Graduating students from the Black Youth Mentorship Program in Calgary on Monday have the tools and are motivated to pursue leadership roles in their communities.

The Black Youth Mentorship and Leadership Program at the University of Calgary was founded by Professor Bukola Salami, with the aim of enhancing the economic prospects, community integration and leadership abilities of Black youth through research programs. The program also aims to increase post-secondary entry for Black youth.

Salami said she was inspired by the University of Toronto’s program, which she attended as a youth and helped pave the way to where she is now. In 2016, she and her research team decided to look at the experiences of Black youth and young adults in Alberta. She heard from parents that there was a lack of mentors for Black students, which led her to found the Black Youth Mentorship Program in Edmonton at the University of Alberta.

Today, the program is held in person in Calgary and Edmonton with online versions available in Saskatchewan, Toronto, and Manitoba.

“There’s no better feeling when you get emails from a youth, or you get to hear about the youth doing great. They are graduating. They are doing great work. They are in university,” Salami told LWC.

“There was a child that developed a list of resources for Edmonton Catholic School Board, and it’s being used. The child never spoke to anyone before coming into our program. After our program, the parent is like, ‘Oh, this child is talking more. She’s more she feels much more confident.’”

Blossom Komolafe, one of the program’s participants, said she wants to become a lawyer to help underserved and marginalized communities. She said she decided to apply because she wanted to learn from faculty members and professionals.

At a research showcase on Monday, Komolafe presented a set of poems she wrote that highlight aspects of her experience as a young Black woman in Calgary.

“We had a lot of presentations on leadership, and we learned about different ways to show leadership and how important it is. So, I think that’s helped me a lot,” she told LiveWire.

“Since I worked with an English professor, some of the writing skills and the feedback that I gained will help me in the future, possibly in university and writing projects and assignments.”

Godswill Aikhomu conducted research on Black-owned businesses and the socioeconomic challenges they face – systemic racism, funding challenges, fewer networking opportunities, less revenue, higher profit margins, etc.

Aikhomu said he decided to join the program because he wanted to learn new opportunities, especially since his friend found an internship soon after graduating.

He said he wants to pursue biomedical engineering in university but ultimately wants to go to medical school to specialize in emergency pediatrics.

“I want to help people. I’ve been always a helper, and I’ve been a person who’s been [involved in the] kids’ ministry at my church, and so that really inspired me to become a doctor so I could help these kids,” he said.

“I was in hospital a few times in my life, so I’ve seen how the doctor can really affect your mood in the hospital. When you walk into that place, the first thing you can see is a nurse, and then you see your doctor, and your doctor is always going to tell you the good news or bad news. It’s always when they have that good demeanor and always look nice to you … It really helps calm that mood and setting.”

Emmanuel Adesina researched equity, diversity and inclusion programs in post-secondary institutions across Canada and how important they are to community well-being.

Adesina joined the program because he wanted to expose himself to new experiences outside of his comfort zone. He wants to become a doctor one day, hopefully a dermatologist.

“I think networking has been a very big thing for me, the ability to make different connections with the fellow mentees, the mentors to professors here at the university, it’s been very important for me,” he said.

“I think it’s the leadership aspect of it will help a lot, especially talking among the huge group of people. I think my public speaking has improved a lot since this program.”

Semilori Olafare is a current research assistant who was a program participant last year when Salami expanded it to undergraduate students. She said the program provided her the opportunity to learn new skills that helped her get into university.

“I felt that I could learn a lot of things and that I could apply my skills that I’d learned from last year’s program into this year’s program, and I got a lot of different research opportunities,” she said.

“Being around other undergraduate students that were in years above me, and so being able to learn from their experiences with regards to like, scholarships, grant writing, research, interacting with other people and just navigating university life … That brought me a lot of joy.”

Black Youth Mentorship Program a huge opportunity: program leads

Salami and her research assistants emphasized the importance of Black youth being able to see themselves in the careers they want to pursue.

Oluwakanyinsola Bello was one of the research assistants when the mentorship program was first developed in Edmonton and was invited back to be a speaker last year as a first-year medical student.

Bello said she lacked mentorship opportunities throughout her life and saw how important they were the further she got into her career, which propelled her to get involved in the Black Youth Mentorship Program.

“I saw that there was a need for it, and I saw someone that was trying to fill the need. So, I wanted to make sure that I was becoming a part of that,” she said.

“Working with the students … That was the funnest part for me as someone not too far from their age. I just finished my undergraduate degree. I was applying to medicine at the time. I think I connected with them more on a student-to-student level.

“It’s good to have long, longitudinal mentors, of course, very aspirational mentors, but it’s also good to have people very close to where you’re starting out that can give you practical day to day information.”

Victoria Atilola, another research assistant, said she wanted to be involved with the mentorship program because mentorship opportunities aren’t readily available for Black youth. She said she didn’t have Black mentors as a teenager and she didn’t know what she wanted to do with her career.

The Black Youth Mentorship Program is a huge opportunity and she wanted to make sure the students have the best six weeks, Atilola said.

“I look forward to speaking to the youth … The positive response that we have been getting is something that I was so happy with and I looked forward to in the program,” she said.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work with different people, speak to different people, meet different people, and then at the end of the day, improve on my skills – my leadership skills, my communication skills and my writing skills. So that’s a good experience for me.”

Black youth are encouraged to apply

Participants, research assistants, and Salami encouraged Black youth to apply to the program because it exposes them to a community of other career and academically-focused Black youth.

Salami said one of the most rewarding things is seeing youth wanting to become ambitious and smart, like their peers.

“For example, a youth presents or says something, and another youth says, ‘Oh, that youth is smart. I want to be smart like that too.’ Then they sort of emulate that behaviour of excellence,” she said.

“That is some of the things that I did not realize when I started the mentorship program … The ability for the youths to learn from each other positively and positively influence each other, and the fostering of community belonging.”

Salami hopes the Black Youth Mentorship Program can expand to give undergraduate students from various underrepresented communities the opportunity to network with industry leaders and professionals.

“What I want in the future is actually to make this national,” she said.

“We want to actually be able to continue to maintain and sustain that momentum of impact.”

Many of the participants also encouraged their peers to apply, saying it is a huge opportunity in their lives.

“They should definitely sign up, because I think this was very beneficial to me, not only networking and just meeting other Black youth, but also learning new skills, including leadership and professionalism,” Komolafe said.

Aikhomu encouraged Black youth considering applying to the program next year to take the opportunity.

“Take it seriously, because it will really help you become the person you want to be,” he said.