OEA Community Network

Thanks to the support of the Community Network Grant, our team and partners were able to create spaces for learning, connection, and belonging across West Colchester.

Throughout the year, we worked alongside local partners to explore what it truly means to build an inclusive community — one where every person feels seen, supported, and celebrated.

Together with Truro Pride, we hosted Supporting Rural Queer Folks, a powerful session that opened conversations about how to better support and celebrate 2SLGBTQIA+ people living in rural areas. The information shared that day highlighted both the beauty and the challenges of queer life outside urban centers, and reminded us of the importance of visibility and allyship in small communities.

In partnership with the Municipality of Colchester, our Building Inclusive Communities workshop brought together community members, staff, and partners to reflect on what inclusion looks like in everyday spaces — from community centres to local markets. The discussions sparked new ideas and commitments to making our shared spaces more welcoming for everyone.

Our Life Enhancement session with Steps on Arthur created space to talk about wellness, connection, and personal growth — recognizing how much community support contributes to wellbeing.

We also worked with the Centre for Migrant Worker Rights to learn more about the experiences of migrant and newcomer workers in Nova Scotia. These conversations deepened our understanding of equity, rights, and the ways our local networks can help ensure fair treatment and inclusion for all.

The year came together beautifully at our Multicultural Community Event, where music, food, and shared stories reflected the diversity and warmth that make our rural communities so special.

Through these experiences, we’ve learned that building inclusion isn’t about a single event or training — it’s about ongoing conversations, relationships, and the courage to keep showing up for one another.

We’re grateful to the Community Network Grant, our partners, and everyone who continues to walk alongside us in this work toward equity, understanding, and belonging.

Tailoring Exercise Oncology for Black Communities in Nova Scotia

This summer, the Black Wellness Cooperative(External link) launched Tailoring Exercise Oncology to Meet the Needs of Black Individuals Living with and Beyond Cancer. The program is bringing exercise oncology education and activities to six predominantly Black communities across the province.

So far, we’ve hosted sessions in Upper Hammonds Plains and North Preston, where participants explored the role of exercise in cancer recovery, highlighted the need for Black-led opportunities, and bravely spoke about stigma, silence, and barriers to care.

Despite challenges with outreach, promotion, and scheduling, the impact has been powerful. These events have:

• Created safe spaces for survivors, caregivers, and families to connect.

• Raised awareness about the role of exercise in recovery and prevention.

• Strengthened representation by ensuring culturally relevant programming.

Looking ahead, we’re excited to host events in Shelburne and Truro this October, deepen community partnerships for better outreach, and continue developing sustainable, culturally safe models of exercise.

Dates to be shared soon! 

Health Association of African Canadians (HAAC) was fortunate to receive funding from the Community Network Grant, which enabled us to complete a comprehensive strategic planning process with our board of directors. This milestone was more than a planning exercise it was a turning point in how we define leadership, accountability and long-term impact.

With the help of a skilled facilitator, our board engaged in deep reflection on our mission, our role in the community and our organizational priorities. This process gave us the clarity and focus needed to set a bold direction for the years ahead.

As part of this work, we also identified the need to strengthen our governance practices. We are now planning targeted governance training for board members to deepen their understanding of fiduciary duties, strategic oversight and nonprofit leadership.

One key outcome of the process was the creation of new board subcommittees to improve focus and accountability across priority areas. These subcommittees will play a central role in guiding our work and tracking progress toward our goals.

The insights gained through strategic planning also directly shaped our annual business plan. We now have a clear set of priorities, timelines and success indicators that will guide our staff, board and partners in the months ahead.

We are incredibly grateful for the Community Network Grant and the investment it made in our governance and long-term capacity. These behind supports are critical to building a sustainable and impactful organization that serves community.

This post was originally published by opsmanager_1975 on 16 July 2025 and has been reposted by the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism for consolidation of content from two separate features into one.

