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The 411 Initiative For Change In The Media:
"Project Ethiopia"
Toronto Sun
Ethiopia is located in eastern Africa, just west of Somalia. It's slightly less than twice the size of Texas and has an estimated population of almost 77 million people. It's at least 2,000 years old and is the oldest independent country in Africa..more
"Local Rapper Gives 411 on Ethiopia"
Toronto Sun
With a population of about 65 million people, Ethiopia is the third largest country in Africa. The life expectancy of men there is 45 years old, 46 for women. Over half the population lives below the poverty line. ..more
"Diaspora Diaries - Tamara"
Walter Gordan Duncan Foundation
Of Ethiopian, Ukrainian and Scottish descent, Dawit was different, a minority in Kanata, the suburb in Canada's capital where she spent her first 19 years...more
"Presentation Brings Message In Lively Package"
Leader-Post
HIV and AIDS education was blended with hip-hop music in a presentation given to elementary school students who gathered at Thom Collegiate on Thursday....more
"Getting the 411"
Fuel Magazine"Program Spreads the Word on Girls Rights"
Metro Canada
It’s a mock talk show with girl talk — informative and fun. And the 411 Initiative For Change is taking it to the schools....more
The Kids Are Alright
Now Magazine
A recent event in the city -- The 411 Initiative For Change -- got me thinking about some of the faux "female empowerment" messages foisted upon young women by some female hip-hop and R&B stars...more
Initiating Change in Mexico
Urbanology Online
Canadian recording artists, Eternia and Rochester, took the stage today at the 2008 International AIDS Conference in Mexico through...more
"Hiphop goes on trial: Human rights body weighs charge that rap pushes violence against women"
NOW Magazine
I'm camped out in the second-to-last row of a high school auditorium when some chatty teens behind me start whining about having to attend this, for them, mandatory assembly. It's the first performance of The Barbershop Show, a hiphop musical on a Canada-wide Human Rights Education tour, the brainchild of non-profit org the 411 Initiative for Change and sponsored by Amnesty International...more
"Singing you your rights: Your politics class just got a whole lot more interesting"
DOSE Magazine
411's current strategy is The Barbershop Show. Featuring Canadian hip-hop artist Shohn Boothe and soul singer Melanie Durrant, the production, which will tour Canadian high schools between Oct. 17 and Dec. 9, uses skits to introduce discussion related to human rights education... bolstered by a curriculum that teachers can use in the classroom. 411's approach fills in the information gaps that can be left by an artist's public declaration of support on an issue... which raises the question of how much responsibility artists should take for raising global awareness...more
"Speaking up for human rights"
OttawaXPress
A quick flashback. During the second week of October last year I wrote, "In the future, children will be taught slam poetry instead of show and tell, students will have freestyle societies instead of debating clubs, and your thesis defence will be done to a beat."...more
