Salsa is the language of the soul, where emotions, rhythm, and movement come together to create a symphony of expression.
Earlier this June, AHC hosted a Health Literacy salsa class to celebrate the end of the semester for all of our literacy classes at our main office. This joyous outdoor event was a great success, with over 50 attendees stepping into the world of salsa. People of all ages and backgrounds worked up a sweat and learned beginner salsa steps set to vibrant Cuban music.
Led by Orlando, a skilled instructor from Fiesta Cubana Dance School, this class offered a welcoming and supportive environment, making it perfect for participants of all levels. As students mastered the art of salsa, they not only improved their coordination and health, they developed a greater sense of confidence and self-expression while making new friends. Whether dancing for fun, fitness, or performance, the salsa class promised an unforgettable experience and a wonderful introduction to a healthy new hobby.
If you would like to learn more about other classes offered from our Health Literacy Course, visit our Adult Literacy and Skills Development page click here.
Scroll down to view event photos!
Nurturing Minds, Transforming Lives, Championing Mental Health for a Brighter Tomorrow!
In May, AHC hosted multiple introductory mental health events to support people of all backgrounds as they learned tools for self-exploration and emotional regulation. This included our “Art-Based Support - An Introduction” Workshop where people of many ages and cultures had the opportunity to explore their identity and emotional state through their creative endeavors.
Some of the activities included participants designing drawings alongside their name that represented their identity before sharing the meaning with one another, and doing free drawings of lines that were meant to convey their emotional state before filling those lines in with objects they observed and sharing what they thought this meant. With each activity participants were able to engage in enriching conversation about their life experiences and perspectives through the art they created while making genuine connections through nurturing guidance of our experienced facilitator.
There is no telling how far a little self-reflection and social connection can go, and we are so proud to provide opportunities like this for people to have mental health tools and open themselves up to the power of other mental health services.
No matter how you are feeling and where you are in your mental health journey, please know AHC has space for you.
If you want to explore of the mental health support provided by AHC click here
View event photos here:
On Saturday, December 17, 2022, AHC hosted its annual year-end celebration at the Northgate Lions Recreation Centre.
This multicultural event aims to share, promote, celebrate and educate others about diverse heritages and promote's local business owners in the area. This family-friendly public event featured various fun interactive games, multicultural performances, immersive experiences, food and refreshments. MLA from Edmonton-Centre, David Shepherd joined us to share a holiday message.
As part of this event, participants visited various booths and answered trivia questions, highlighting the Belvedere and Balwin area with the historical cultural and economic diversity within residents, businesses and organizations. To build greater connections, sustainability will occur by creating a stronger foundation of information sharing with all residents and businesses. Communities supporting each other and standing together results in success in accessing services and unleashing the power of the community we live in.
Social interaction through gatherings such as this breaks down unfamiliarity, fear, and isolation and promotes social cohesion and peaceful coexistence amongst diverse community groups and host communities. This event is a platform for provoking meaningful connections to foster social transformation in individuals and communities.
AHC's annual year-end celebration is one of several yearly multicultural gatherings which play an essential role in promoting sustainable social and economic development for future generations as youths, adults, and seniors.
View images from the event below.
On Saturday, Apr 23, 2022, Action for Healthy Communities was represented at the Taste of Ramadan, An event organized by Al-Rashid mosque at Churchill Square and open to the public. The AHC booth was richly showcased with information from all programs and highlighted the work that the organization does, and the various populations it target. AHC stamped paraphernalia was distributed, and the AHC logo was swarming the square .
Below are some photos from the event.
The Afghan Outreach, under the leadership of the Settlement Program, organized a 2nd welcome event for Afghan Newcomers from 12 noon to 2:30 pm on Saturday, June 25, 2022.
18 Newcomer families were welcomed at the event, attended the orientation session outlining the services that Action for Healthy Communities provided, and interacted with the AHC staff on site. The attendees also received donations collected from Glenora Rotary Club and Edmonton Food Bank.
We thank the Glenora Rotary Club and the Edmonton Food Bank for this synergistic collaboration.
AHC's Settlement Program organized a series of parenting workshops in June. The first workshop held on June 1st was facilitated by a guest speaker Miriam Sekandi, who led a discussion on maintaining a positive child-parent relationship, improving learning through play, listening and responding to children, reducing family conflict, balancing work and family, and helping your children succeed in school.
