a loose, black and white African-style patterned top and clutching a textbook. A group of a dozen black teenagers walks in, announcing their arrival with a symphony of laughter and traded insults.

"Your head is shaped like a football," one says.

"How can you talk? You wear the same pants every day," comes the reply.

"Shut up. I told you, these are my school pants."

Aged between 13 and 17, they live in the large apartment towers of the Palisades complex on San Romanoway. The teens come to these sessions two evenings a week after school. It's a program designed to steer the young people of the Jane and Finch neighbourhood away from gangs and toward academic success.

Mr. Osei, 47, waits for them to quiet down. Everybody sits. At the boys' request, tonight they'll be talking about sex.

They disagree on when a young man should become sexually active. Some say at 13, others say only when he's prepared to accept the consequences, such as having a child.