Since it started in 2019, the Centennial College Podcast has helped students get informed and educated through discussions about important issues and ideas, and resources to enhance their education, career and life. In our newest season, Undiluted, we tackle the relevant, pressing issue of anti-Black racism, and Black experiences both in Canada and at Centennial College, while also taking time to shine a light on Black success stories. The podcast was conceived and produced by a student in our Social Service Worker program, Joyce Mgbolu, who saw a need to tell these stories, and who collaborated with the Centre for Global Citizenship Education and Inclusion to make it happen. Here’s the story of Joyce, the Undiluted podcast, and what you can do to take part in advocacy and social justice.
Social Work at Centennial
“I’ve been into advocacy since the age of 16,” Joyce says. “I always knew I wanted a career in the social work field. I felt that studying for a diploma in the Social Service Worker program would equip me with the skills, tools and knowledge needed to fight for social justice and carry out my advocacy work effectively.”
An essential part of Centennial College’s Social Service Worker program is its field placement component that sees students practice what they’ve learned out in the real world. Joyce’s own job placement as a co-op student at the Centre for Global Citizenship Education and Inclusion (GCEI) would directly lead to the creation of Undiluted.
Telling the missing stories
“My inspiration to start the podcast came from my work in support of the Black Mentorship Initiative and Black Student Collective as a co-op student with the Centre,” Joyce explains. “At the start of it, I did an environmental scan of Centennial College to see if there were platforms that provided safe spaces for Black students to amplify their voices. But I discovered that they were none. So, I felt the need to create a podcast that would amplify Black student’s voices in celebrating their excellence, raising awareness about the challenges that are unique to them, and forming partnerships to mitigate these challenges, such as anti-Black racism.”
“From the GCEI side, supporting this podcast was twofold,” adds Tatiana Wugalter, a GCE Research and Education Strategist who worked closely with Joyce during her placement, and helped develop Undiluted. “First, the college in general has a commitment to addressing anti-Black racism, including the development of the anti-Black racism task force.”
“The other piece to it was supporting students to do social justice work, especially our co-op students.” Tatiana continues. “We want to make sure that they are developing the skills that they want to, that their placement is a meaningful experience for them. And it's really important for us when we're doing any kind of work that relates to any historically marginalized or equity-seeking community, that those who are directly impacted are really at the forefront of the work and are taking leadership in the work.”
Making the podcast
“I said to Tatiana, I have an idea I really want to do,” Joyce explains. “She suggested that I put it in writing, create a project proposal, so that I'll be able to pitch it.”
“After approval, I began to reach out to Black students at Centennial College and professional guest speakers in different areas of specialization,” she continues.
“Bringing people together for a time that works best for them can be challenging,” Joyce adds, “especially in cases where you have to bring an external guest speaker who has a lot of obligations in their professional life. So it takes a lot of back and forth communication. Sometimes people may cancel due to emergencies or other issues may arise. But, thankfully, it was a smooth process.”
What Undiluted means
“The purpose of the podcast is to mitigate systemic barriers within the college community by supporting Black students, fostering a sense of belonging, and challenging unconscious bias,” Joyce explains. “I wanted to discuss topics of relevance to Black students within the college, especially topics that are not really talked about within our society and are considered a silenced matter.”
“I strongly believe, from a Black student’s perspective, that providing a platform where I can tell my lived experience will encourage others in silence to seek help so that they can be provided with the support that they deserve within communities,” Joyce explains. “Also, when Black students are given a safe and inclusive space to provide a recommendation, it gives them a sense of community and belonging.”
“My hope is that this podcast will help to build more partnerships for the Black community at Centennial College, whereby productive allies will work collectively with the Black community to help dismantle anti-Black racism and systemic racism within and outside the college,” Joyce says.
GCEI supports
Undiluted is just one of the GCEI’s initiatives to combat anti-Black racism, and elevate Black voices.
“There’s a few initiatives that Joyce has been really instrumental in working on,” Tatiana says. “One is the Black Student Collective. Its purpose is to fill the gaps that Joyce started noticing, providing a supportive, safe community space for Black students at Centennial College.” The Collective is coming fall 2022.
“The collective will offer all sorts of things,” she explains, “from networking opportunities, to cultural events, to health and wellness events, support with navigating careers, support when navigating racism, opportunities just to come chat about different topics that Black students are experiencing.”
“Another project that we started a couple years ago is the Black Mentorship Initiative,” Tatiana continues. “This initiative pairs students who identify as Black with mentors who are either Centennial College staff or external professionals, community partners or industry partners, with that mentor offering support in terms of their career, in terms of any personal or professional skill or knowledge that they want to gain, and in some cases, support to navigate systemic racism within their respective industries or workspaces.
“Another is the Black Business Showcase,” Tatiana says. “Over the past three years, during Black History Month, we've offered the Showcase, where Black-led businesses, big or small, can be featured on our online directory and on our social media channels, in the hope of really uplifting Black businesses, and encouraging the Centennial College community to support them.”
Want to do more?
If you listen to Undiluted and decide you want to get more involved in social justice issues, the GCEI has a few ways you can take part.
“We have a few things that students can do,” Tatiana says. “One is the Global Perspectives Digital Badge Program. Students can register for this program, and it takes them through a three-part process where they gain social justice knowledge, participate in social justice action and reflect on their role as social change agents.”
“Another thing that students can do is the Social Action Fund,” Tatiana says, “a micro-granting program that's open to anyone at the college, including staff, students, faculty, administrators – anyone who's interested in spearheading their own social justice project. It has to be social justice oriented to receive the funding of $1,000 to do their own social justice project on campus.”
For starters, just listen
Episodes of Undiluted are a part of the Centennial College Podcast, which can be listened to on our website, as well as SoundCloud, Apple podcast, Google podcasts and Spotify. And, above all else, it’s most important to Joyce that people listen and hear the stories within.
“I felt this needed to be addressed at the college with all urgency, because anti-Black racism still eats deep into our society, and it is a serious systemic issue.” Joyce says. “Therefore, the topics were developed to inspire, encourage and build on critical questions that opened thought-provoking conversations for social change.”
Written by: Anthony Geremia