African Community Wellness Initiative
480 Charles St E N2G 4K5 Kitchener, ON, Canada

Thank you Lunaira for spotlighting the African Community Wellness Initiative as part of the #12days4good Campaign!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/7xv34-protect-our-youth

Do what you can today!

The African Community Wellness Initiative denounces police violence and the excessive use of force against African, Caribbean and Black-Identifying children and youth in the Waterloo Region. Please respond to this call for support and join the effort to #ProtectBlackYouth and #EndPoliceViolence in the Waterloo Region.

Bongeziwe Mabandla for your autumn healing playlist #BlackCulturalArts #HealingArts #africanindigneous https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp5DNHxWMaU&feature=emb_logo

Learn more about Civilian-Led Crisis Intervention Teams. In response to the over-policing of our communities, ACWI supports Civilian-Led Crisis-Intervention in the Waterloo Region that is shaped by Anti-Racist Anti-Colonial models and is Culturally Responsive to the needs of African, Caribbean and Black-Identifying Communities. https://reachouttoronto.ca/safety-facts

All Africans from Waterloo Region and surrounds are invited to the African Canadian Association (ACAWRA) Annual General Meeting on November 28th at 4:00 pm. "Join us and help choose your Association leadership, learn how you can get involved and to shape the future of this organization and our community. Have your say! And share this invitation with your networks. Please note, in order to attend and vote and at the meeting, you will need to be registered at this event link,... using your real name. Together, we are stronger, and can accomplish more! If you have any questions please email [email protected]." Thank you and we look forward to seeing you! https://bit.ly/3mOaXnb See more

Our new fave . . . #JerusalemaDanceChallenge #Setswana #AfricanIndigneous

A report on the Black-led initiatives that received support from BLMs June Financial Mobilization Action!

We are proud of our the Young City Growers interns and everything they have accomplished this season. <3 #FoodJustice #BlackYouthLed

Thank you Four Fathers Brewing Co. for this awesome initiative and support for our Black-led work in the Waterloo Region <3 #blackisbeautifulbeer

A report on the Black-led initiatives that received support from BLM's June Financial Mobilization Action!

Young City Growers is a valued program and provides a much needed land-based engagement for our youth! Follow the YCG Facebook page to learn more about the experience of some awesome young people who are leading the local food justice movement! #YoungCityGrowers #FoodJustice #BlackYouthLed

These are relatively small but very significant steps towards decolonizing our Black Ancestral Indigenous Lands. It would also be good to see our sacred waterfalls and great lakes inappropriately named Victoria and other colonial names of landmarks and natural spaces be named in ways that affirm and reflect African Indigenous land-based stories and histories. This is a movement that may start with language but needs to point towards a returning of natural resources to Indigenous Peoples on Indigenous lands everywhere that have suffered a history of racist colonization.

A Black warrior woman-led African Indigenous Resurgence will guide us. #backtotheland #BlackLiberationMovement #AfricanIndigeneityMatters... #BlackLivesMatter #BlackWomensLivesMatter See more

So significant.

The participation of people of African descent in shaping solutions to the issues that impact our wellness should never be framed as controversial. It is anti-Black and part of a racist colonial history to do so. Seven years ago when Black people started saying that "Black Lives Matter" in response to police violence and in an effort to shape the public culture to value our humanity it was framed as controversial and that was racist. Now Black community members are calling ...Continue reading

Our fundraising campaign has been gaining traction and doing great! We can do this! #BlackLivesMatter #WeSeeYourSupport https://gf.me/u/x58wvf

A March for Black Lives Matter is taking place this week. We invite your support. We are also aware that we are in the middle of a pandemic and that our communities are disproportionately affected. If you are elderly, differently-abled or living with underlying health conditions that increases your vulnerability during this pandemic, please know that the march will also be streamed through Black Lives Matter - Waterloo Region facebook page. We continue to stand in solidarity by people of African descent impacted by police violence locally and internationally. #BlackLivesMatter

https://www.theglobeandmail.com//article-ontarios-lack-o/

Join us for a panel discussion on climate justice following the climate strike this Friday!

