Carolyn Tinglin and son, Jantz Richards, at their home in Burlington, Ont., on Nov. 10.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
The organizers: Carolyn Tinglin and Jantz Richards
The pitch: Creating the Youth Alliance for Intersectional Justice
The reason: To support programs for Black and racialized neurodiverse young people
As a teenager with autism, Jantz Richards struggled to make friends and he dreamed of starting his own after-school club.
“It was just hard trying to find friends to relate with,” recalled Mr. Richards, who is now 20. “I thought it would be awesome to have a couple of people like me who understand and who also enjoy the things that I enjoy.”
His club idea never took off and there weren’t many options at school or in their Toronto neighbourhood. “We couldn’t find programs that were available to Jantz that were geared toward autistic youth, or neurodiverse youth, where he wouldn’t be the only Black kid participating,” said Jantz’s mother, Carolyn Tinglin, a registered nurse who is pursuing a doctorate in education.
Ms. Tinglin and her son decided to create their own organization and a couple of years ago they launched the Youth Alliance for Intersectional Justice, or YAIJ. “Jantz would make suggestions for activities and then I would just kind of organize it and put feelers out there to see if anybody would come,” said Ms. Tinglin.
They soon began offering peer support programs, healing arts activities, social events and workshops focused on employment and entrepreneurship. They kept everything flexible and encouraged participants and the group’s youth council to come up with ideas.
Last year around 100 young people from across Toronto participated in YAIJ activities and they’ve expanded to Vancouver and Halifax. The family funded everything at first but they now receive support from community partners and donors.
Ms. Tinglin said the organization is planning to open a summer camp and a shop to sell some of the artwork made by participants. On Nov. 18 and 19, YAIJ is also holding a Healing Art Exhibit in Toronto.
Mr. Richards is studying automotive engineering at Mohawk College but he’s still deeply involved in running YAIJ. “It’s liberating,” he said. “After losing a lot of friends. I just feel like my older self again.”