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Community Outreach Initiative

African-Canadian Community Outreach Report

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Summary

The African Canadian Knowledge Exchange gathered information at eight meetings in March and April 2008 in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland. (The Prince Edward Island community was too busy to meet the project's time constraints.)

Each meeting was an open brainstorming session where the following questions were discussed:
  • What would you identify as the learning needs of adults in the African Canadian (AC) population? (What are the learning gaps?)
  • How would you propose to meet those needs?
  • What obstacles or challenges need to be considered in order to meet the learning needs?
  • How may these challenges and obstacles be dealt with?
  • Who should be involved in the process and at what stage?

In response, most of the identified common themes are the same that were identified 14 years previously in the Black Learners Advisory Committee (BLAC) Report on Education: programming, leadership, finances and healing.

Programs

The African Canadian population indicated that there was a need for increased programming. The rural communities have limited educational opportunities with little free or affordable space in which to hold programs.

Concern was also expressed for adults who would like to further themselves but cannot afford to quit work to go back to school due to family commitments. Participants also found there was nothing in place for the under-employed who wanted to find a challenging job that would enable them to develop more skills. It was felt that if you were not on EI or Social Assistance there was no place for you to go to achieve your educational goals.

The present structures do not enable disabled adult learners to achieve their educational goals. There was also concern about the lack of programs to recognize prior experience and skills that people had acquired throughout their life—not just associated with academic learning.

Leadership

It was felt that there needed to be an umbrella organization that would take charge of adult learning needs and move the learning agenda forward. None of the recognized community organizations had taken on the role of advocating for the adult learner, developing a clear and concise process for learning and doing whatever it takes to make it happen. The feeling was that a non-profit organization should take on this challenge, as there will always be questions of sustainability and funding.

Healing

At every meeting there was some mention of healing. It was felt that negative attitudes have to be overcome for the communities to move forward. People's experiences as refugees or oppressed peoples need to be dealt with in a holistic manner.

The participants recommended that the AdLKC assist the African Canadian population develop a strategy to deal with some of the identified challenges. This would require bringing together the community organizations and community members to discuss the issues in this report and determine how we move on so that more African Canadians have a better chance of achieving their educational and economic goals/dreams.

The Black community is willing to create its own solutions but it needs the political and economic will of the Atlantic provinces to move beyond talk to action.

Recommendations

The participants came up with many recommendations including:

  • Hold another meeting in the Atlantic provinces that will bring African Canadians together to discuss the learning challenges raised by the participants. This would include African Canadian organizations that are presently in place in the Atlantic provinces.
  • The community should identify an organization in the African Canadian community to approach to determine if they would be willing to be responsible for advancing the adult learning agenda for African Canadians in the Atlantic provinces.
  • Develop a mentorship program made up of committed and concerned individuals.
  • Establish learning centres in each African Canadian community that will enable adults to have easy access to further learning opportunities.

African Canadians want to do more and to achieve more in their community. They want to live in an environment where they have the same opportunity to achieve their goals as the next person. An equal opportunity is desired to achieve their potential. African Canadians want innovative programs and/or institutions that will not open the door for some and close the door for others. They want an environment where everyone, regardless of the challenges they face, will be able to walk through the door and find a place where they can sit down, feel at home, and move forward.

Community Outreach Initiative Report Summaries

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   The Adult Learning Knowledge Centre, Community Outreach Initiative, consultation meetings, Atlantic Canada, Aboriginal, African-Canadian, Francophone, immigrants, and learners with disabilities. discussion, conclusions, recommendations, communities  Le Centre du savoir sur l’apprentissage chez les adultes, initiative de concertation communautaire, consultation avec cinq communautés, les Autochtones, les Afro-Canadiens, les Francophones, les immigrants, les personnes ayant une déficience, les discussions, les conclusions et les recommandations The Canadian Council on Learning's Adult Learning Knowledge Centre is pleased to announce the launch of five new reports related to Community Outreach Initiative.  Le Centre du savoir sur l’apprentissage chez les adultes du Conseil canadien sur l’apprentissage a le plaisir d’annoncer le lancement de cinq nouveaux rapports rattachés à son initiative de concertation communautaire.