YouthScape - Stories

The Story of Emergency Response Dance Crew
Halifax, Nova Scotia

The Dartmouth North Community is sometimes perceived to be a “bad neighbourhood” but Carlos Beals is helping to change that. With the support of a grant from YouthScape, he created the Emergency Response Dance Crew (E.R.D.C).

This program involves older youth instructing younger youth in hip hop dance in order to help strengthen self-confidence, increase peer support and physical activity and promote leadership skills. It was Carlos’ hope that this program would help show the positive contributions youth can make and break some of the negative stereotypes that exists.

A big part of this program’s success is because of Carlos’ leadership, which he has become recognized for in the Dartmouth North community. It is very clear how much Carlos cares about his community and is proud to be a mentor to other youth. However, it is not just other youth who look up to him. Many adults in the community admire and respect Carlos and appreciate his dedication.

Another element to E.R.D.C’s success is its brand. They have uniforms for each of the participants, which were recently added to when the Halifax Regional Police donated some bulletproof vests. They also received a donation of custom kit bags from Trevor Zinck, their local MLA and a big supporter of Carlos’ efforts. It really is something to watch when they are all performing in their uniforms, with their flashing police lights and custom music.

Carlos credits YouthScape for being the first to believe in his idea and trust him with funds to support his youth-led community project. With this grant, he was then able to leverage other funds to take his plans to the next level successfully.

Although the youth have had many opportunities to perform publicly (including a performance for the Mayor) this is not all that this program is about. The youth feel they are more confident and have become more physically active since joining the program. As well, they feel like they are connected and involved in their community and they enjoy being recognized for their hard work.

This program has been such a success that the community wanted to see it continue. Carlos has been able to secure other funding and will be continuing the program. He and his team have worked really hard to build a strong foundation and are excited about continuing to inspire young people in Dartmouth North through dance.

Congratulations to Carlos and members of the ERDC!