Thanks to the grant provided by the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism Strategy, Sabeel Centre successfully delivered a series of lectures across schools, universities, youth groups, and community venues. These sessions engaged hundreds of young people and helped foster understanding, resilience, and inclusivity among Muslim youth in Halifax. In addition, we launched a dedicated reporting link on our website, empowering community members to confidentially report incidents of racism or Islamophobia—strengthening our collective response to hate. This initiative not only enhanced awareness but also built meaningful pathways for support and solidarity, reflecting the Office’s mission to address systemic racism and promote equity across Nova Scotia

The Our Videos, Our Voices (OVOV) project is a cultural preservation and storytelling practice led by the Delmore "Buddy" Daye Learning Institute and Kaleidoscope Network with the objective to share the stories contained within our African Nova Scotian communities and families. The initiative aims to bring African Nova Scotian stories to life through visual storytelling and digitization of home movies. Home movies are important visual time capsules. They’re deeply personal portals into moments of significance to the videographer. The OVOV project is about preserving our shared memories—retrieving stories from within home movies, digitizing them for future generations, and engaging the creators of those home movies to put into focus the stories behind the lens. Film projects this one help weave our past to our present and our future as African Nova Scotians through self-determination and storytelling woven together in thoughtful collaboration by community-based organizations. The film and film trailers can be accessed by request by emailing programs@dbdli.ca.

This successful project led the creation of the first film in the OVOV series, A Story of the North Preston Bulls and Neville “Puddie” Provo, a story of passion, legacy, and the unifying power of community. The film shares digitized content from longtime filmmaker Puddie alongside powerful interview content and first-voice testimony from current basketball coaches who Puddie helped nurture as young basketball players. We held a powerful film premiere in April 2025 with over 60 community members in attendance. We set-up popcorn machines and shared custom North Preston Bulls candy bars, projected the film, and held a panel discussion with the subject of the film, Neville “Puddie” Provo. The audience included a few generations of Bulls basketball players and coaches, the post-film panel evolved into a round of praise for current Bulls coaches, the impact of youth recreation in North Preston, team sports as positive space for mentorship, the influence of Black men’s leadership, and the legacy of peace and love through community. 

We’re thrilled to report that A Story of the North Preston Bulls and Neville “Puddie” Provo received a 2025 Emerging Lens Film Festival Award in April 2025 where the film was named Best Short Documentary. The film will air on Eastlink TV’s Black Films That Teach program in October 2025 along with an interview with one of the lead filmmakers. Additional screenings, panel discussions, in-school and community engagement with the film is anticipated for 2025-2026. Submissions of this film into local, national and international film festivals are ongoing. 

The Food Without Borders project brought families from many different cultural backgrounds together in North End Halifax to build stronger community connections through food. Families from African Nova Scotian, newcomer, and refugee communities gathered every two weeks to cook and share meals from around the world.

This helped people learn about each other's cultures, feel more welcome, and build friendships. Participants grew culturally meaningful foods in the garden and cooked together in the Hope Blooms Global Kitchen. Women in the program had the chance to earn certificates in Safe Food Handling, First Aid, and WHMIS, and could join a workshop series to learn how to start their own small food business. They also sold what they made at the Hope Blooms Farmers Market, among the products sold we had chilean empanadas, syrian bread, popsicles, agua de jamaica, horchata, and butter chicken.

This project helped reduce food insecurity while also making sure people had access to the traditional foods that are part of their heritage. It created a safe space for women to support each other, share stories, and talk about their experiences in a changing neighbourhood. By bringing together long-time African Nova Scotian residents and new Canadians, the project built understanding and helped heal divisions caused by racism, displacement, and gentrification.

We are pleased to share an overview of our work through the African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaw Learning Experiences project, made possible by the OEA Community Network Grant, funded by the Nova Scotia Office of Equity and Anti-Racism.

Rooted in the values of truth, reconciliation, and equity, our project focused on anti-racism education and awareness grounded in the lived experiences of African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaw communities. Through community-based activities, we aimed to amplify voices often silenced, challenge systemic barriers, and foster cross-cultural learning rooted in solidarity and mutual respect.

Over the past six months, we developed and delivered educational workshops, cultural experiences, and resource materials grounded in Two-Eyed Seeing (Etuaptmumk), blending Indigenous and Western ways of knowing. These sessions engaged 175 tenants in our supportive housing units and 55 staff members, with events held in meaningful community spaces such as the North Memorial Library, Black Cultural Centre, and Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre. Highlights included:

• Cultural film viewings and discussions (e.g., Fitting for Shoes)

• Tours of local cultural institutions and community support spaces

• “Food for Culture” cooking sessions centered on cultural identity

• A community celebration to close the project in March

Each gathering reinforced pride in identity, empowered participants with tools for advocacy, and encouraged meaningful dialogue about racism, equity, and resilience.

What We Learned:
Creating culturally safe spaces is essential. While these conversations are powerful, they can also be emotionally heavy. We’ve learned the importance of incorporating mental health supports and ensuring facilitators are equipped to guide participants through difficult truths with care.

