The Steering Committee

Yafet Tewelde
Chairperson
chairperson@bycav.com

Yafet is a first, and only year, M.A. student at OISE in SESE.  His Focus and area of interest is on education and knowledge of self in the Black community.  His thesis will argue that the only method for Black people to achieve true liberation is through complete and total independence in all forms of the thought, governance, and spirituality.  This can be achieved when concepts and ideas of Blackness are defined properly by Black people and not given from those outside of Blackness who intend to do harm to Black people.  Yafet is the Chairperson of the Black Youth Coalition Against Violence, which is a advocacy and community organization focused on ending killing amongst Black youth.

Monique Ferdinand
VP Internal/Finance
internal@bycav.com

Monique is our Vice-President Internal and Finance. She has been part of BYCAV since 2005 and is a founding member.  Her responsibilities include looking after the administrative aspects of running BYCAV as a non-profit group as well as being the Executive member responsible for overseeing the BYCAV coordinator.  She has experience working in various youth and student run organizations. The strengths she sees in BYCAV is our capacity to drive initiatives that provide real opportunities to develop Black youth as leaders in Toronto.

Cromwell Simmonds
VP External
external@bycav.com

Having just entered the first year of his Ph.D. degree, Cromwell Simmonds is working towards formulating a new direction in his research that will contribute effectively to his community. Having focused his M.A. Thesis, “Discourses of Contradiction: Politicizing the ‘Beneviolence’ of Racism,” around the issues of social contradictions as evidenced by popular media and powerful institutions in North America, Cromwell Simmonds intends on incorporating this framework into his future research and dissertation in the form of video and audio/visual properties.

Forming his own multimedia production unit “Praxis Unlimited” in 2004, his experience in basic website development, semi-professional photography and documentary production, media resources will defiantly play a large role in much of his future academic and personal work. Staying active in the Black Canadian community, Cromwell Simmonds is livicated (committed) to balancing his future work with strongly directed and coordinated action and theory to inform his politics and personal investments. He is also directing a booming photography company TOportfolio.

Alica Hall
Director of Education
education@bycav.com

Lisa McLaren
Director of Media and Promotions
media@bycav.com

Lisa McLaren joined BYCAV in February 2007.  She is a Political Science major and a graduate of McMaster University.  "As the Director of Media and Promotions, I am tasked with keeping black youth, members of BYCAV and others in our community informed of the issues that affect us daily.  This year the primary focus will be on promoting the achievements of black youth in the community by maintaining BYCAV’s web resources and encouraging positive youth creativity, education, and interaction”.

Akiela Clarke
Director of Volunteer Recruitment
outreach@bycav.com

Akiela is the newest and youngest member of Black Youth Coalition Against Violence.  She uses her talents and skills in the arts and public speaking to "entertain, educate, enlighten” youth in and out of her community.  She is devoted to making a positive impact on Black youth and being a leader within the community.
 
She is in her final year of high school and in September 2008, she will be studying Criminology and Political Science at one of the Universities to which she has been accepted.  Following her universitiy studies, Akeila plans to attend law school.  Over the past four years she has been actively involved in the Black community, by planning events, and raising awareness about different issues.  She plans to continue serving youth in the Black Community and to help build bridges between Black youth and police services.