Hispanic Development Council: HUELLAS

http://www.hispaniccouncil.net/

Hispanic Development Council's HUELLAS: Latino Hispanic Youth Challenge initiative provides youth programming in culture and identity, violence prevention and intervention in the Jamestown, Jane-Finch, Weston-Mt. Dennis and Flemingdon Park/Victoria Village neighbourhoods.

HUELLAS provides a drop-in space where street involved and newcomer Latino youth can access culturally-specific services and support. The initiative has two components: 1) Gang-exit stream - providing street and gang involved youth with the tools to get out of gangs and access the necessary community resources to support them with the reintegration process. The initiative also offers grievance support through Road to Realness workshops.  2) Arts/Multimedia stream - Engaging Latin American youth to document the realities of their lives growing up in Toronto through video, photography and script-writing.

Support from staff enables youth to explore themes related to identity, migration and the immigrant experience in Canada. The initiative hosts an annual youth summit to showcase the young people's work and discuss relevant issues, as identified by participants.