In The Community - Past Events
Racism in Healthcare
Thank you to everyone who joined us for this important panel event in February.
Lunch & Learn Panel Event, The Hidden Cost of Care: Racism and Inclusion in Healthcare Workplaces. Thursday, February 12, Making Change hosted a powerful conversation about how systemic racism impacts racialized healthcare professionals, particularly those in frontline roles. Our panel explored challenges, shared lived experiences, and highlighted strategies to foster truly inclusive and supportive workplace cultures.
This project was funded by the Foundation for Black Communities, with partial support from the Government of Canada. Coming soon: a Black Healthcare Professional list.
Footsteps To Freedom - A Local Black History Bus Tour
This impactful bus tour features 2 key stops in the learning journey of our local Black history in and around Simcoe County. We begin in Barrie at 9:30 am and travel to the Oro African Church, a restored historical site. A local guest will provide an engaging history of the Black settlers who made a home in the surrounding area, where the church brought the community together. The bus tour takes us over to the outskirts of Collingwood to the Sheffield Park Black History & Cultural Museum, where we will meet a family descendant and tour the many small buildings containing artifacts, memorabilia and recreations of the Black settler’s early days in the area.
Our Black Mentor Speaker Series
We held 2 events as part of our Black Mentor Speaker Series in partnership with PARSC (Parents Against Racism Simcoe County). The first was Vibe & Thrive, which took place on November 20th at Shak’s World in Barrie and featured well-known Black mentors from the music, TV and sports worlds. The aim was to empower local Black youth by offering them real-life insights, mentorship, and encouragement to help them make positive decisions for their futures. Highlights from this event included providing all attending youth with swag bags to enhance their experience and leave a lasting impression, including culturally-inspired food and fabulous prizes.
Our second event was We Rise Together, in conjunction with the SCDSB, and that took place on March 26 at Maple Ridge Secondary School in Barrie. This event featured keynote speaker Michael “Pinball” Clemons and several leadership-building workshops for youth to attend. Clemens shared his journey of overcoming the odds, emphasizing the importance of personal excellence, teamwork, and community leadership. His inspiring story and impactful insights served to motivate students to put their heart into everything they do and achieve their fullest potential. Both of these events were made possible through federal funding from Public Safety Canada – Building Safer Communities Fund.
Cultural Tile Mosaic Project: This is us together!
Individually, we are unique and come from different paths.
Collectively, we share our many paths, learn from each other, and walk together.
Thank you to the Innisfil ideaLAB & Library for having our almost 600 tiles up on display from January to May of 2025. We will keep everyone posted on where you can find them next on display.
This is us together!
Making Change gathers people with no art experience, and we share the things about their culture that spark conversations. Everyone gets to paint on 4X4 wooden tiles, which are included in the experience. Add your tile design to our Simcoe County-wide Cultural Tile Mosaic project. Discover what influences your cultural background and reflect on the symbols, imagery and colours you used. How does this design reflect YOU, your Culture, and what your culture means to you?
Diversity Tapestry:
It Starts campaign
“IT STARTS is a public awareness campaign that runs through March. It is designed to take a proactive step towards addressing racism and discrimination in Simcoe County.”
IT STARTS works to promote a unified community that encourages collective action against racism and discrimination.
Take Action:
- Educate yourself, understand about racism and share your knowledge
- Pick up your campaign card at your local library or go to www.simcoe.ca/itstarts
- Post your picture of your campaign card with the hashtag: #ITSTART and tag @CountyofSimcoe
- Perform acts of inclusivity (host a multicultural lunch, learn about different cultures, ask questions, read international authors)
- Challenge friends, family members, colleagues, and community leaders to take a stand. There is strength in numbers!
Other Local Events
Kempenfest Event:
On August 1st, we celebrate the day in history when slavery was abolished across the British Empire (including Canada). At Kempenfest, Making Change provided a dedication at Kempenfest for Emancipation 2022.
Carnival North Event:
Making Change was on hand with their own space for festival attendees to add their handprints to our Diversity Tapestry. It’s events like this one where people seek more representation, resources and new cultural learning experiences.
Cultural events:
Making Change takes the opportunity to support events led by other organizations, school cultural events and non-profit group activities.
