Black History Lives in Our Young People
Black History Month often brings a familiar rhythm - reflections, celebrations, reminders of what has come before. For me, it also brings me back to the everyday moments that don’t always get named. Conversations held in program rooms. The pause before a young person shares what they’re really worried about. The pride that comes from watching someone recognize their own leadership for the first time.
Having spent years serving young people at For Youth Initiative as Program Director, and now serving as Interim Executive Director, I’ve learned that Black history is not something we only look back on. It is being shaped every day by Black youth across Toronto.
Black history is alive. It is unfolding through young people who are navigating school, work, family responsibilities, and systems that were not built with them in mind. Their lives hold both pressure and possibility. Both deserve to be named.
For the Black youth we walk alongside at FYI, the future is shaped by real and immediate questions. Questions about access to education, meaningful work, safety, stability, equity and belonging. These questions do not come from a lack of ambition. They come from lived experience. And they exist alongside creativity, generosity, humour, and a deep commitment to community.
Too often, Black youth are spoken about primarily in terms of barriers. While systemic inequities are real and must be named, they do not define who Black youth are or what they contribute. At FYI, I’ve seen Black youth step into leadership in ways that are thoughtful and grounded. I’ve watched them mentor peers, facilitate programs, return to spaces that once supported them so they can support others, and find their voice; sometimes quietly, sometimes boldly, always with intention.
Their leadership does not always look the way systems expect it to. It can look like consistency. It can look like choosing to stay engaged in a city that is becoming harder to afford and harder to navigate. It can look like asking for help and then offering it to someone else. These moments matter, and they deserve recognition.
FYI’s role in this work is to be a steady presence, a community anchor. Systems change slowly, while young people’s lives move quickly. When policies shift, funding cycles end, or institutions fall short, community spaces like ours often provide continuity, trust, and care. This is how we work at FYI: through relationship, shared learning, and trust built over time.
That trust is strengthened because many of our staff reflect the youth we serve. We share lived experience, cultural understanding, and an awareness of what it means to move through this city as Black people. But mentorship at FYI is not one-directional. While staff support and guide young people, we are also learning alongside them. Youth challenge us to think differently, to listen more deeply, and to remain accountable in how we show up.
That exchange matters. It creates spaces where young people are seen not as problems to be fixed, but as partners in shaping their own futures alongside staff who remain grounded, reflective, and open to growth.
Black History Month is also a reminder that recognition alone is not enough. Honouring Black history means investing in Black futures. It means supporting education pathways, employment opportunities, wellbeing, and community spaces where Black youth can grow without having to prove their worth.
This month, and in the months ahead, I am proud of the Black youth who shape our spaces every day, and of the staff and community members who walk alongside them with care and intention. Black history is not only something we remember. It is something we are responsible for nurturing, together.
At FYI, we remain committed to supporting Black youth as they continue to write what comes next.
Brigitte Barikage
Interim, Executive Director
