A conversation with Candies Kotchapaw on COVID, Inequality, and Black communities
叠测听Stephania Varalli
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I first met Candies Kotchapaw at the Top 25 Women of Influence celebration on March 3, where we听听for the work she鈥檚 been doing as the founder of听听(DYLOTT), a leadership incubator focused on Black youth.
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The inspiration for DYLOTT came from Candies鈥�听听鈥� she holds Master and Bachelor degrees in Social Work, and a diploma in Child and Youth Work 鈥� and an understanding of the need to make spaces of influence more accessible for Black communities, from education to corporations to the public sector. She鈥檚 now at home with her 7-year-old and 17-month-old, figuring out how to pivot DYLOTT to best serve Black communities in need, and how to听.听
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Much like with听, a conversation about the impact of COVID on Black communities extends much further than health. While Candies sees an opportunity for positive change, it鈥檚 clearly a challenging road ahead.听
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听The interview has been edited for length.听
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Let me start by asking, how are you doing?
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I was having a conversation with another BIWOC person today, about how Black community members are sharing their experiences, and people are in shock that this actually happens in Canada. And I said to her, I don鈥檛 think I鈥檝e ever been as triggered as much as I am triggered now. And it鈥檚 because of the spotlight 鈥� all of the sudden, all these things are being put out in the open, and discussions are raw, and conversations are really hitting the core of what we鈥檝e been experiencing for such a long time. So how I鈥檓 doing is,听I鈥檓 not sure.听
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There are times that I have media trauma. With social media and mainstream media, everything comes home with you. It鈥檚 in your living room, it鈥檚 in your bedroom, it鈥檚 in your kitchen 鈥� wherever we have a screen, it鈥檚 there with you. And Black community members have been put on the stage, and now we are expected to perform, in a way that we鈥檝e never been conditioned to perform, nor have we been given the opportunity to prepare. I鈥檝e never been invited to speak this much in all the years that I鈥檝e been active in program development. The best term that I can use is just truly overwhelmed by it all.听听听听
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And through all of this, you鈥檙e figuring out how to keep DYLOTT moving forward. How has that journey been?
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Before COVID-19 hit, we had just come off our closing activities for 2019. After having experienced a tremendous amount of success for our pilot year in different programs, we were ready to bring them to other Black communities across Ontario and then nationally. Over October, November, and December we were building our strategic direction 鈥� operationally, financially, and in terms of the personnel that we鈥檙e going to bring on board 鈥� and had started conversations about going after an Ontario Trillium Foundation Grow Grant. That would have been multi-year funding, so we wouldn鈥檛 have to be in the precarious position of looking for funding every single year.
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In January, we started to write the grant and were communicating with potential partners to come on board and support the program. By February, COVID started to take root and our steering committee and our board members began to talk about what we should do. By March, everything was shut down. Fortunately, we were already doing virtual conferencing 鈥� everybody who is in DYLOTT works full-time, or has part-time work or school work 鈥� so we were doing conference calls at 9:30 at night when our children went to bed.听
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And what about that strategic growth plan? Are you continuing in the direction you were discussing, or has COVID changed things?听
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The work really has shifted from 鈥楬ow do we prepare to roll out our current programs?鈥� to 鈥業s there an opportunity to prepare Black youth for the transition into the future of the work?鈥� Because we know that the digital age is already here and our communities are already left behind.
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When COVID hit and we had to adjust to learning at home, there were pockets of information coming out saying that Black communities don鈥檛 have access to reliable Internet, we don鈥檛 have access to reliable technology. We already knew those things were happening 鈥� but it was an opportunity for us to say听we need to create access to those technologies that are going to be mandatory in the digital age, during the recovery period and beyond.听
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That鈥檚 a mountain of a job, because how do we reach out to these people using the virtual space when they don鈥檛 have the access to the virtual space? That鈥檚 a road-map that we need to create to make sure that we don鈥檛 leave anybody behind, but we recognize that is going to be slow, it鈥檚 going to be long, and I鈥檓 sure it鈥檚 going to be treacherous.听
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Looking at the issue of learning from home, the Ontario government made big announcements about distributing laptops and tablets to听disadvantaged students 鈥� but it鈥檚 community organizations like DYLOTT that are recognizing the gaps in the program.听Should the government be working with you more closely on efforts like distributing learning devices?听
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I absolutely think we should take the lead here, because we know those communities that we鈥檙e working with, and have an understanding of the needs of the people who participate in our programs. We can provide training, and help families to adjust to the new demands and technological requirements that they鈥檙e being presented with. The assumption is that we just provide them with the technology and they will figure it out. That鈥檚 not always the case.
