Invitation (click to enlarge)

In 2010, CORE ran a short pilot at Mc Questen Community Centre in the east end of Hamilton. The youth involved at the time were not impressed with the coverage the Spectator (our local newspaper) ran indicating the difficulty with living within certain postal code areas in the city. Many of our CORE Youth lived in those areas and they were offended when what they were reading was highlighting only the things that were wrong in their neighbourhoods. This group of impressive teens put together a presentation referred to as Silencing the RED in response to the Hamilton Spectator Code Red series on poverty in Hamilton. This presentation touched on the challenges these youth face growing up in this city and it stressed the importance of a community working together to overcome those challenges.

They applied for a grant and received the funding from the Hamilton Community Foundation (HCF) Youth group. With that money they rented art gallery space on James Street North and became part of the James Street Art Crawl. Elementary school students were bused to the CORE Centre each week for 6 weeks and were given oil on canvas lessons by the CORE Youth. Their theme for their paintings was: Positive Strokes.  You see some of their work below.

The CORE Youth protested with photographs of the city; a live rap about life in Hamilton by Kyle Billings-one of our high school graduates that year-(listen to the Open House video to hear it); guests were student made treats served by the youth. Hundreds of visitors attended our Silencing the Red Art Gallery space all night long. Silencing the RED  was a huge success!

Tanicka and Marcus became CORE`s in-house chefs during our summer at McQuesten Community Centre: under the coaching and direction of Kelly and Stephanie-two very talented CORE Staff members. These two ladies demonstrated safety in the kitchen and even persuaded these two cooks to try some new recipes that they would not have attempted on their own. They even cooked up some fine meals at home to show off their new skills.

The pair had many opportunities to provide food for the CORE Youth themselves as well as hot appetizers for the James Street Art Gallery Event, Open House and for Marketing Meetings attended by various community planners from across the city. Everyone seems to relax more with good food and drinks before meeting. Why not try one of their recipes yourself at home?  See the attached cookbook for a few new ideas.

CORE Cookbook