In an effort to support Black youth within Toronto\u2019s skateboard community, Oldowan Co. created Canada\u2019s first Black skateboard collective to foster connections, mentorship and safe spaces around the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin the skateboard industry itself, Black youth are widely underrepresented and require additional financial support to even participate in the sport,\u201d said Carolyn Douse, the company and collective\u2019s founder and director. \u201cOldowan Blackboard Collective aims to give Black youth the opportunity to inhabit spaces without barriers of financial burden - our purpose is to build platforms of support, empowerment and equal opportunities within the skateboarding community for all Black youth across the GTA [Greater Toronto Area] and Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oldowan Co. was started in 2013 as a Black-owned clothing company and created the collective when Douse and her team saw that several Black skateboarders did not know each other, and there was a need for to build community and further opportunities for them.<\/p>\n
Douse said 50 per cent of all profits from the clothing sales go towards supporting Black youth in the collective, through mentorship and sponsorship.<\/p>\n
Since beginning the collective about two years ago, Douse said the growing community have embraced Oldowan\u2019s initiatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think so for us really, the impact that we have been able to have on the [skate]community is solely because we\u2019ve able to be embraced by our community. As we move forward, one of the things that is important to us is being able to grow our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the collective's past initiatives include co-organizing the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Skate for Solidarity event that saw hundreds of skateboarders, bikers and roller skaters from across the GTA and Durham Region gather in support of the BLM protests happening globally on Juneteenth in 2020.<\/p>\n