After losing her job during the recession of 2008, Kathryn Crooks ’13 came to Mohawk College through the Second Career funded program in 2009, where she went on to complete both the Business - General and Business Administration programs. 

Since 2018, she has been employed at the college as a math professor in the Academic Upgrading department. 

In 2019, Kathryn was honoured with an Alumni of Distinction award, and in 2020, she received the Excellence in Adult Teaching award from the Adult Basic Education Association.

As the moderator of the 2023 Black History Month Panel, we asked Kathryn to answer a few questions about her contributions to her community. 

Why do you think it’s important to give back to your community, as a moderator of this panel?

According to a study published by Pathways to Education in May 2019: Black students often face mistrust and low expectations in high school. This results in Black youth being disproportionately suspended, expelled, and streamed into Applied or Locally Developed Compulsory Credit courses. 

According to data collected for this report, Black youth report feeling discriminated against by teachers and discouraged from taking challenging courses. As a result of these practices, Black students demonstrate higher rates of leaving high school before graduating, lower post-secondary enrolment rates, and overrepresentation in precarious work when they begin employment. 

It is for these three – and the several others that I have and have yet to encounter – that I give back in this way.

What are other ways you contribute to your community or city?

In 2014, I founded a non-profit, Charity Chicks Hamilton, that provides direct care for the homeless in the downtown core. 

I was also the Co-Chair of the then Hamilton Black History Committee (now Hamilton Black History Council), leading the volunteer board and sub-committees in the hosting of the 2017 and 2018 Rev. John C. Holland Awards, Hamilton’s premier Black History Month event. 

Since 2013, my husband and I have provided mentorship support to refugee youth from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan, Afghanistan and Iran. 

I have served as a member of Mohawk’s Business and Business Administration Program Advisory Committee since 2012, beginning as a student member, and now as a legacy member.

What first influenced you to volunteer in your community?

Although I was born in Canada, I grew up in Jamaica, so when my husband and I decided to move here in 2001, my experience was just as much the “immigrant experience” as it was for him. 

I faced double discrimination as a Black woman; the stereotypes of “uneducated,” “angry” and “here to take Canadians’ jobs” (my favourite) were all around. 

In Jamaica, I had been a representative for a global research and development pharmaceutical company; in Canada, all I could get were call-centre jobs. Still, I worked hard to excel wherever I landed. 

It was when I lost my job in 2009, while on long-term disability recovering from major surgery, that our lives took a sharp downturn. We ended up on Ontario Works and experienced firsthand what it is like to have to choose between paying a bill or buying food/clothing. We had to access food banks to eat on several occasions or depend upon the generosity of others. With all that, we still considered ourselves fortunate, as we managed to keep a roof over our heads. 

It was then that I learned the misconceptions about homeless people, and sparked the birth of Charity Chicks Hamilton.

How has your life been impacted by your volunteer work?

Volunteering never fails to bring a smile to my face and joy to my heart. 

Join Kathryn and several other alumni for the Black History Month Virtual Alumni Panel on February 15 via zoom. Register today!