Wonderfully Made strives to develop and foster a respectful, collaborative, and inclusive environment for each other, our service users, and the community. Through this environment, we promote innovation and initiative and encourage our team to grow and expand within this environment. As a team we practice an inclusive and anti-oppressive practice that dismantles and addresses discrimination, harassment, victimization, and other forms of violence against each other, our service users, and the community. We acknowledge that we strive for perfection and, on that journey, we actively engage in self-reflective practice and improve our interpersonal skills.

We Desire to Inspire Change and Opportunity for Mentors and Mentees

The program aims to help address the barriers young Black girls encounter and offset the potential outcomes associated with them. To this end, the program has seven goals:

1. providing mentors and mentees with the opportunity to give back to their own community,
2. supporting and encouraging young Black girls to achieve their goals,
3. helping young Black girls to acquire leadership skills, such as coaching, social skills, decision making, and emotional intelligence,
4. connecting girls with professionals to increase their employability skills,
5. improving their mental health and their overall well being,
6. guiding girls towards greater health and wellness, and
7. being a positive role model and representing hope and change.

            The program aims to provide six core benefits: hope, inclusion, resiliency, acceptance, courage, and unconditional love. We believe each of these can help to the issues associated with many of the social barriers that young Black girls often encounter.

Hope

            Many young Black girls do not see themselves reflected in the world around them and may feel as though there are no opportunities for them. Thus, they may be reluctant to set high goals for themselves and instead settle for less fulfilling opportunities. the purpose of the mentor mentee program, then is to ensure that they are exposed to Black women who have excelled in various fields and can serve as a role model for them. this well ideally provide them with hope so that they set goals for themselves that will be fulfilling and rewarding.

Inclusion and Acceptance

            In addition to the lack of role models that young Black women often see in broader social contexts, there is also concern with inclusion. many young Black women feel excluded from the world around them. Thus, the purpose of the mentor mentee program is to ensure that these young women no that there is a place for them and that their needs and desires are important.

Resiliency and Courage

            Because young Black women will often encounter a variety of barriers and challenges in familial, social, academic, and professional contexts, it is critical that they develop their resiliency to take on these challenges and thrive rather than allow themselves to be discouraged by the barriers. To this end, the mentor mentee program seeks to build their resiliency.

 Culturally based Knowledge

Our culture based knowledge workshops will help mentors to facilitate in an environment that is welcoming, inclusive, understanding, and created on principles for living. The workshops will also explore cultural strengths, beliefs and practices using anti-oppress approaches that will guide young women to define their identities. Since our histories are richer than an experience of oppression. In the workshops, we will learn, explore, and understand our history together that was developed by our ancestors. We will employ and encourage knowledge to enhance wisdom based on our own truths, we will learn to develop our own identities to empower ourselves for becoming strong future leaders. Wonderfully Made seeks to address the lack of culturally appropriate services and programs that understand Black women and girls’ needs and are designed specifically to meet their needs. Our program aim seeks to build connections and foster healthy relationships with the mentor and mentee program that will assess the identified target issues with a pre and post surveys.

Understanding History

Our workshops will explore history outside of what is taught in schools, and highlight excellence with African, Caribbean, Indigenous, and Asian cultures. These workshops will examine and encourage critical thinking and analysis in understanding principles and beliefs incorporated in culture, and how society was developed. Some of these workshops will examine early beliefs and practices within culture, knowledge, and healing practices. Our elders share their stories, and histories with participants, and guide them to a greater understanding of the trials and successes of their ancestors.

Group Programs

The Wonderfully Made program seeks to support young Afrocentric and Indigenous girls and women who need to enhance their cultural knowledge and connections to their elders, as well as leadership and life skills based.  While our programs are culturally based, we are open to and encourage youth from all backgrounds to attend our group as their inclusion in culturally-based programs can provide them with the essential skills needed to work with others from diverse backgrounds as well as enhance their employability skills. Likewise, through our workshops, young girls can learn and enhance their skills by developing and discovering their identity, enhancing their emotional intelligence skills, supporting their healing from past trauma and difficult experiences, and establishing goals and leading by example.

Facilitating Workshops

Workshops are led initially by a subject matter expert and focus on teaching mentors how to develop key relationships, and support youth to grow and develop.

Our Key Learning Objectives

• Successful mentor-mentee relationships are through positive changes and through mutual trust.
• Mentors and mentees grow and develop while working together and participating in workshops.
• The mentors are able to develop their own leadership styles that is unique with them.
• Workshops will train youth how to manage challenges that may occur while mentoring.
• Mentors build their capacity to develop include facilitation in delivering workshops
• Mentors learn skills to communicate with diverse people, including stakeholders and partners
• Mentors will learn how to encourage girls how to speak their truth, communicate their ideas, and generate discussions.

Mentors facilitate workshops in schools, community centres and special venues that reinforce:

• Girls are princesses and treated as emerging queens
• Girls have opportunity to connect with each other
• Girls are encouraged to engage in cultural and artistic expression
• Girls can define their own identity
• Girls can choose their own gender identity and role

Values we promote is a holistic environment promoting wellness, safety, and inclusion