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Oakville's Tafara Gwata earns scholarship
It's a proud moment for our town today as Tafara Gwata, a local youth, received an annual sum of $10,000 for up to four years as a scholarship from RBC Foundation. He will also get access to support services and mentorship opportunities as a part of the award.
He was one of the 20 Black youths aged 15-29 considered for RBC Future Launch Black Youth Scholarship's 2023 cohort.
The annual award for the second year now "recognizes both strong academic performance and community involvement" of the participants from across the country.
According to a Statistics Canada report, only 60 per cent of young Black students thought post-secondary education was possible, though 94 per cent desired it.
The Future Launch Black Youth Scholarships, a component of the Royal Bank of Canada's Action Plan Against Systemic Racism, targets to reduce barriers to the post-secondary education and training of these youth.
It will provide "$50 million in focused funding to create meaningful and transformative pathways to prosperity for up to 25,000 BIPOC youth by 2025, with investments in areas such as skills development and mentoring."
Gwata enrolled as a second-year fashion student at Toronto Metropolitan University, was nominated for the scholarship by the CEE Centre of Young Black Professionals. He has lived in Oakville since he turned 14 and believes that fashion can be his avenue to support others in his community.
Passionate about advocacy and creativity, he hopes "to aid those who don't have the opportunities we are blessed with in a less traditional light."
The scholarship launched in 2022 is available to Black youth "who are Canadian citizens, permanent residents or refugees entering grade 11 or 12, or who are enrolled in post-secondary education for the 2023-2024 academic year."
Once nominated by one of the 15 participating community partners, the participants are evaluated by "a selection committee comprised of Black leaders from academic, business, and non-profit backgrounds."
"Not only will this scholarship provide opportunities for young people who otherwise may never be able to attend post-secondary, the legacies recipients are motivated to create will generate long-lasting effects on their communities and have far-reaching impacts beyond anything we might imagine today," said Markiel Simpson, spokesperson for the BC Community Alliance.