We also learned that authentic collaboration across African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaw communities requires trust, time, and an understanding of unique cultural histories. Our project emphasized the need for long-term, sustained investment in this work—not just in funding but in relationships and systems change.

What’s Next:
As we reflect on this experience, we are committed to continuing this work beyond the grant period by:

• Sharing our culturally relevant resources and tools with local schools, community partners, and housing providers

• Supporting the integration of anti-racist education in institutional settings

• Encouraging leadership development among youth and emerging leaders in our communities

• Exploring ways to make these engagements permanent through ongoing community-driven programming

—
Submitted by the North End Community Health Centre
[Contact: northend@nechc.com | 2131 Gottingen Street, Halifax]

This post was originally published by ANSMA on 09 May 2025 and has been reposted by the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism for consolidation of content from two separate features into one.

Over the past 9 months, the African Nova Scotian Music Association (ANSMA) hosted a powerful series of Town Hall events, made possible through funding from the Community Network Grant provided by the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism Initiatives (OEA).

The Town Hall program created a welcoming and creative space for African Nova Scotian artists, youth, and community members to gather, connect, and share their voices. Through open discussions, performances, and collaborative sessions, participants explored themes of identity, music, culture, and empowerment.

The series engaged 160 participants across 13 events, showcasing local talent and building community through music and storytelling.

These Town Halls not only celebrated our cultural heritage but also opened doors for mentorship, collaboration, and growth in the African Nova Scotian music scene.

We extend heartfelt thanks to the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism for supporting this important work and helping us bring community together through creativity.

We’re proud to share an update from Upper Hammonds Plains, a historic African Nova Scotian community shaped by generations of resilience, resistance, and deep care for one another. Like many African Nova Scotian communities, our efforts to steward and develop our land have long been impacted by systemic barriers, especially when it comes to land ownership and access.

That’s why we’re so thankful to the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism Initiatives (OEA) for awarding us a Community Network Grant to support our project: African Nova Scotian Pathways to Inclusive Development. This support came at a pivotal moment. For years, we had been working to secure formal access to parcels of historically African Nova Scotian lands now held by the Province.

With OEA’s support, we were able to complete a feasibility study on these key parcels. That study provided the technical and environmental analysis we needed to confirm the land’s potential for community-led development. It also gave us something even more important: momentum.

This project helped us demonstrate that with the right support, Black communities can lead our own development processes, on our own terms, and in ways that reflect our values, history, and collective vision. It’s a major milestone in our broader effort to ensure that land in Upper Hammonds Plains is stewarded for the benefit of our people today and for generations to come.

We are grateful to OEA for believing in our work. This grant didn’t just fund a study, it strengthened our capacity, lifted community voices, and helped move our long-term vision closer to reality. 

We’d love to connect with others compelled to do this work. Whether you're navigating land access, starting a community land trust, or reclaiming space in your own way. Let’s keep learning from one another and building together.

In solidarity,

Upper Hammonds Plains Community Land Trust

This post was originally published by WFCLT on 17 April 2025 and has been reposted by the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism for consolidation of content from two separate features into one.

Hey everyone,

The Weymouth Falls Community Land Trust received a Community Network Grant for the 2023/24 year, and we are pleased to tell you about the final result! This project allowed us to create a strategic work plan around cultural preservation of three sites the community has said are the most important to them. The three sites are the Sam Langford Community Centre, the Mount Beulah Baptist Church, and a 19-acre parcel of land called ‘the Dam’. This project required us to trace how these parcels were transferred over time. In that process, we learned that the Sam Langford Community Centre does not have a good root of title, meaning the ownership of that site is not clear. We then worked with a legal team to create a cultural preservation and acquisition strategy based on the current legal status of the land. This has had a significant impact on the community who, for years, did not understand how these important properties were being sold and bought without their knowledge, and it also explains why the Community Centre is condemned and not able to access funding for its repair. We learned that the first thing we need to do is ensure all of the land titles are clear so that our organization can start moving to acquire them. Having a clear direction on next steps has put the community at ease, giving them the peace of mind of knowing that we now have a strategy to see these sites returned to community hands.

Another win that happened thanks in-part to research we were able to do with this grant, is that we acquired the Mount Beulah Baptist Church! This was our first acquisition and we pursued it because the community gave us direction to do so. Although this grant didn't fund the purchase price, it did help us realize how important it was to make sure this property stayed in community. Now, we are working closely with partners to pilot a building rehabilitation project that considers both heritage preservation and climate resiliency. This next phase will likely have a really important impact on rural Nova Scotia!