By now, many in Toronto know his name. He is an accomplished author, award-winning poet, entrepreneur, and an amazing entertainer. In his various mediums of work, he speaks of the many injustices and issues that plague our society today, including racism, sexism, violence, materialism, and poverty, just to name a few. But many may not even realize that Dwayne Morgan is also active in the community as an avid public speaker, trying to help grow our most precious asset: our youth.
Dwayne spends much of his time speaking to youth about various social issues and pushing for active participation to help implement some of the changes that our society needs. He has spoken at over 100 schools in the nation and also works closely with the 411 Initiative for Change, a non-profit organization geared towards providing educational entertainment for children and youth in our schools. Established about 3-4 years ago in Ottawa, they now have a presence in both Ottawa and Toronto. Last year, Dwayne toured across Canada with them on an HIV awareness initiative.
Dwayne says that he has received great responses from both the youth and faculty regarding his speaking endeavours. He credits this to the fact that many of the topics that he covers revolve around events in his own life.
"The kids are always really receptive because I don't speak down to them or look down on them. I speak about things that are relevant to them; they can leave and apply what they've learned. I speak at their level. They even hit me up on myspace and wrote me feedback about what I've talked about, which is really positive." Dwayne says.
Dwayne also states that he receives equally positive responses from teachers and staff when he speaks. He also receives a lot of messages from teachers who provide him with not only positive feedback and praise but also many referrals to speak at other schools and events.
"I also get great feedback from the teachers about the impact I've had on them and the students. Because my messages are universal, not only students can get something from what I say. I talk a lot about identifying what changes they would like to see in society and try to encourage people to take action against some things they see that they don't necessarily agree with."
In addition to social issues, Dwayne also talks with youth about making plans for success and about some key elements that he has used to become successful in his field that he feels can be applied to any other field with the same results.
"It just comes down to having an idea and being willing to put in the work behind that idea," Dwayne says. Having founded his own entertainment company, Up From The Roots, over a decade ago, Dwayne is no stranger to hard work or great ideas. In the interest of reaching a larger number of youth to spread his messages, and in celebration of Black History Month, Dwayne has created an inspirational seminar called Planting the Seeds of Positive Change. In association with Knowledge Bookstore, A Different Booklist, and the 411 Initiative for Change, the main purpose of this seminar is to help students explore how we can all create positive change in our lives and communities through literacy.
It ventures to teach youth how they can affect positive change through literacy, effective decision-making, and finding positive means of self-expression, as well as creating an awareness and appreciation of the things they can do in their own communities to create change.
"This is my first such event. I spend a lot of time being invited to schools to speak and never end up being able to fit everybody in. I figured that if I came up with an event where the students could come out and hear what I have to say, the teachers could bring the students to me," Dwayne says.
Stating that he never has any "scripting" when speaking,he feels that speaking from the heart keeps his subject matter fresh and relevant.
"As things come up in society, I will always use examples of current things so that kids can relate to the topics I discuss. None of my talks are static; they change all the time, so anything happening in our society at the time will likely end up a topic of conversation at some point," he says.
Even though much of Dwayne's focus is on social issues that he himself feels strongly about, he insists that his purpose is not to convince anyone to adopt any specific focus but rather to encourage people to identify what is actually relevant to them and act on it.
"I leave it up to every individual to decide what is important to them. It's a matter of ''What are you passionate about right now?'' so that years from now, people can read or learn about your contributions to this world as part of its history."
Planting the Seeds of Positive Change will take place on Friday, February 23rd, 2007, at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts (27 Front St. E.). The first session will be at 10 a.m., and the second will be at 1 p.m.
For more information about this event, contact 647-284-9135 or visit www.stlc.com. For more information about Up From the Roots, please visit www.upfromtheroots.ca
For more information about the 411 Initiative for Change, please visit www.whatsthe411.ca.
