York University-led national program will increase representation of Black youth at Canadian universities

November 5, 2021

York University has strengthened its commitment to the work of the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora (JACECD) by matching community contributions up to $500,000.

Rhonda Lenton, the university’s President  & Vice-Chancellor, made the announcement at the virtual launch of a major initiative to address barriers Black youth face in Canada.

Named after the first Black woman elected to the Canadian parliament, the Chair was set up at a period when stakeholders were concerned about the state of education for marginalized youths.

Relaunched eight years later in August 2016 to renew community interest in the project, an endowment goal of $3 million was set.

A total of $2,044,871 has been raised so far.

With Carl James as the lead, York University has embarked on a three-year national project to enhance the representation of Black youth at Canadian universities by supporting upper-year high school students in their pursuit of higher education.

It’s expected that about 900 high school and university students along with post-doctoral scholars could benefit through various projects that are part of the ‘Securing Black Futures: A National Partnership to Advance Youth Academic & Career Success’ program.

As part of the RBC Future Launch in 2017 with an investment of $500 million over 10 years, RBC Foundation made a $1.2 million donation to advance the work of the JACECD.

“The funds will support Professor James work in hosting the first ever national conference for Black youth in Canada, enhancing student pipeline initiatives at York and four other Canadian universities, establishing a new Canadian data hub to strengthen research and information capacity to better inform public policy and creating new opportunities, support and training for Black graduate students and scholars to engage in research, teaching and mentorship activities,” Lenton added.

York University and the RBC Student Success Initiative & Data Hub hosted a national conversation on October 6 to kick-off the initiative.

The participants were Dalhousie University Physics Professor Kevin Hewitt, McMaster University Associate Dean of Research Juliet Daniel, University of Calgary Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Creativity & STEM Jennifer Adams and University of British Columbia (UBC) Professor of Language & Literacy Education Annette Henry.

Sharing a commitment to boost the outcome of Black students, the academics spoke about the work they are leading on their campuses to break down barriers and offer equitable pathways.

Carl James (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

James, who has conducted extensive research examining the schooling, educational and athletic experiences of Blacks and other marginalized students, moderated the panel discussion.

“For the past two months, we have been meeting and considering what programs we can introduce that might be responsive to the needs, issues and concerns of Black youth in today’s Canada,” said York University’s Senior Adviser on Equity & Representation. “We seek through our various projects to address the barriers to education and post-secondary education in particular and provide programs through which Black youth might come to get on a path that will ensure their future successes.

“Today’s Black students, about whom we are talking about, make up about a quarter of the Black population. This means that a significant proportion of the community is at a critical stage of their educational development, hence their educational performance outcomes likely have a substantial effect on Black communities in Canada. It is very important that we pay attention to their needs, issues and concerns.”

Hewitt co-founded the Imhotep Legacy (ILA) in 2003 and led its growth and development in the first decade.

Kevin Hewitt (Photo contributed)

“We hope this three-year pilot project will inspire the creation of other STEM-specific disciplines and programs as we build a pathway for Blacks to flourish and enhance Canada’s competitiveness in STEM fields,” he said.

The ILA weekly afterschool program promotes the educational, social and personal development of young African Nova Scotian Grades seven to nine learners by engaging them in STEM enrichment activities with the aim of enhancing the representation of Black professionals in the myriad science fields.

To reduce the financial barrier African Nova Scotian students pursuing studies in STEM-related fields face, the ILA partnered with Dalhousie and TD Bank to create a four-year renewable scholarship for its graduates entering the university.

As the only Black female scientist at McMaster University for the last two decades, Daniel said the project is dear to her heart.

Juliet Daniel (Photo contributed)

“Far too many students have approached me after their first lecture in many of my courses and mentioned they have never had a Black teacher or professor during their academic journeys,” the Biology Professor said. “I was generally shocked the first time this happened to me 20 years ago and, sadly, I am now desensitized and no longer surprised when they say this.”

In the next three years, McMaster University – which launched the Black Student Success Centre last month -- will engage Grades 7-8 and 9-12 students.

“We will work with each of the students individually to develop an individual learning plan,” said Daniel who is the Black Aspiring Physicians of McMaster Faculty Adviser. “They will also participate in weekly tutoring and weekend workshops, utilizing the programs and activities that have already being developed, utilized and tested by Imhotep Legacy Academy in Halifax. We know that the scenario in Ontario is slightly different than it is in Nova Scotia, so we will be trying to see what we need to modify and tweak so that it can be appropriate for school boards in this province.”

She said McMaster will offer a four-week intensive research summer program.

“We are designing this to mimic McMaster’s current Indigenous Undergraduate Summer Research Scholars program,” Daniel noted. “However unlike the Indigenous program, we don’t have enough funds to have a full six-week program. We will be recruiting Black youth from across Canada who will be matched with STEM researchers within the Faculty of Science or Engineering at McMaster. They will spend four days weekly in a research lab with a research supervisor as well as graduate students and one day weekly will be spent as a cohort immersed in Black history activities focussed on the contributions of Black scientists in Canada and globally. These programs will also include professional development and leadership skills training.”

Jennifer Adams (Photo contributed)

Adams said the project is critical in her area of STEM education because research has clearly demonstrated that diversity leads to greater innovation and broader applicable and equitable design solutions to socio-scientific issues.

“Research, on the other hand, has also demonstrated that Black students aren’t pursuing STEM in the same numbers as their White or other racialized counterparts and this is due to many systemic constraints,” she added.

Adams developed #Blackstemcom that’s aimed at supporting leadership identities development in STEM and STEM communication skills in Black post-secondary students.

“This will allow Black students to teach, learn, create and share their knowledge with their peers and communities, especially in Calgary,” she said. “Blackstemcom will work with student groups like the African Caribbean Students Association to recruit Black students in STEM or interdisciplinary with a STEM emphasis to form a science communication dialogic group…Over the three years of the project, we plan to co-investigate and co-develop inreach and outreach structures that support Black students engagement in STEM. It is my hope that our project will challenge deficit-oriented perceptions about Black students in education and create learning environments that are welcoming of Black students along with the experiences and perspectives that they bring.”

Henry is the lead for UBC Black Futures focussing on secondary school and undergraduate students.

Annette Henry (Photo contributed)

‘The program that we are running for high school students aims to open post-secondary horizons for Black youths in Grades 10, 11 and 12,” she said. “They will have the opportunity to participate in information sessions and lectures, teamwork activities with other high school peers in school districts across the Lower Mainland and consider the wide-ranging possibilities afforded by the UBC campus as well as learn about the importance of higher education. They will also have hands-on practice with the university’s application admission process, interact with Black undergraduate students, faculty and professionals in the community, visit labs and classroom in many disciplines and engage in a mini first-year experience as much as possible.”

The students’ educational time at UBC, added Henry, will count towards their community service credits in their school boards.

The UBC Black Undergraduates 2022 will be synchronized with the other project sites at York, Dalhousie, Calgary and McMaster and the data will be collected for the major research hub housed and managed by the JACECD.

The research component will build on existing Canadian census data. A longitudinal study of Grade 11 and 12 students over a three-year period will inform the development of new community-based and student-support programs and will, for the first time, facilitate the sharing of documentation and data across Canadian universities, allowing for geographical and contextual comparisons to be made.

Bringing together school boards from mainly the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa, the Research & Data Hub will act as a central repository of census data that will provide a broad-based and social profile of young people.