Mission Statement

What we believe:

We view the gun violence in Toronto and the GTA as a pressing issue that has been disproportionately affecting the Black community. Furthermore, we believe that despite the flurry of media attention this problem received during the summer of 2005, it is not a new issue. Rather it is a long standing problem that reflects much deeper social issues affecting our community. We believe that the solutions to this issue come not from harsher sentencing and more policing, but investments and support in social programs for young people. We mean social programming from a broad, holistic perspective, including programs that meet physical, cultural, educational, and emotional/family needs.

Who are we:

We are a grouping of Black young people within the community who want a stop to the violence ravaging our communities. We are committed to organizing with student groups, community organizations and concerned individuals. We are the demographic directly affected by the violence; we are the ones who have been working and will continue to work in our communities to bring about change. We have two-pronged vision to achieving our mission:

• 1) Advocacy and Awareness: We wish to be an authentic voice for Black youth. We wish to motivate our brothers and sisters to stand up against the violence committed against us to show that we are working within our communities to end this crisis. Further, we will press all levels of government and other decision-making bodies to repair the damage that has been ignored for far too long.
• 2) Identify and Empower: We will serve as a network of support and information for existing programs and initiatives being run to help Black youth now. We plan to locate, list, and promote all of the programs that are working in our community today. We will identify their needs and do what we can, together, to help build the capacity and scope of these programs.