Ethiopian New Year Celebration:
We had a wonderful and well-attended Ethiopian New Year community celebration, featuring a soccer tournament in the daytime and a festive dinner at Victoria Park Pavilion in the evening. During the event, we recognized our dedicated volunteers, partners, and local businesses for their contributions. We also announced the recipients of the 2024 community scholarship. Congratulations to the recipients!
Bikila Award Ceremony:
A group of community leaders and volunteers attended the Bikila Award ceremony in Toronto for team building and inspiration. This event highlighted remarkable contributors, innovators, and leaders making a positive impact worldwide, energizing our team and encouraging collaboration and new ideas for our initiatives.
2024 Upstream Fund Recipients
On September 26, 2024, our board chair and staff attended the 2024 Region of Waterloo Upstream Fund Recipients event. We are pleased to announce that we have secured capacity-building funding to hire a part-time executive director and to continue some of our successful community initiatives. This support will strengthen our operations and enhance our impact in the community.
Breakfast Meeting with Faith Leaders
We held a breakfast meeting with faith leaders to discuss the challenges facing youth in our community. This gathering initiated a dialogue on how we can collaborate for a collective effort.
Faith leaders identified a representative adult and a youth leader to help guide our discussions moving forward. We emphasized the importance of researching family dynamics to better support our young people. We plan to meet again to continue this important conversation and develop actionable solutions that strengthen families and empower youth.
2024 Gender-Based Violence Conference Hosted by African Women Alliance WR
The chair attended and participated in the Community Leaders Circle discussion at the 2024 Gender-Based Violence Conference hosted by the African Women Alliance in Waterloo Region. This event aimed to raise awareness and discuss solutions to gender-based violence in Afro-centric communities and its connection to migration.
Thank you to the African Women Alliance for organizing this important event!
Bylaw Update:
The board is currently working with a legal expert to update our bylaws, which are outdated and in need of revision. This process will ensure that our governing documents are current and reflect our practices, supporting our ongoing growth as an organization.
Driver’s License Verification:
We have followed up on the issues regarding driver’s license acceptance, particularly concerning the verification of licenses from Ethiopia. We were informed some members were told licenses do not meet the necessary requirements, leading to complications in the acceptance process. We are actively seeking to understand and address these challenges with MTO. If you encounter issues, please email info@eakw.ca.
Call to Action: Get Involved!
Become a Member: To become a member of our community, visit our membership page.
Volunteer: to volunteer please visit our volunteer page.
Join Our Viber Channel: please visit our contact page.
Follow us on Instagram: please visit our contact page.
Thank you for your continued support as we strive to make a positive impact in our community!