By Adonis Huggins
(Adonis is a staff member with the FOCUS Media Arts Centre)

On July 28, 2021, the Healing Black Leaders Project held a graduation ceremony outside the Daniels Spectrum Arts Centre in Regent Park. The graduation ceremony celebrated 23 leaders of African descent who completed the program.  The leaders that attended the event, work in identified at-risk communities (commonly referred as Neighbourhood Investment Areas) across the City of Toronto, including several participating young leaders from Regent Park.  In addition to handing out completion certificates and swag, the ceremony was also held to recognize the work of leaders in the communities they serve.  

The Healing the Black Leaders Project is a pilot project designed to provide Black leaders with the inspiration, support and additional skills they need to continue making a difference in their community.  The project is part of on-going efforts to deal with anti-black racism and systemic barriers and was an opportunity to bring together leaders from across different communities to talk about their concerns, discuss issues, engage in skills training and strategize on ways that they can improve and heal their neighbourhoods.

According to Jacqueline Dwyer, one of the leader’s involved in the project,“Sick people cannot build monuments but healthy people can, so after 500 years of violence, racism, systemic anti-black racism, poverty and sickness, its now time for us to heal our selves and to wake up out of the slumber and develop what we need to see as African peoples.”  

According to organizers, the Healing Black Leaders project was very successful and there is hope that the project will continue in the future.  For more information about the project  contact the Toronto Centre For Community Learning.