In 2007, the Toronto District School Board issued a census which demonstrated that Black youth faced significantly greater barriers to success at school compared to their non-Black peers. For the Honourable Mary Anne Chambers ( BA 1998, Hon LL.D. 2010), member of provincial parliament (2003-2007), a longtime UTSC donor and former U of T Governing Council vice chair, one particular statistic stuck in her mind: she recalls hearing that 40 per cent of Black youth did not even graduate from high school.
As unacceptable as that number was on its own, Chambers, who is also a former minister of Children and Youth Services for Ontario, as well as a former minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, was keenly aware of that number’s implications for entire generations, and for communities like the East Scarborough neighbourhood she represented.
“A university needs to matter to the community,” says Chambers, who had already decided to tie her next gift to the UTSC to a community outreach program. “If you have a university in a community that has substantial needs and the university does not step up to understand those needs and work towards addressing those needs, then that community has every reason to say, ‘who cares?’”
For its part, UTSC had the right project in need of funds. The Principal’s Office introduced Chambers to UTSC Black Students’ Association president Rashelle Litchmore (BSc 2008). Having moved to Canada from Jamaica at the age of 15, Litchmore had begun to comprehend the systemic racism that ensured that Black youth faced institutional barriers to attaining higher education.
Through academic mentorship, Litchmore – now an assistant professor in Human Development at Connecticut College – knew she could offer high school and middle school students opportunities to overcome some of those barriers, while also giving them a chance to picture themselves in a post-secondary environment.
“The Imani program was probably one of the more transformative experiences in my undergrad." - Ruth Belay
With help from fellow student Natricia Drummond (BSc Hons. 2009) the UTSC Black Students’ Association and Tony Jno Baptiste, a manager at the Boys and Girls Club of East Scarborough, Litchmore founded the Imani Academic Mentorship program at UTSC, through which she and approximately 10 volunteer mentors from the Black Students’ Association (from which the Imani program got its name) and with support from the Boys and Girls Club, brought students to campus for in-person tutoring.
“Kids need to see what university is like to want to go there,” says Litchmore, who would organize parent nights in the community to recruit more kids into the program. Less than a year later, in 2006, the program had expanded to Cedarbrae Collegiate in Scarborough.
But while the program had taken off with a bang, keeping it alive and thriving without funding was an increasingly difficult task.
Chambers doesn’t recall the other two projects that were proposed to her that day. Her attention was immediately snagged by the Imani program, which she decided to support with a philanthropic gift.
“It was brilliant,” says Chambers of Litchmore’s Imani program proposal. “The idea that the University would reach out to Black students who otherwise might not finish high school, who had potential but didn’t necessarily have support systems or influences in their lives – but also connecting them with mentors not much older than them, who look like them, who have similar backgrounds,” she adds.
“A university needs to matter to the community." - Honorable Mary Anne Chambers
With Chambers’ funding, Litchmore recalls the program underwent an immediate shift. “We were encouraged to expand,” says Litchmore.
In fact, after her graduation, Litchmore was hired as a community engagement facilitator at UTSC, and became the main administrator of the program. With the support of then-director of Student Life, Liza Arnason, the Imani program began recruiting students from more schools, and brought on more mentors.
“Imani stands out due to its layered opportunities it presents to both its mentees and mentors in the program,” says Nadia Rosemond, assistant dean, Co-Curricular Engagement and Student Leadership at UTSC.
While supporting mentees academically, the program simultaneously works to build positive Black identities and addresses systemic barriers: Anti-Black racism workshops and networking opportunities are hallmarks of the program, as is a “Day in the Life” event, where mentees are treated to glimpses of what attending a post-secondary institution would be like. Running annually from October through April, the program also supports mentees graduating from high school with post-secondary applications, including paying for application fees.
Part of Chambers’ funding sustained mentees and mentors’ participation through supplying healthy snacks and meals. “With Mary Anne’s funding we were able to support the kids in a real way,” Litchmore says, adding that the program was also able to add more field trips and meaningful learning experiences.
Mentors benefit
Mentors gain from the program as much as mentees, and for Litchmore, that was an intentional part of the program’s design. “I wanted Black university students to have marketable skills. The program was one way to develop skills to put on their resume.”
