Empowering Montreal's black community
If you are black and live in Quebec, you are twice as likely to be unemployed: according to the 2006 Census, 13.4 per cent of African-Canadians were out of work, compared to 6.6 per cent of the general population. Twenty-three per cent of black women over the age of 15 were single parents — that’s almost one in four, nearly double the provincial average.
The African-Canadian Development and Prevention Network (ACDPN) and Concordia’s Sustainable Communities Partnership are seeking to change these statistics.
On July 18, they are hosting a public roundtable discussion at the university to address the disparities facing blacks in education, employment, income and health, with a focus on reducing numbers in the provincial youth protection system.
The event was organized to coincide with the annual conference of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African-American college women in the United States. Members of the 2,300-strong sorority have been invited to act as panellists.
“The black community will be presenting a portrait of the challenges they face,” says Leith Hamilton, ACPN’s project manager. The American visitors “will be able to show examples of successful partnerships between black communities and universities, so that we can learn from them, and try to replicate them.”
The roundtable also shines a spotlight on the new partnership between Concordia’s Centre for Human Relations and Community Studies (CHRCS) and the ACDPN. The centre is lending its support to two main initiatives: a participative planning process that aims to get Montreal’s black families more access to prevention resources, and the development of an undergraduate certificate for community workers.
Hamilton says these two initiatives are important steps towards building a stronger community — one that can address existing public policies that marginalize its members. “The participatory part is very important, because the government will only change when they’re forced to, and we’ve really got to mobilize a large segment of the black community to demand that change.”
The ACDPN’s long-term plan is to draft a roadmap for policy and program reforms, designed to increase social support, and present it to the Government of Quebec.
Don de Guerre, chair of Concordia’s Department of Applied Human Sciences and a member of the CHRCS, says the new partnership with the ACDPN capitalizes on the Concordia centre’s community-based, interactive approach to research, which emphasizes experiential learning.
“That is turning out to be a very nice combination for the black community,” he says. The project may still be in the planning stages, but “we’re starting to get excited.”
Before the public roundtable gets under way, Alpha Kappa Alpha’s 24 board members will attend a welcome breakfast hosted by Bram Freedman, Concordia’s vice-president of Development and External Relations and secretary-general.
What: Roundtable Forum on Strengthening Black Families
When: Thursday, July 18, 2013, 9 to 11 a.m.
Where: Room 2.210, John Molson School of Business Building, 1450 Guy St., Sir George Williams Campus
Related links:
• The Centre for Human Relations and Community Studies
• Department of Applied Human Sciences
• Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority