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Closing the Distance ... A Place Where All Kids Belong!

Late in 2002, the Social Planning Network of Ontario launched a number of local projects under the Social and Economic Inclusion Initiative supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada (Ontario Region). These projects were designed to help "close the distance" between certain marginalized populations in these local areas and mainstream community life.

The Laidlaw Foundation was approached by the Social Planning Council of Sudbury for additional support to their Closing the Distance initiative, which focused on children.  An independent, not-for-profit, community-based organization, the Social Planning Council is committed to working with community partners to enhance the well-being of individuals, families and communities, with a goal to bring people together for planning that leads to positive change and community action.   

The project sought to bring together a wide base of community leaders and organizations who share a common commitment to the future of children, regardless of differences in culture, identity, or socio-economic status.

Executive Director Janet Gasparini spoke of the ongoing driver for the work: “We didn’t just want to ‘float the boat higher’ in school – have less bullying and less discipline issues reported – instead we wanted to engage everyone in decision-making about how issues like bullying are dealt with, students included.  One of the greatest challenges is that it isn’t commonly recognized that young people can be oppressed.  There is a often a feeling that adults should be caring for and telling kids what to do, that this is the way it should be.  Young people aren’t supposed to have a voice”. 

Determined to give Sudbury's children their own voice in environments typically controlled by adult decision-makers, Closing the Distance used storytelling techniques and graphic arts portrayals of children's own stories to facilitate group discussions in French and English among 420 children in five schools in a 10-week program with two one-hour sessions held each week.  The murals below provide one example of such an approach.

click on mural for larger image...

Safe spaces were created for children to express not only how they felt unheard or left out, but also what would make them feel included and how they thought that could happen.  Project Coordinator Lise Denis explains: “We begin a process of progressive sharing of personal interests, characteristics and behaviours – we always lead off this discussion as facilitators and share our stuff first so that students can be on equal footing.  We do lots and lots of role play so that kids can put themselves directly into the situations that make them feel included or excluded”.

Lise also engages parents and school staff at the outset of the program, and admits that teacher engagement, a great asset to the program, can be difficult to obtain.  “Some teachers are very open, and this makes the program really great as the kids begin to understand that their teacher is also a person who has a life outside of the school, just as much as the teacher begins to understand the larger lives of the students”.  But the traditional education model can have some resistance to the sharing of such information.  “Some teachers can be afraid.  They don’t want to know what is happening outside of the school as they can feel extra pressure believing that as the ‘adult authority figure’ in the school environment it will become their responsibility to fix any outside problems.”  Lise also says that teachers may be reluctant to share anything personal with their students because they see it as a threat to their position of authority.

Lise explains further, “After that, it becomes very difficult when the expectation is that every student show up at 8:30 ready to learn.  There is an inherent disappointment when those who may come in hungry, having dealt with a conflict at home, feel excluded by their peers or whatever the situation, are not ready to learn.  If there is no recognition of how a life outside the classroom can affect a student, a growing tension can mount.  We work to build a group dynamic that relieves the adult of feeling responsible for everything that comes up, and allows them to look at how this can affect students”.

Both Janet and Lise indicate that some teachers have not been ready or interested in the approach.  Lise states that some will leave the classroom during sessions and there is a feeling that the sessions are being allowed so she can “fix” the kids.  Janet notes “We have had situations where we have not been asked to return because there is a feeling that the approach ‘stirs up’ issues by giving students freedom to voice their true feelings on things that make them feel excluded in school.  We can get a response such as ‘We don’t talk that way here’.  Some teachers don’t believe that children’s voices should be part of decision-making.”

More often than not, the program is very well received by the school and the community.  In fact, Closing the Distance further evolved its work on belonging to address particular issues of bullying and a specific initiative that gives a greater voice to aboriginal youth (also a Laidlaw funded project).  Janet also spoke of work that was done that reversed the typical adult-youth roles.  Community members including a police officer, the mayor and a member of the media spent the day with various youth, learning from them about their perspective on community, such as discussions of the role of playgrounds and the expression of graffiti.

The Social Planning Council was supported by Sudbury Mayor David Courtemanche from the outset and worked effectively from this space of political support to assess and evolve the program to address other needs, such as the Aboriginal Youth project. 

The Council was also successful at leveraging additional partner support from the participant school boards, TV Ontario and the Tim Horton’s Camp program which allowed for leadership training among teachers and community members that has been videotaped to share throughout the community.  The program received positive media attention throughout its implementation and has produced a number of resources such as a colourful booklet highlighting the stories of exclusion and inclusion expressed by children and youth in group sessions.

Delivered in the English, Catholic and French Public School Boards with strong support, Lise speaks of the ongoing challenges in working in the education system: “Being an institution, it can be very difficult to penetrate as an outsider.  The bigger the Board, the more difficult it is to deal with bureaucracy.  While we do tie the program to curriculum in a variety of subjects, it is an investment in time and process that we are asking, and sometimes those in the system are not ready”.

She notes that the program does not only hold benefit for students, but feels it can be implemented in a way that supports teachers and parents, “Tension in the system over the years have left parents and teachers in position where they fear and dislike one another a lot of the time.  This process, which looks at pride-building, self-esteem, sources of prejudice and open communication, would be just as good for them.  We share a lot, we laugh a lot”.

One student of the program describes school as a “building-block for life”.  Closing the Distance strives to make the building block a community in which all children belong.

The program is fully detailed on its web site with video clips and case studies that depict the experiences of students at: http://www.closingthedistance.ca/re_sudbury.jsp.

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