On Saturday, July 13, 2019, AHC held its
3rd annual multicultural talent show.
The event was well attended with more
than 300 participants who engaged
the crowd in song, dance, music and entertainment showcasing their diverse
and wonderful array of talents. Staff and volunteers also provided henna and
activities for the children.

At this event, we invited members of the Cree, Dene, Metis and numerous other Indigenous nations in Treaty No. 6 as many of our community members are newcomers to amiskwacîwâskahikan ᐊᒥᐢᑲᐧᒋᐋᐧᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ Edmonton, and we looked forward to providing the community more opportunities to learn more about Indigenous experiences, rights and culture.  An opening Land Acknowledgement and a Cree prayer was presented by Lloyd Cardinal, who shared some of the Cree History and sang a wonderful Cree song.

Social bonds can be improved greatly through art, cultural and recreational activities. Social interaction, through such events, has been proven to break down unfamiliarity, fear and isolation. They also promote social cohesion and peaceful coexistence among diverse community groups. Such activities play a very essential role in promoting sustainable social development for future generations as youth can act as a bridge between cultures and serve as key agents in promoting peace and intercultural understanding.

This event served to strengthen the integration between communities and show a sense of identity and belonging for people of all ages, Such activities play a very essential role in promoting sustainable social and economic development for future generations, as youth can act as a bridge between cultures and serve as key agents in promoting peace and intercultural understanding.

View images from the event 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.

To create a welcome and fun learning environment as well as to facilitate our students’ cultural understanding, on March 28, the Adult Literacy and Skills Develop program held an “Intercultural Learning - Celebrate Spring”. Partnering with Immigrant Community Alberta Network Association (ICAN), AHC’s 7 classes from English, computer and math courses joined the celebration. Around 100 people from different cultural background participated in the event. The program was very rich, including certificate ceremony, art performance, Spring celebration custom sharing from different cultures and food.

Over 20 students from English and computer classes obtained the completion of certificates. Among of them, around ten people from AHC’s senior English students. They felt very proud of themselves. At the beginning, when they joined the class, they knew very little English. After taking several terms of the classes, they can now hold simple English conversations. They feel more confident and very happy with the progress they have made.

Through sharing different cultural customs of celebrating Spring, students stated that they not only have learned English, but also learned different cultures which really enriched their life. At the celebration, seniors from both ICAN and AHC’s English classes did art performances. The performances included Chinese dance, music, martial arts and singing. In particular, AHC’s senior students sang English songs, which they prepared during their class! Volunteer teachers from the University of Alberta joined the class with their students together to sing the song. Everybody was very joyful.

In all, participants reported that this was a very successful event and a meaningful learning experience. They enjoyed all the programs, made networks and had a lot of fun together. 

View pictures from the event below.

On Saturday, May 4th EAC/AHC Artist in Residence Luciana Errugue hosted a spoken word session with fellow poets Brandon Wint, Liam P. Coady and K'alii. View images from the event below.

On Friday, May 17, 2019 staff members of AHC were present at NorQuest college to support two AHC nominees for this year's 4th annual Diversity Awards, presented by Diversity Magazine. AHC Executive Director, Aftab Khan and Settlement & Integration Manager, Suzana Dumo received awards under the Friends of Diversity Category. This category represents an Albertan that has made significant strides in fostering diversity and inclusion in any sector in Alberta.

Aftab Khan shared his experience after ceremony stating: "I strongly believe that these two awards are a recognition of AHC team's long term strategic commitment and involvement in creating a diverse and inclusive workplace at AHC to benefit all of our clients, participants and volunteers who can ultimately contribute towards creating a diverse and inclusive Edmonton community. These awards further strengthen our commitment to embracing diversity and inclusion as our long term strategy to create a vibrant Edmonton for all. I am thankful to all of you who have participated in this event and those who were not able to participate but congratulated via phone or email. Congratulation to you all!! These awards are dedicated to you AHC Team!"

View the team and award winners below!

• AHC team members, with Suzana Dumo and Aftab Khan
• Winners of the Friends of Diversity Award!

On Saturday, May 11, 2019, AHC held it's 2nd annual Mother's Day Tea event. The event saw 60 plus participants come out to enjoy various festivities including estheticians, wellness coaches, photographers, nutritionists, naturopaths, meditation and yoga facilitators. There was childcare provided on site and a clothing swap for the families.

 The purpose of the event is to host a celebratory afternoon that encouraged and empowered the moms to foster interpersonal relationships. We aimed to promote a healthy community and awareness of the holistic services available to assist them in their daily living.

The overall goal of this event was to provide families who face barriers with a variety of holistic self-care services and information in order to practice and promote self-care and the importance of social, mental/emotional and physical health.

A Special Thanks to our Donors and Self-Care Professionals who helped make this event a success!

View images from the event below!

On Saturday, April 27, 2019, AHC's Learning English for Daily Life (LED) program held a graduation ceremony for its participants. This program runs in several locations throughout the city.

This Program is designed to help adult newcomers to Canada fulfill their needs to overcome the language barrier so they feel comfortable and confident to communicate in their new homeland.

Program Objectives include:

• To provide a program time for adult newcomers to practice the English language through group conversations
• To build connections between people in the community
• To enhance vocabulary and English language knowledge by engaging in different learning activities like role-playing and group work on daily life topics

For more information on this program, contact Abida Tahir at: (780) 944-4687 ext. 222

View images from the event below!

On May 25, Saturday, 2019, we held our first leadership training workshop for women with the topic - “Nurturing Women Leaders for Tomorrow’s Rapidly Changing Society”, sponsored by Community Standards & Neighbourhoods, City of Edmonton, the workshop achieved a great success. Over 40 people including volunteers and AHC’s staff participated in the training. Four successful women leaders from the government, non-profit organizations and companies were invited as guest speakers. The speakers were Jacqueline Foord, Branch Manager, Social Development, City of Edmonton; Cheryl Whiskeyjack, Executive Director, Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society; Lisa Standeven, Corporate Trainer & Leadership Coach; and Tracy Folorunsho - Barry, Founder/CEO of Grow Women Leaders Global Inc. and GROW Foundation. From different cultural background and aspects, our guest speakers shared their own experience and the challenges they were facing. They also provided knowledge about and insights insight into women leadership, strategies for improving leadership skills, and solutions to future challenges.

All the participants reported that they were very impressed by all the speakers’ lived experience, their strong responsibilities for society, hard work and persistence to achieve their goals and a big vision for the future. They stated that they have learnt a lot from the speakers as role models, have been made aware of future challenges in today’s fast-changing society and motivated to take the effort to overcome future difficulties. All of them enjoyed the training and felt empowered after participating in the workshop.

To increase community capacities, AHC holds leadership training for our communities quarterly. The theme of leadership training workshops in 2019 is “Nurturing Leadership Skills for Future Challenges” since we are living in the information era with the rapid development of technology. The following are the topics for our future training workshops:

September 25, Wednesday, 2019, 5:30 -  8:30 pm- Community Leadership: Mental Health Matters in the Future

  
October 30, Wednesday, 2019, 5:30 -  8:30 pm- Future Trends for Community Leaders: The Impacts of Artificial Intelligence on our Life

View images from the event below!

On Saturday, February 16, AHC's Youth Soccer team had a friendly soccer game with the Ethiopian community soccer team at Commonwealth Stadium. The youth had the opportunity to meet new friends and have a fun time. For more information on AHC's Youth Soccer Club or other Youth Club Activities click here!