On June 16th, AHC collaborated with United Way to facilitate our second parenting workshop. Participants strengthened their understanding of child development and learned new ways to play with and support their child’s development. Newcomer parents received Kid Kit donated by United Way and participated in the information and orientation session.
The final session was held on June 29th, facilitated by the AHC settlement team. Participants learned simple ideas for keeping their children safe and healthy during summer. Some topics included: using child safety seats in your vehicle, bicycle and helmet safety for children, childproofing your home, and teaching your children to make safe choices for themselves.
View images from the parenting workshops below
Throughout August 2020, AHC's Settlement Team facilitated weekly in-person workshops to help clients learn about Alberta Works online reporting tool, teaching them how to report their monthly incomes, where to report, how to manages any changes in their information and more! In addition, the program held a workshop in the last week on August to help inform newcomer families about back-to-school during the COVID-19 pandemic, how the changes will impact their children's learning, what their options for learning are, and how to continue being able to support their children's learning during this time.
Staff and clients adhered to strict COVID-19 protocols, including social distancing and masks while in the building.
Images from these workshops are below.
On Sunday, September 15th AHC's youth Art Club participated in the Art Family Festival where they participated in paper and card-making workshops and had fun watching a variety of performances. View images from the event below!
On Saturday, December 14th from 1-4 pm, AHC hosted our annual year-end celebration, themed "Communities in Action". This year's event was sponsored by the City of Edmonton and held in collaboration with the YEG Ambassadors.
The event was a great success with approx 500 participants including staff, volunteers, participants and guest performers. The fun-filled afternoon included speeches from MLA- Edmonton Centre, David Shepherd and City Councillor - Ward 6, Scott McKeen. Global TV Edmonton was on-site to capture the fun and festivities.
We had a number of special performances including an all Mauritian ensemble, Lakota Tootoosis - Hoop Dance, the Jhankar Bits Dance Group, the Horan (Syrian) Heritage Band, Qipao Club Women's Dance, and the Kurdish Children's Dance Group.
Guests were treated to a wide variety of ethnic foods courtesy of several local restaurant owners and caterers representing the middle east, Africa and Asia.
Guests were also able to visit several booths on-site and answer fun trivia questions and win prizes. Overall, the family-friendly event served as a way to bring various community members together and provide the opportunity to mix-and-mingle. This event showcased that communities supporting each other and standing together results in success across the board in building and unleashing the power of the community we live in. Communities in Action Year-end celebration is a way to celebrate a running history of contributions and achievements within the community.
View images from the event below!
To celebrate the achievements our participants have accomplished in 2019 and look forward to the future, the Adult Literacy and Skills Development Program at AHC held our annual “Celebration of learning” on Dec. 12, 2019. Over 100 participants including teachers, students and their families, performers and volunteers attended this event. Mr. Aftab Khan, AHC’s Executive Director, delivered a welcome speech to the audience. As the distinguished guest, Ms. Debbie Clark, Executive Director of Edmonton Community Adult Learning Association (ECALA), one of AHC’s founders, sent her warm greeting to the participants.
The celebration program was very rich, including presentation of certificates, learning experience sharing, teaching experience sharing, and multicultural performances - music, dance, and signing. The celebration also included door prizes, food, and Christmas gifts with Santa Claus for the Children. 65 students from our English, Computer, Senior English class and Leadership Training programs received their certificates.
Students shared their learning experience at AHC and felt very proud of themselves for the great progress and achievements they have made through participating in ALSD programs. For example, students from Senior English Class reported that many of them had very little, even zero English when they attended the class in mid-August, 2018. Only after more than one-year learning, they were able to speak some simple English daily sentences already and can do many things such as going shopping, participating in multicultural events in other communities and taking buses independently. The class sang two English songs at the celebration. Everyone was very impressed by their progress. Instructors who worked for ALSD program were very happy to see many of their students receive certificates and made incredible progress and improvement. All the participants and their families enjoyed the celebration tremendously and liked the performances presented by FV music group from University and Alberta and from our partner organization- Immigration Community Alberta Network (ICAN). In particular, the children were very happy to receive gifts kindly donated by Santa's Anonymous and have the photo with Santa Clause.
View images from the event below!
