(Montreal) A McGill University researcher wants to launch a mentoring program to help marginalized young black men in Montreal start their adult lives more easily.
Posted at 10:15 a.m.
Funded by the federal government, the “Flex to Launch” project aims to instill basic skills in young black men aged 18 to 28 in order to facilitate, among other things, their integration into the labor market.
The Dr Rob Whitley, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University and a mental health researcher, hopes his program will act as a “bridge” to success and inspire participants to “achieve some of their life goals.”
Spread over a period of approximately 12 weeks, the initiative will allow participants to acquire “a wide range of skills focused on personal and professional development”, explains in an interview the Dr Stanley Chase, professor in the department of interdisciplinary studies at Metropolitan University of Toronto and assistant coordinator of the project.
Through mentorship offered by members of their community, young people will learn, among other things, how to write a CV, develop a work ethic, prepare for an interview and master the learning software used in institutions. of teaching. On a personal level, these models will also teach them to manage their interpersonal relationships healthily, to recognize and reduce sources of stress and to resolve conflicts.
“Like everyone else, the vast majority of young black men want to work; they want to get an education and contribute to society, emphasizes the Dr Whitley. I hope that the program can equip them with the skills that will lead them to launch their career or their education, or to develop mental toughness to face life’s obstacles. »
Break the circle of crime
If several resources exist to contribute to the development of Quebec youth, few of them are dedicated to the clientele targeted by “Flex to Launch”.
“The program is focused on young black men, because the numbers show that this is one of the demographic groups most at risk of dropping out of school and falling into the NEET category,” says the Dr Whitley.
The NEET indicator (Not in Education, Employment or Training) refers to the proportion of individuals who are not working and who are neither in school nor in vocational training. This classification makes it possible to “count the number of young people whose integration into society is at risk”, since they do not develop social or professional skills “at a crucial moment in their active life”.
In 2020, a Statistics Canada study showed that nearly 20% of young black men aged 15 to 29 were represented in the NEET category, compared to 12% among other young people of the same age. This disparity is, among other things, what motivated the Dr Whitley to launch the mentorship program.
According to Valerie Gordon-Williams, community activist and assistant coordinator of the project, initiatives like “Flex to Launch” could reduce the number of individuals who turn to crime. Being on the margins of society, young people who do not attend school or professional settings are often more at risk of suffering from mental health problems and isolation.
“Young people who find themselves in this situation are often targets for potential criminal activities,” says Ms.me Gordon-Williams. They can be recruited by street gangs; feeling lonely, they might think that belonging to a fraternity or a group would solve their feeling of isolation. »
Without a source of income, they sometimes tend to opt for illicit activities that bring in a lot of money quickly, such as the sale of drugs, theft or burglary.
A project like that of Dr Whitley could thus mitigate this type of behavior by equipping participants, which would facilitate their integration into the labor market and their access to higher education.
In the eyes of D.r Stanley Chase, the establishment of this program is all the more relevant in the current context of rising violence across Montreal.
“It’s disappointing for me to see that this issue is still relevant in Montreal,” he laments. The education system has not been able to deal with this problem. I know this because I have worked in education for a long time, particularly in Montreal schools. »
To date, “Flex to Launch” is still in the consultation phase with parents and teachers from the black community in Montreal, but its official launch should be “by the end of January” with twenty participants, assures Valerie Gordon-Williams.
“The first part of the program is prepared, but our plans still have a limit, because we also want these young men to tell us themselves what they need to get out of their situation,” she says. .
The organizers of the program say they are “very excited” at the idea of setting in motion the project, which they consider “promising”.