Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre
Nominator Comments:
With a very strong youth-centred approach, The Spot team was able to come together in the fall of 2006 to open a state of the art youth hub at the corner of Jane & Finch. Together they worked with local youth to brand the Centre, determine programming, and establish a reputation beyond compare. Now it feels like The Spot has always been there. Their impact has been incredible.
To quote their nominators, “Almost all of the team members started out as volunteers, became peer workers, project staff, and then permanent staff. The manager, Byron Gray (aged 25) started off as a volunteer himself and now manages a project budget of close to one million dollars. This in itself motivates youth to get involved in their community. More importantly, the expertise the staff have about the Jane & Finch community helps them to relate and connect to youth. In this line of work, we have come to realize that connecting to and getting through to a youth is a delicate process. However, this team has been able to help many of our youth grow to heights that they believed were impossible.”