THE CONCERNED KIDS CHARITY OF TORONTO
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Mission Statement
Since 1989 The Concerned Kids (TCK) has been providing interactive educational puppet performances about serious social issues to more than 375,000 elementary students in Toronto & the surrounding GTA. The charity’s mandate is to empower young people through the uniquely engaging art of puppetry, to make smarter and kinder choices, thus enabling schools & communities to become safer places to live, learn & play. TCK is a volunteer based organization supported by (10) enthusiastic volunteer puppeteers, a team of (8) dedicated volunteer board members, and (2) paid staff: Executive Director and Program Coordinator/Trainer/Puppeteer (previously a 3 year volunteer puppeteer with TCK). The puppets allow for a non-threatening manner of engagement in a factual, unbiased, entertaining, child-centered way that helps to build problem solving abilities, learning alternatives to bad or unsafe behaviour & teaching students to act with kindness and respect that will help prevent problems before they happen.
About This Cause
During the 2015/2016 school year The Concerned Kids was able to launch 2 very successful programs: Anti-Bullying Awareness (JK/SK Classes) & Mental Health Awareness (intermediate & senior grades). This school season we are introducing a new Cyberbully themed program called “Cyberspace Odyssey”. An original script created for senior students, taking the audience on a journey through time with its main character, “Nam”, helping to educate on the dangers and consequences of one’s online actions. This important subject matter addresses social etiquette in a complicated age of digital technology and social media. The Concerned Kids now has a total of 22 scripts categorized under the following headings: Mental Health (intermediate & senior); Bullying (junior & intermediate); Cyberbullying (senior); Safety Lessons (342 safety lessons: stranger danger, area codes and emergency plans); Life Lessons (practicing good manners, dental hygiene, hand washing); Personal Safety (physical, sexual, emotional and neglect); Peer Pressure & Substance Abuse; Community Awareness (vandalism & graffiti prevention ); Healthy Kids (exercise, nutrition, and healthy minds) and Physical Differences (cerebral palsy and impaired vision - about two friends going to camp). Our performance model changed dramatically in 2015, with our days starting at 9 AM and finishing around 1:30 – 2:00 PM. This new model lets us present 7-8 shows to different grades with age appropriate programs. Our previous model had us present (1) program to the entire school making it difficult for some of the younger students to follow along & frequently the older students became bored if the subject was slightly juvenile. After each performance, students now receive activity sheets about the subject matter that was presented, allowing for discussions to continue in the classroom & at home. This past school season has been a very exciting one for The Concerned Kids in that we were able to expand our performance roster from 82 presentations to 197 presentations in just one year. Additionally, we were able to present our interactive puppet programs to some 11,558 students, up from the previous year of 8,364 students. As part of its expansion model, and in partnership with Toronto Public Library (no fee for use of space agreement - branches: Maria A. Shchuka, York Wood & Fairview District), The Concerned Kids is looking to augment its Interactive & Educational Elementary School Puppet Performances with a FREE Afterschool “Interactive Puppet Power” program for ages 6 – 12 that will mirror the mandate & mission of the charity to empower youth in making right choices throughout their lives. The program will be based on Social Issues that young people face every day and will be held (2) days per week for (3) 10 week sessions throughout the school year, starting at 3:30 PM and finishing around 5:30 PM - 6:00 PM. Each 10 week session of 2 days per week will involve a total of 60+ students from (2) under served neighbourhoods. A Peer Mentoring component will be incorporated, offering 5 to 6 teens from a nearby Collegiate or Middle / High School in each neighbourhood to assist the Program Director to interact with these young students attending the program. Each 10 week session of 2 days per week in different neighbourhoods is broken down into 4 categories: 1) Nutritious Snacks: time is set aside for a nutritious snack at the beginning of each session and for students to unwind for their day at school. 2) Themes & Topics: discussions will take place about a variety of social situations & themes and how they will be used for the final student OPEN HOUSE presentation at the end of the 10 week session. Each afterschool participant will receive a “Workbook” at the beginning of the 10 week session, for use to decorate, document understanding of different types of social issues, draw puppet characters in, and write songs & spoken word about their themed social issue for the final presentation with their peers. This workbook is to be taken home after the completion of the 10 week afterschool program. During each (10) week session a variety of social situations & themes will be addressed such as: being a bully (different types of bullying concepts are examined; emotional, physical, verbal, cyber-bullying, “looking right”); peer pressure & substance abuse (consequences of using alcohol & other types of drugs; problem solving & how to avoid situations involving peer pressure); vandalism & graffiti prevention (making your community safe); and safety issues (stranger danger / a safe stranger, 911, emergency number, identifying safe places in your neighbourhood) and conflict resolution. Children will learn the “NO”, “RUN”, “TELL” techniques when dealing with strangers, all through the creative medium of puppetry. Students will be making puppets & props and participate in collaborative script writing (creating scripts in a team effort scenario), culminating in a final presentation (OPEN HOUSE) before family, friends, peers and community leaders. Participants will also receive subject related activity sheets to further validate the need for addressing social issues in their community and to help continue the conversation at home. 3) Puppet making activities: each week students will create and work on a component of their final puppet, using the materials that are supplied. This puppet will be used at the end of the session in a final collaborative production by the students. 4) Script writing activities: students are encouraged to form into groups to develop a Theatrical Play using the puppets and props that have been made (based on themes & topics that have been discussed throughout the program) to be performed during an OPEN HOUSE at the end of the 10 week session for family, friends and the community at large. The Concerned Kids Charity of Toronto is currently seeking funding to launch this new initiative and is requesting support from its corporate partners to help raise $70,000 over a two year period to get this program off the ground.