Black Community Action Network; revolutionizing the family structure in Peel

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

“The next question is how can we help support BCAN? How can we get BCAN more funding to do more work? That’s the next question. How can we share our voices and get on more boards – because boards are where big decisions happen.” ~ Councillor Charmaine Williams

On Thursday, February 6^th, 2020, Toronto Caribbean Newspaper made their way over to Gospel Café in Mississauga, to join the community in welcoming a compelling new initiative, endeavoured to revolutionize the family structure in Peel region.

Sophia Brown Ramsay (Executive Director at Black Community Action Network), her team, and Peel Children’s Aid hosted a prestigious breakfast to launch their new joint program strategically named Akoma Wraparound Service Model. In this article, I plan to lay out the spark of this initiative, the plans surrounding this initiative, and the amazing people behind it.

Sophia Brown Ramsay became the Executive Director at BCAN in January 2018, and since then there has been a shift in the way that the organization works with the community. Her actions continue to inspire others to dream more, do more and become more. Innovation is definitely what distinguishes Sophia from others in her field. Her vast experiences range. She began her career in the criminal justice system working with young offenders and women. From 2014-2018, she served as Diversity and Community Development Manager, and has been recognized and awarded for outstanding accomplishments. She remains at the forefront of community-led efforts to promote equity for African-Canadians and other radicalized groups throughout Peel.

Her current position at BCAN allows her to work with various organizations, professionals, residents and allies in the community. The goal; to promote change and community empowerment through: advocacy, community education, community organizing and research. The powerful vision is to establish a strong and vibrant Afro-Caribbean community.

Let’s get to the issue at hand. There have been documented troubling experiences of anti-black racism faced by African-Canadian students within education. Many of these experiences are related to excessive discipline and suspensions. It has stirred community response and prompted the Public District School Board to conduct an internal study of the experiences of black male students.

It has also been found that 41% of youth in care were black, which is particularly concerning when black youth comprise of about 8 to 9 % of the city’s population. This is not a new issue. At least since the 1970’s, the community has been talking about this issue of overrepresentation. Talk, but no real action has been taken.

What is the reason for this in-action? Part of it is due to the assumptions we have about black families. The idea of the: lazy, incompetent and angry parents who are responsible for abusing their children. It is the reason why these children are removed from the homes right? It is hard to sum up the issues without taking into consideration our own racist biases in forming the decisions we make in response to families who are vulnerable.

As these assumptions and challenges continue to resurface, it is Sophia, her team at BCAN, and CAS who have decided that enough was enough.

“What can BCAN do? What can we do to address this issue within our community?” ~ Sophia Brown Ramsay

Sophia has shown the true mark of a leader. She has a team along with community partners that are willing to stick with a bold course of action. They have devised an unconventional strategy, which in this day and age is the only way to stand out from the crowd and to stand for something special. That something special is the Akoma Wraparound Service Model.

Akoma is the Akan (Ghanian) word for heart. The focus is increasing the well-being of African-Caribbean-Black-Canadian families who have become part of the child welfare system in Peel. In order to provide effective support, the BCAN team came to some significant conclusions:

• Black focussed organizations should partner with mainstream agencies and funders to develop a capacity building initiative for black focussed agencies.
• Leaders of black focussed agencies should create a leadership roundtable that would support system level planning and coordination.

Once these two important points were established, the rest of the initiative began to fall into place.

The Akoma Wraparound Service Model is culturally centred and intended to meet: social, mental and economical needs. It includes joint child protection visits with a CAS child protection worker and counsellor with Afrocentric competencies to ensure use of black-focused best practices. The families have access to support that will address social determinants such as: employment, housing, education and child-care. The program also addresses mental health needs of the family by facilitating mental health service support through other partnerships fostered by BCAN. 95% of the work is done in the families home, right at the kitchen table.

The work that BCAN and CAS of Peel are doing embodies community, family, love and spirit. The have found a way to bring diverse groups of people to a table to do constructive and meaningful work in the community.