On Wednesday, November 6th, senior participants from the Learning English For Daily Life (LED) program at Mill woods seniors association participated in an injury prevention workshop facilitated by Billy Smale from Alberta Health Services. Billy demonstrated safe exercise and lifting practices, safety tips for winter weather and more! Participants enjoyed some light refreshments and fun while engaging in light exercise and stretches.

View images from the event below.

On October 25, 2019, AHC hosted a youth Club parents' night which took place on Oct 25th. Parents and AHC staff shared a lot of information about AHC programs, the benefits of youth participation in various AHC afterschool programs, as well as the importance of parents' role in youth encouragement and motivation.

On October 19, 2019, AHC held a “Mental Health Fair”. At the same time, we did our third leadership training workshop on “Mental Health Matters in the Future”. The purpose of the “Mental Health Fair” was to create an opportunity for community members to raise awareness of mental health and healthcare resources and destigmatize mental illness. Most importantly, the event provided training for community leaders to take a leadership role in finding innovative community-based solutions to mental health needs for their communities.

The event was sponsored by Community Standards & Neighbourhoods, City of Edmonton. We invited four knowledgeable and experienced experts in the field as our guest speakers to provide the training. Our speakers include Vanessa Iceton, a registered psychologist from Edmonton Oliver Primary Care Network. She did a presentation on “Introduction to Mental Health”. Mark Frederick, Mental Health Therapist from the Family Centre, gave us a talk with the title “Mental Health: A Therapist's Perspective”, sharing his firsthand experience from his daily work with clients.  With the topic “Reaching out to Mental Wellness: Exploring the Role of Community Leaders”, Isaac Cherian (a Registered Provisional Psychologist from Consciousness Studio) provided a vivid metaphor with wisdom about mental health and presented some helpful strategies on improving mental wellbeing to our participants. In particular, Prof. Bo Cao from the Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, through data analytics and predictive models, gave us a profound and positive speech on  “The impacts of Artificial Intelligence on human mental health in the future”. 

Besides the workshop, the event also included a mental health resource showcase for participants provided by Edmonton Oliver Primary Care Network and Edmonton North Primary Care Network. During the break, Midnight Rendezvous, a Chinese student music group from the University of Alberta, did a fantastic performance for the audience.

The event was a success, with over 60 participants. The feedback from our audiences was very positive. They reported this was a very knowledgeable, informative and helpful training. They felt they have learned a lot of knowledge and skills about mental health from the workshop. They also appreciated all the resources they got from the resource showcase In addition, they enjoyed the performance, food and social aspect. 

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!

AHC's English Conversation Program - Learning English for Daily Living (LED), held a special year-end potluck/wrap up event for participants across its 6 locations. Participants enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate the festive season, practice their English conversational skills, and enjoy a variety of multicultural dishes. View images from the event below!

On Saturday, June 22, 2019, AHC's Youth soccer team participated in AHC's annual Community Soccer Tournament. The boys (ages 16-30) won first place in their category. Other winners of the event included the Nepalese under 16 team and the Latino Lions, who took the Masters title (over 30). View images from the event below.

On Saturday, June 15th AHC newcomer youth took a field trip to Royal Alberta Museum. For the majority of the youth, it was the first time they had the opportunity to visit a museum. They were able to learn about Canadian and Albertan history, science and interact with their peers.

View images from the trip below!

"On June 21st, 2019, AHC's entrepreneurship program held its 6th graduation ceremony for our Fall 2018 entrepreneurs. Over 60 entrepreneurs, 60% women and 40% men, were recognized during the event. The graduation ceremony happened in Edmonton City Hall. A great keynote, Mark Holmgren, special guests Edmonton Center MLA, David Shepherd, Councillor Aaron Paquette, Funders, and community partners attended this event.

Our entrepreneurs' family and friends were also there to support and encourage them in their entrepreneurship journeys. Overall, 130 people participated in the event. Entrepreneurs received their certificates and honours. 8 entrepreneurs showcased their businesses, developed business to business and business to customer relationships and presented their products and services to dignitaries, who were thrilled by their achievements." - Abdoulaye Barry, Entrepreneurship Program Lead

View images from the event below!

On Wednesday, June 19th, AHC held an open house followed by its 24th Annual General Meeting. The event saw more than 140 participants come out to take a tour of the building, learn more about our programs and supports, meet many of our staff, volunteers, community and board members and enjoy some refreshments.

During this past year, we have provided support to more than 10,000 individuals, including families, youth and children, through our capacity-building support, programs and services. This could not be done without the leadership and commitment of our dedicated staff and network of 300+ volunteers.

We have also built meaningful relationships with various stakeholders and partners in small towns to expand our support to the underserved newcomer population groups in those towns. We have been part of a community that has played a leadership role to make Edmonton and Alberta a better place for all of us. We have also expanded to close to 50 program sites including 33 schools. Most recently, we have begun providing supports in small-town centres including Cold Lake and Camrose..

We are thankful to our funders, partners and stakeholders for their continued support and guidance to make 2018 a successful year for us and we strongly believe that with their ongoing support we will be able to take on new challenges and help more people to successfully integrate into society.

View images from the event below.

On August 10, 2019, AHC held its annual youth soccer tournament. The event was very successful and well organized with more than 100 newcomer youth participants. A special thanks to Pizza Hut and Paradise sweet shop who donated Pizza and sweets to the youth after the games. View images from the event below.

On Saturday, April 13 Luciana Erregue-Sacchi, EAC Artist in Residence at A4HC organized the multilingual reading event Reading as Place. Edmonton Poet Laureates Alice Major and Anna Marie Sewell were amongst the appreciative audience. Writers Yasser Abdel-Latif, Leilei Chen, Lisa Dublin, Mila Bongco, and Luciana herself read works in Arabic, Tagalog, Mandarin, Creole, and Spanish.

Stay tuned for her Spoken Word event on May 4.