NOISE youth fellows begin their fellowship by participating in a four-day Summer Learning Retreat in late August (SLR) hosted by the ACT for Youth research project.
During the SLR, fellows participate in a series of workshops and activities that are aimed at increasing their knowledge and familiarity with community-based research and critical thinking skills.
The Goals of the SLR include:
• Introduce all Youth Fellows to each other
• Help Youth Fellows get comfortable with York University campus and the NOISE project
• Prepare Youth Fellows to take a leadership role in their Pod (by leading meetings, sharing training
information, etc.)
• Introduce Youth Fellows to the relationships between Community-Based Research and Social Change
During the SLR, youth fellows learn:
• Communication skills – active listening, working as a team, speaking and presenting, etc.
• Leadership skills – leadership styles, youth leadership, rights and responsibilities, etc.
• Research and Social Change – questions that youth tackle include why research is important to communities, how
stories of the Jane/Finch community are told, How youth as community members can contribute to the changes we want to see in our communities?