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I can draw on the example of my seven-year-old daughter. She had a Google Meet meeting every Wednesday with her teacher and her classmates for an hour. The only thing I got from her teacher and from the TDSB [Toronto District School Board] is: 鈥楬ere is the link to the Google Meet, and the time. Log on when it鈥檚 time.鈥� I could figure it out, but what about those families who are technologically illiterate? What about those families that have children with a learning disability, with autism, with all the other challenges that come, the exceptionalities that children have? What do you do to support those families?听
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I think the assumption is that people will just get by and figure it out, but you can鈥檛 have those assumptions when you鈥檙e dealing with a population of people that have already been marginalized within society. COVID really has rolled back the curtain on all the inequities that exist.
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鈥淚 think the biggest positive that I can take from COVID is that it has opened up the lines of communication, where I think they were locked or non-existent before. Even through social media, there鈥檚 access to people that I think before as a Black person I would have never had the opportunity to engage with.鈥�
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For DYLOTT to provide these services, you need funding. You鈥檝e set up a听, but that鈥檚 far from the multi-year support you were hoping to secure at the beginning of the year. What does the financial part of this equation look like?听
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At the end of April,听. That generated a lot of interest of course from community organizations. We had several different workshops on how to apply for this grant and how to gain visibility. But the thing that I realized about this whole process, is that if you鈥檙e not a well-established organization, if you haven鈥檛 been around for a long time, or if you don鈥檛 have a mechanism that you鈥檙e connected to other organizations that have visibility, you get passed over, always.
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While at DYLOTT we were talking about, 鈥楬ow do we put an application together?鈥�,听 other organizations were already out there doing that work, they were already planning their response, and how they would access the funding that was out there. We could not get a hold of anyone. No one was listening to us. We were floundering in a way, because we didn鈥檛 have visibility.
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That day when I decided to put听听and I tagged Jan [Frolic, SVP at Women of Influence], I tagged her because I knew that in order for us to get a support team, someone else who knew about us had to pick it up. That鈥檚 the only way that an organization like DYLOTT can get any support.听 And when we got visibility, now all of a sudden a lot of people are calling and they鈥檙e all saying, 鈥淗ey, what are you guys doing?鈥�
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It鈥檚 not that organizations aren鈥檛 doing the work, they do the work and they鈥檙e doing very important and impactful work, but if someone else doesn鈥檛 recognize the value that the organization is providing, that work gets unnoticed and they end up falling by the wayside.听
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And what about at the community level, the individuals that you work within your programs? Or other organizations in this space? What are you hearing from them?听
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What we鈥檙e hearing is the things that we already knew existed, the challenges that we already knew existed 鈥� like mental health, which was never a priority area for social determinants of health for Black communities. All of a sudden, it鈥檚 a priority. If all of a sudden it鈥檚 a priority 鈥� we never got a chance to sit down and deconstruct what mental health looks like within that community, and we鈥檙e expected to have solutions for all those challenges, we鈥檙e expected to have the people who can address those challenges.
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For me as a social worker, I know for a fact that there aren鈥檛 enough Black mental health workers to support our community, because there has never been that focus put on the need to provide Black mental health services.听
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Also, of course, the challenge with technology and the barriers that presents. One of the questions that we鈥檙e discussing with organizations like ours is 鈥榃hat training do we need to provide?鈥�
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But what agency do we have to answer that expert question? I don鈥檛 feel like I鈥檓 an expert right now. That鈥檚 the reality. I think it certainly is an opportunity to address something, but I think it鈥檚 unrealistic to expect that we have all the answers, especially right upfront, right now. We need the space to figure out strategies to address all the different social determinants that are happening all at one time.
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What in all this gives you hope? Is there anything that is happening because of COVID that you believe can help us build a better future?听
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Yes. Definitely. Even in all this horribleness, all the terrible, tragic impact that COVID has brought with it, I would be remiss if I didn鈥檛 say that COVID has brought many opportunities for people who are Black and for people to collaborate. I think the biggest positive that I can take from COVID is that it has opened up the lines of communication, where I think they were locked or non-existent before. Even through social media, there鈥檚 access to people that I think before as a Black person I would have never had the opportunity to engage with.
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The major thing that gives me hope is that people are recognizing the value of contribution from Black communities. They are recognizing that there is capacity for agency within Black communities. And they are recognizing that there are a plethora of experiences that are valuable.听
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Now, the spotlight is being shone on our communities, and we鈥檙e saying, 鈥楬ey, there鈥檚 an opportunity for self-governance. There鈥檚 an opportunity for economic independence. There鈥檚 an opportunity for collaboration on a level that there has never been.鈥� I鈥檓 certainly very happy for that.
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Throughout the pandemic we’ve heard the phrase “We’re all in this together” 鈥� but are we?听Looking closer, the impact of COVID-19 is not equal for all. The听30% Club Canada听and Women of Influence are partnering on听听鈥� a series that amplifies the voices of community leaders, sharing unique challenges and thoughts on how we can build a better, more inclusive future.