Wednesday October 23 | 6:00PM - 7:30PM Waterloo Book Launch @ St. Pauls University College - Auditorium A Violent History of Benevolence traces how normative h...istories of liberalism, progress, and social work enact and obscure systemic violences. Chris Chapman and A.J. Withers explore how normative social work history is structured in such a way that contemporary social workers can know many details about social works violences, without ever imagining that they may also be complicit in these violences. Framings of social work history actively create present-day political and ethical irresponsibility, even among those who imagine themselves to be anti-oppressive, liberal, or radical. https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/waterloo-book-launch-a-violent-

https://www.npr.org//toni-morrison-whose-soaring-novels-we

Check out our YCG Summer Market @ Veritas Cafe! Drop by tomorrow morning at 11am to 1:30 for some bushel deals on fresh produce, we have extra kale, swiss chard and basil!

The ACB Network - Coordinator Job Posting is due today! Please circulate in your network: https://issuu.com//docs/acb_network_coordinator_2019_job_po

JOIN US FOR THE RACIAL JUSTICE NETWORK - SPRING CIRCLE ON JUNE 27 at 6:30 PM

Planting season is underway at Young City Growers! Community members of all ages can join in the food justice fun by volunteering on site on Saturday mornings. Email [email protected] if you wish to volunteer/participate. #urbanagriculture #foodjustice #racialjustice #landbasedlearning... #landbasedfun #ycg See more

The amazing Afro-Fusion Dance Ensemble from Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute performing at #thegahuproject event.

Many thanks to CTVs Stu Gooden for this great coverage of #thegahuproject! We had about 350 students from local schools gather Downtown Kitchener yesterday to perform the Gahu, an Afro-Indigenous Cultural art form that involves song, drumming and dancing. It was amazing to journey with local music educators and students from WRDSB and WLU on this project, with special thanks to educators Brennan Connolly (WLU) and Joshua Hill (Cameron Heights) for inviting your colleagues ...and departments to support this process. Also it as great to have youth leaders from the Sunnydale Community Hub partner with us on this project. Amazing leadership on all involved promoting Black Cultural Arts in local schools and advocating for more inclusion of Black students in local music programs. Thank you for advancing racial justice in our education system. Also so many thanks to Ghanaian Master Drummer Kwasi Dunyo for leading us in Gahu. A memorable day for all involved. https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/in-your-backyard

Dont miss this Sundays Music and Racial Justice panel conversation as we explore ways to make music education more inclusive to our African, Caribbean and Black- Identifying Students. https://www.facebook.com/events/455869941842529/

A presentation by the CHCI Gahu Research Students. The students pictured here are co-researchers on a WLU led and SSHRC funded study on the impacts introducing Black Cultural Arts in local schools. Here they are helping lead the crowd in a traditional South African "Amandla" mobilizing call to anti-racist action before sharing more about their work. We are so proud of their hard work and leadership creating systemic change in local education through Participatory Action Research!

The amazing Afro-Fusion Dance Ensemble from Cameron Height's Collegiate Institute performing at #thegahuproject event.

Many thanks to CTV's Stu Gooden for this great coverage of #thegahuproject! We had about 350 students from local schools gather Downtown Kitchener yesterday to perform the Gahu, an Afro-Indigenous Cultural art form that involves song, drumming and dancing. It was amazing to journey with local music educators and students from WRDSB and WLU on this project, with special thanks to educators Brennan Connolly (WLU) and Joshua Hill (Cameron Heights) for inviting your colleagues ...and departments to support this process. Also it as great to have youth leaders from the Sunnydale Community Hub partner with us on this project. Amazing leadership on all involved promoting Black Cultural Arts in local schools and advocating for more inclusion of Black students in local music programs. Thank you for advancing racial justice in our education system. Also so many thanks to Ghanaian Master Drummer Kwasi Dunyo for leading us in Gahu. A memorable day for all involved. https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/in-your-backyard

