Innovative funding initiative gives former foster care kids an opportunity for training and employment
George McClure, right, and David Horvath of Blue Sky DJ Services set up their sound system at River Restaurant, in a demonstration of their new deejay business venture, sponsored by Page Adolescent Resource Centre.
Breeding Success
The Toronto Enterprise Fund has supported 18 business ventures, with almost 1,600 participants. Almost half of those found permanent jobs, started a business or returned to school.
Other social purpose enterprises include:
- River Restaurant: training and transitional employment for homeless youth and those at risk of being homeless.
- Eva's Phoenix Print Shop: commercial print shop providing training and transitional employment for homeless youth and those at risk of homelessness.
- Furniture Link: furniture pickup and delivery business providing jobs to the homeless.
- Tumivut Earthkeepers: horticultural and landscaping business employing young people living at Tumivut Youth Shelter. Training provided by City of Toronto parks and recreation department.
- Out of This World Café: At the Queen St. site of the Centre of Addiction and Mental Health, it is one of four "businesses" operated by the Ontario Council of Alternative Businesses. Others include an espresso bar, mobile coffee cart and catering business run by psychiatric survivors. It's the first venture of its kind in a Canadian hospital.
- Haween Enterprises: sewing business that creates textile products for manufacturers, private companies and individuals. Provides training and transitional jobs for immigrant and low-income women.
- St. John's Bakery: wholesale and retail bakery producing handcrafted organic bread.
- Beatz to da Streetz Ventures: training and employment for youth producing and selling CDs, T-shirts, live musical performances, DVDs and running educational workshops. Centennial College provides training and production facilities.
Reprinted with permission from Toronto Star*
Leslie Ferenc
Staff Reporter
For years, David Horvath had an itch to become a disc jockey and, at long last, he's scratching – tunes on turntables that is.
He's doing it with a little help from his friends at the Pape Adolescent Resource Centre (PARC), who got into his groove and are part of a new deejay venture that's turning Horvath's passion into a profession.
But it's more than a business. Blue Sky DJ Service is giving young men – all currently or formerly in the care of one of the city's Children's Aid Societies – a chance to build a brighter future for themselves.
Horvath, 19, came up with the idea during a weekly meeting of PARC's young men's group. One of its aims is to give youth, ages 15 to 24, in the care of the Children's Aid Society of Toronto, the Catholic Children's Aid Society or the Jewish Family and Child Service an opportunity to help themselves and each other by providing employment, education, housing and life skills support. It's a path to a new life.
And that's been part of Horvath's dream, too. He went into foster care at the age of 12 and understands the stigma of being a ward of the state and what it means to be stereotyped. And, like so many others at PARC, he was determined to pursue a better tomorrow. The deejay service is a major step toward that goal. And the others in the group didn't need to be convinced it was a brilliant idea.
"Everyone listens to music," Horvath says. With the support of youth worker George McClure and the group, he knew the sky was the limit. So he came up with a solid business plan for the venture, which is putting a new spin on the bottom line. At Blue Sky, the social mission is as important as generating revenue.
Working as a deejay gives him an opportunity to express himself through the music. "I've learned so much," he says. "It's been a challenge and a good kind of scary."
He's grateful to PARC for giving him the opportunity and for providing a place where he's comfortable to be himself. "It's like coming home and everyone here is the same."
Blue Sky is among a portfolio of 11 social purpose enterprises providing training and employment for the city's homeless, working poor and marginalized citizens.
They work at real jobs for real pay. All the businesses get financial support from the Toronto Enterprise Fund – a partnership between United Way Toronto and the city, provincial and federal governments. It was established in 2000 to provide grants to non-profit groups in Toronto, like PARC, for social purpose enterprises.
It's been a sound investment. What began as a three-year experiment has been extended to 2008. Blue Sky also received start-up money from the Children's Aid Society Foundation, says McClure, manager of the enterprise.
Funding has been used to buy professional equipment, such as turntables, subwoofers and lights for the mobile deejay company. It also paid for training and wages for the budding spin doctors and staff.
Four young men spent a month learning to be disc jockeys at Toronto's Scratch Lab, where they got hands-on experience building "sets" – music to keep a crowd hopping. They also learned beat mixing and matching for seamless transition from one track to the next.
"Mixing songs is the best part," says Horvath. Blending tracks "is like creating something new."
"It's an amazing opportunity and builds on the core things PARC believes in," adds McClure. "And that's working together and helping each other.
The business is also helping change attitudes about kids in foster care.
"Blue Sky provides us with the opportunity to do something positive in the community, to get recognized and to get paid," says McClure.
The innovative business also grabbed the attention of Anne Jamieson, project manager of the TEF at United Way.
"Getting money from the TEF is invaluable and gives organizations the incentive to do it," she says.
* Reproduced with permission - Torstar Syndication Services
Download the pdf of this article:Deejays sound out a new business - Toronto Star, September 13, 2007