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FOR BY
AFRICAN CANDIAN CIVIC ENGAGEMENT BY DUNIA NUR
The African Canadian Civic Engagement Council, ACCEC, adopted a multi-layered approach to building opportunities for people of African descent. Powered by young Black leadership, ACCEC’s programs confront systemic barriers experienced by African, Caribbean, and Black communities. The Council’s mandate is to protect and promote people of African descent’s dignity and human rights while celebrating our histories and significant contributions to society worldwide. The team did not shy away from tackling issues of overrepresentation in the justice system and anti-Black racism experienced by people of African descent living in Alberta. The Council employs research, culturally safe quality programming, and advocates for policies that create pathways to healing and reconciliation from the rippling impacts of the historical atrocities of colonization, enslavement, and displacement. Currently, ACCEC has a stabilization home that supports Black youth, and an entrepreneurship program that teaches Black youth business development and marketing plans and positions them to access capital - ANZA Entrepreneurship Ecosystem. ANZA means a new beginning in Swahili. Both programs advocate for all Black youth to have an opportunity for rehabilitation, employment, education, and cultural reconnection as a protective factor from diverting them from the justice system. www.accec.ca
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