Don't miss this Sunday's Music and Racial Justice panel conversation as we explore ways to make music education more inclusive to our African, Caribbean and Black- Identifying Students. https://www.facebook.com/events/455869941842529/

We are excited to invite you to this event taking place next Sunday, May 5th at Kitchener City Hall: A Racial Justice and Music Panel

We have the exciting opportunity to partner with The Gahu Project. A Racial Justice Community Music Initiative. Gahu Project workshops are being hosted in local high schools over the next few weeks, leading up to a mass performance at Kitchener City Hall on May 6th. Follow ACWI on Instagram to stay updated on this and other exciting community initiatives! And follow The Gahu Project at https://www.instagram.com/thegahuproject/

Amazing research being led by Anne Marie Beals https://www.wlu.ca//laurier-doctoral-student-helping-give-

This Thursday is the UN Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination - join us for the 2nd Annual Forum on Anti-racism being hosted by Kitchener Public Library - 85 Queen speaker series to learn more about local efforts to address systemic racism

Sending love and prayers to our Muslim friends and family around the world.

We are engaged in a process to create a community network for African, Caribbean and Black individuals and organizations. The second community consultation is being hosted on January 26th!

Please confirm your attendance to our first 2019 Racial Justice Network Meeting on Jan 10th @ 6 PM

ARE YOU AFRICAN, CARIBBEAN OR BLACK-IDENTIFYING? WE WOULD LOVE TO CONNECT WITH YOU! JOIN US FOR A COMMUNITY CONVERSATION!!! Monday, November 5th at 6pm... WLU Faculty of Social Work, 120 Duke St. W., Kitchener.

We will be posting some Healing Justice podcast resources and invite our Racial Justice Network members to use as these resources as needed to support individual and collective liberation work and strengthen movement spaces.

2018 Black Brilliance Conference at the Waterloo Region District School Board office. Sourced from: https://twitter.com/wrdsb/status/1068514286216065024

https://twitter.com/wrdsb/status/1068514286216065024 Last year we (RJN) began a conversation with the Waterloo Region District School Board re: better supports for our African, Caribbean and Black-Identifying students at our Racial Justice Network Meetings. We spent the 2017-2018 school year visiting local high schools with WRDSB staff and listening to local students voices on issues important to them. The Black Brilliance Conference held on Nov 30th was one of the resultin...g actions resulting from the work and input of Black students from seven local high schools. Congratulations on a wonderful event. Thanks to all the community leaders/orgs that got involved and the support of WRDSB staff! Thank you!!! Education Justice for Black youth continues to be at the top of our collective agendas as local Black organizations. Through the Racial Justice Network and our roles on the EIAG we want to continue to uplift students as they advocate for more supports in schools. The numbers of Black educators and administration at WRDSB is alarmingly low, our communities continue to be marginalized through hiring practices. There is more work to be done on inclusive curriculum and pedagogy. Our students need more spaces and supports for cultural and racial identity formation in schools. The Black Brilliance Conference that was held at the WRDSB Education Centre made for a historic moment for the focused, evidence-informed engagement of Black students by our school board. It is the result of decades and years of advocacy by predominantly African and Caribbean women grassroots community activists , Black educators, Black researchers, Black grassroots organizations running programs in schools, Black practitioners and especially Black students who have struggled to keep the issues visible in our predominantly white mid-sized Ontario city schools over the decades, often with minimal support and from a place of marginalization. It is this cumulative history of intergenerational Black labour in the Waterloo Region that has birthed the moment we are in where our voices are beginning to be heard. Thank you for your labour! To all our African, Caribbean and Black-Identifying students, we look forward to bearing witness to your brilliance in all your diversity as you shape your own educational spaces and experiences. YOUR COMMUNITY IS SO PROUD!!! #BlackBrillianceConference #StudentLed Waterloo Collegiate Institute Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School Jacob Hespeler Secondary School Glenview Park Secondary School Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute Galt Collegiate Institute and Vocational School African Canadian Association of Waterloo Region & Area Caribbean Canadian Association of Waterloo Region Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council