A. Community Income Generation Activities( Currently not active):
With the support of the London Community Foundation(LCF) and MTCU, ACFOLA was able to sponsor small business start-ups by offering seed funding to complement the human and financial commitments of applicant groups. This process has opened avenues of entrepreneurship and self-employment that have assisted in solving the economic and employment challenges our members face. Through this process, about 15 start-ups have been supported by ACFOLA. This project is not running currently.
B. Youth and Sports
ACFOLA sees youth engagement as a critical strategic imperative. Keeping youth engaged in sport, culture, education and leadership development is one of its priorities. In that pursuit,
- the federation conducted a cultural show as a part of CANADA 150 CELEBRATION that added African-Canadians’ diverse culture to the celebration. This attracted appreciation by a lot of people. The preparatory process gave the young performers a sense of contribution, recognition and meaning which also impacted their organizing, leading, and performing skills. Similar works will be continuing to give the youth meaning, contribution and leadership experience.
- ACFOLA organized a soccer tournament that brought several teams to participate. This tournament touched the surface of the latent need of the young and ACFOLA has received great interest from the communities and individuals to make this engagement a permanent and expanded undertaking because sport, as a universal language and communication tool, can bring more inclusion and integration of African-Canadians and Canadians and other groups of different cultural background.
C. Women:
Women’s involvement in ACFOLA’s governance and various committees are critical in the growth of the federation. Women’s participation is one of the key metrics of ACFOLA’s responsiveness to women’s needs– be it at the household or/and professional level. To address this need, the better involvement of women in the federation’s affair is the bedrock of the federation’s existence and continuity. The Women’s Caucus identified supporting youth education, community building and personal development as critical in bettering the lives of female ACFOLA members. If women are supported in the education of their children and helped to grow personally and professionally, the family unit will be stronger. This has a definite impact on their children’s achievement in the formative years of early education and adolescent years of high school.
D. Finding Employment
Nelson Mandela: One of the root causes of […] poverty is the absence of jobs; nothing can be more of an assault on a person’s dignity than the inability to find work and gainful employment.
RESOURCES
In today’s economy, looking for work is not easy, but it can be done more productively if you take advantage of the employment resources offered in the community and on the web. There are a number of web-based resources to assist you in your search, the links to some of them are provided here. When you click on each one, they should open on a new tab or webpage.
Online Resources for Job Search
- Job Bank || Job Posts in London and Area
- Ontario Work Info Net || Career Planning
- City of London || Current Career Opportunities
- Ontario Public Service || Jobs Posts in London and Area (English)
- Ontario Public Service || Job Posts in London and Area (French)
- Working in Canada || Job Posts in London
- Employment Ontario || Looking for Work? Looking to Hire?
- Global Experience Ontario || Resource Centre for Internationally Trained Professionals
Self Employment Resources
- London Small Business Centre || Information and Resources for Small Business
- Canadian Youth Business Foundation || Featured Resources
- Business Development Bank || Advice Centre
- The Ontario Cooperative Association || Starting a Co-op
E. ACFOLA Professionals Network
The African-Canadian community has a wealth of educational and professional skills. The community possesses skills and education that took years to develop in Africa. This needs a network of professionals that support each other and the communities. ACFOLA wants to have a handy resource for professionals. You can be part of this developing resource and we kindly ask you to send us your contact information with brief explanation of your area of expertise to office@acfola.ca.