George Brown College
EN-9: Community Partnerships

The Creating Health + initiative, in partnership with our Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts, City of Toronto Shelter, Support and Housing Administration and the Daily Bread Food Bank, delivers 2 culinary training days per year. These training days provide shelter and drop-in staff/volunteers responsible for meal programs with an opportunity to learn from our top chefs and share their best practices. Participants also learn from City of Toronto Nutritionists.
The Annual George Brown College Social Justice Conference
This one-day conference helps Grade 11 and 12 students from three Greater Toronto School Boards to gain an understanding of social and restorative justice in the hope of encouraging them to engage in civic activities in their communities and help make a difference. They participate in small group discussions about the restorative justice approach and a new way of thinking about crime, victimization and healing. A reading of the stage play Tough Case, by David S. Craig will open the conference. A gritty, fast moving drama depicts the resolution of a crime through restorative justice practices. Described as “a court room drama without the courtroom” it will engage everyone from the first line. Following the reading, students will have the opportunity to ask questions of the playwright and performers and then break up into small groups to discuss what they viewed and experienced.

Stand up Young Men’s Conferences
As a response to the high number of young men of colour underachieving in schools, The Toronto District School Board (TDBS) partnered with George Brown College on the Young Men Conference “Stand Up” to help reach these youth. Over 300 young men of colour in Grades 7 and 8 from eight of Toronto’s downtown public schools to spend the day together learning, sharing and growing at this very special conference organized just for them.

These Young Men’s Conferences provide its young male participants with the opportunity to engage with successful men of colour from a variety of professions including business, sports, entertainment, medicine, politics, and so on. These professionals share their personal stories of success and strategies for overcoming barriers. The hope is that the student participants leave the day with a feeling of empowerment, responsibility and with a desire to be successful!

Annual Sister to Sister Girls Conference:
Every year the Community Partnerships Office convenes this one-day forum for 250 young women in grade 8. The conference includes engaging performance, presentations, workshop, activities and discussions focused on “girl issues”. The goals are to build community and create opportunities that inspire young women to speak up, listen to each other and think critically about the world around them.

The Junior Chefs Club (After 3:30 Program)
The Junior Chefs Club has introduced middle school students from Toronto’s 13 Priority Neighbourhoods to healthy food choices and cooking techniques through weekly classes. The curriculum for this program was created by George Brown chefs and has been compiled into training manuals for future use.

The Good Food Market (GFM) at George Brown College is a non-profit initiative of the Academic Upgrading Program through the support of FoodShare. The GFM strives to offer access to fresh food at affordable prices for the college community. Beyond simply selling produce, the GFM seeks to be a hub for connecting, learning and organizing around something that connects us all: food. This market is held every Thursday 2 to 4 in room 356E at the St James Campus at George Brown College located at 200 King St E Toronto. Everyone is welcome.
FoodShare works in partnership with community organizations and neighbourhood leaders to run the markets, and delivers top-quality fresh produce purchased from local farmers and the Ontario Food Terminal on market day. We pass on tools, training and ongoing support to community partners and residents who manage all operational aspects of the market. At the George Brown location the market is run by interns and volunteer students and is overseen by a faculty member.

MISSION
The Good Food Market at George Brown College exists to:
•Increase the college community’s access to fresh food at affordable prices
•Become a vibrant gathering space for the college community at large
•Increase food literacy: knowledge and skills associated with food such as how to select, prepare and consume healthy foods
•Build connections with other Community Food Security initiatives on and off campus
•Offer volunteer, field placement and learning opportunities to students

Nine Miles of Smiles is a registered charity created by a George Brown graduate. Through this organization, free dental care is provided to children and adults from marginalized communities in Jamaica. Since leading teams of volunteer dental professionals and students from George Brown College to Jamaica once a year since 2005, Daley has treated over 8,000 Jamaicans, many of whom were in pain or missing teeth for years. Working from a mobile clinic in a rural village spice factory, her teams provide restorative dental care, make dentures on-site to replace missing teeth, and provide education in dental hygiene to prevent future problems.