Rahel Woldegiorgis

RAHEL WOLDEGIORGIS grew up in many working class and racialized neighborhoods across Toronto, euphemistically referred to as “high priority” neighborhoods by the City of Toronto today. She faced many obstacles that led her into a life of crime, drugs and gangs. Rahel recognized that her lifestyle needed to change if she wanted to live. She then turned to community organizing as way of challenging injustices that she herself faced and witnessed throughout her young life. Rahel decided to work with youth in her home communities and has been a restless community and student activist with an alphabet soup of organizations. Rahel is a proud alumnus of the Transitional Year Program (TYP) at the University of Toronto – a second chance program for students who lack formal qualifications to enter university. Rahel completed her Honors Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto in African Studies, History and Caribbean Studies & is currently pursuing a Masters of Arts in Social Justice and Community Engagement at Wilfrid Laurier. Her current research focuses on refugee student’s education in Canada. She is a proud mother to a brilliant eleven-year-old daughter.