Ruth Belay (BA Hons 2018, MSc Planning 2020) was a mentor beginning in her second year, and has witnessed the program’s impact first hand.
“’The Imani program was probably one of the more transformative experiences in my undergrad,” says Belay. “I met my friends there. It changed my career trajectory,” she adds.
In subsequent years Belay became a school site facilitator, and then a student lead – positions that help facilitate and support the mentoring relationships.
“As a Black student you face so many barriers to your success. Seeing someone like yourself is so impactful. Someone with similar experiences, who looks like you and is able to do something different that you may not have imagined for yourself,” Belay adds.
That support is underpinned by programming and events actively designed to inspire mentors to greater heights alongside their mentees, says Rosemond, “through opportunities like an Evening with Black Professionals, and our new Imani Tri-Mentorship Program. Each takes a role in connecting our mentors to meaningful professional and academic experiences to enhance their undergraduate experience.”
“At some level, we are all being mentored and have opportunities to support each other,” adds Belay.
“I am so grateful that this gift ended up exploding the program the way it did," - Rashelle Litchmore
In 2019, Belay, in collaboration with UTSC community engagement coordinator Elvis Ibrahimovic in the Office of Student Life, helped draw together an Imani Legacy Council comprised of past Imani participants and community partners, with the goal of providing constructive feedback to the growing program. She continues as the Council’s co-chair. “I cherish the fact that everyone leaves their legacy on the program, generations and years of different actors feeding into Imani to make it great.”
Recently, two donations have made further impact on mentors in the program. Last year, La Fondation Emmanuelle Gattuso awarded the Imani program a donation earmarked for helping mentors meet financial needs.
This fall, for the first time, the Mary Anne V. Chambers Imani Mentor Award, newly established by Chambers, will be handed out to UTSC undergraduate students who participate in the program.
“It’s important to celebrate mentors,” says Chambers, who notes that mentors are, first and foremost, volunteers who want to give of themselves. Sometimes, tough economic choices can limit their participation in programs like Imani.
Building a strong community
Compounding the Imani program’s success is the way it has helped U of T Scarborough define its role as an anchor institution in the community. Celebrating its 16th consecutive year, the program’s cumulative impact has been nothing short of staggering. Over the years, the program has served more than a thousand youth mentees across 14 participating community sites with more than 620 UTSC volunteer mentors.
Most impressive of all? The program completion rate for mentees averages between 85 to 88 per cent annually, and an overwhelming number of those go on to receive post-secondary offers of admission.
That translates to huge community change, as Belay explains: “Education allows access to wealth building that can have generational impact.”
“I am so grateful that this gift ended up exploding the program the way it did,” says Litchmore of Chambers’ generosity. “My wish is to have more ‘Mary Anne’s’ around to support this type of program,” she adds.
Rosemond says the University is actively working on expanding the program, and this year, brings on board the program’s first dedicated staff lead.
“We hope to connect with more schools in the Scarborough community to incorporate more community perspectives and insights into the program,” she says, adding that she’d like to see the supports offered to the undergrad mentees expanded, through enhancing existing programming such as the Tri-Mentorship program, as well as more financial supports.
Importantly, the vision of inclusive excellence that supports the program is one that is making a profound impact on the Scarborough community – but potentially also with institutions outside of UTSC. Says Rosemond, “We hope to be able to provide an opportunity for other institutions to incorporate an ‘Imani Approach’ to Community Engagement.”
Thanks to Chambers’ gift, the program’s “legacy of recognition and empowerment,” according to Rosemond, continues changing lives, one mentoring relationship at a time.
If you would like to know how you can make an impact through supporting the Imani Academic Mentorship program or scholarships for Imani participants, please contact Senior Development Officer Jennifer Lo at:
E: jenniferw.lo@utoronto.ca | T: 416-287-7080. Or, you can make a gift online here.
LISTEN: An oral history with Mary Anne Chambers, with Ruth Belay (Feb. 2020)
Source: University of Toronto Archives. Oral History Collection on Student Activism. Oral history interview with Mary Anne Chambers conducted by Ruth Belay, 18 February 2020. A2020-0010/008S.
Photo: Mary Anne Chambers (left) with Imani program participants, 2009. (Credit unknown)