Kenyan Canadian Association (KCA) held the strategic planning work­ shop for its top leadership team comprising Program Chairs and Regional Chairs based in Ontario, Canada..

The strategic planning workshop held on November 12, 2022, at Turn­ berry Golf Club in Brampton was facilitated through the support of the Black Canadian Communities Initiative (SBCCI) FUND.

SBCCI was created by the federal government through Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to help build the capacity of grassroots not-for-profit organizations serving Black communities in Canada. SBCCI FUND is aiding selected black-led or black-serving not-for-profits to increase financial support, gain greater organizational stability, and improve their leadership, communication, transparency, and growth.

KCA is a federal not-for-profit organization with 19 regions across Canada. The organization seeks to address the issues affecting marginalized Canadians, especially those of Kenyan origin, the black communities and visible minorities, while assisting newcomers to settle and make a positive contribution in society as they endeavour to achieve their goals..

Quoting Peter Tosh, ” Don’t care where you come from, as long as you are Black, you are an African”, Mr. Asante used the opportunity to reach out to all Blacks and people of African descent from all corners of the world, especially the Caribbean, that the ACSDC was an all-inclusive group and welcomed all to work together.

Wishing you all a very happy New Year. The year 2022 was filled with difficulties and disappointments, yet most of our community agencies thrived despite the challenges posed by their circumstances.

What does 2023 have in store for us – the Black community? A few weeks ago, the Mayor of Toronto, John Tory, announced that a significant amount of additional funding will be given to the Toronto Police Service to “keep our streets safer”. While police services are necessary for a well-functioning society, critics say that this increase in the police budget will rob the already underserved communities of funding to support other critical social services. An overwhelming amount of research exists on how to alleviate anti-black racism and lslamophobia in our communities, yet these issues still persist. Anti-Racism efforts in our schools and workplaces don’t seem to be effective enough. However, judging by the effectiveness of our recent conference, I propose that all places of work and educational institutions require annual training to combat the negative impact on our society posed by anti-black racism and lslamophobia.

This increase in the Toronto Police’s budget, which is aimed at expanding the size of the police force (and not improving the quality of police training), will almost certainly exacerbate the issue of over-policing, particularly of racialized communities. While the city of Toronto boasts that it spends incredible amounts on anti-Black racism efforts, it will be spending 100 times that amount on the same police force that arbitrarily criminalizes and harasses Black and other racialized people.

ACSDC was registered in 2002 with a current membership of eighty-seven(87) organizations.

Our Programs and Team:

• A) Research
• B) Advocacy
• C) Education
• D) Relief Aid Services
• E) Community Development
• President – Nene Kabu Asante
• Lead Editor – Solomon Aremu
• Contributing Editor – Wofa Yaw Nyarko / Creativity and Design – Crystals Arts (Rose Mensah)
• Contributors – Jamila Aman, Vivian Yorrick & James Nyarko