Recent University of Toronto graduate, Rhea Raghunauth is engaging Indo-Caribbean and South Asian youth through her initiative, by their side, to prevent intimate partner violence through education and community dialogue in Brampton, Ontario. “I could feel that intimate partner violence was something deeply affecting my community. After attending one-on-one advising offered by the Pathy Foundation Fellowship, I talked to my family and shared my idea. Everything was so clearly pointing me in this direction, so I brought the idea to my community,” Rhea explains. “The initiative was informed by the experiences of my community, whether that be faith leaders, friends, family members, or organizations. Their ideas shaped what I submitted in my application, what is now my initiative, and what the future of this work will evolve into.”
The Pathy Foundation Fellowship is an intensive, 12-month, experiential learning opportunity for graduating university students across Canada who have an idea for social change in a community they have a meaningful connection with. “I was inspired to apply to the Fellowship after seeing the visions for change that previous Fellows had for their communities and the way that leadership showed up in their work,” Rhea shares. “What pushed me to apply was the opportunity to combine my love for social change and leadership development to create something meaningful in my community.”
Throughout the Fellowship year, Rhea has been developing programming for youth in schools and faith-based spaces. Using a “moving syllabus” approach, her priority has been to create iterative, responsive materials directly informed by the youth and collaborators in her program. “It’s been a lot of revising to see what works and what could be changed to better serve the group,” she shares. “The programming is mainly directed to young women, but, I am working to engage young men in my community because through this program they will be able to develop the skills to build healthier relationships. If people can prevent violence in their own lives, that is going to trickle down to future generations.”
Fellows are provided with comprehensive training, dedicated wrap-around supports, and $50,000 in funding to make a sustainable impact in their chosen community and to support their growth as active and effective leaders and changemakers. “Coming into the program, I could see that autonomy was central, but I didn’t expect the extent to which it was practiced. There’s a lot of flexibility, and you don’t always see that in granting spaces or in academics.”
Rhea is developing a core team to carry out the initiative beyond the Fellowship year. “Leadership is such an important skill and not everyone gets that opportunity, especially if you don’t pursue higher education, so creating spaces where youth can contribute to community in these ways is important to me,” Rhea explains. “Having a core team also means more insights and more networks to tap into, particularly in building out programming for a larger range of audiences.”
Looking ahead, Rhea’s initiative is beginning to expand into new community spaces, including being asked to deliver workshops in a local temple. “I’m excited to be delivering workshops in religious spaces because it will require different methods and engagement approaches with a new audience.”
When asked how she defines success, Rhea shares, “my definition of success if always changing, but what has always been at the core is having more youth engaged in conversations and being curious about gender-based violence and violence against women. For youth to see the importance of this work would be a success for the Fellowship year.”
To learn more about Rhea’s Pathy Fellowship initiative, or the Pathy Foundation Fellowship, please visit PathyFellowship.com.
