“Change is inevitable. But growth is optional.” Da’rryl Durr
Our programs and services are centered on our service users. This means that: you speak, we listen, and we do together to achieve better collective and individual space, place and mind while upholding the tenets of Each one Teach One and Community is the Individual and the Individual is the Community; one without the other lessens all embodied in the Principles of Ukama and Ubuntu.
Our Programs and services are also African Centered by being:
- Less about collecting personal information and more about working with those that we are fortunate to work with. So our programs and serve are more about relationship building and maintaining.
- More personal interaction and reflections and exchanges of stories and experiences.
- Based on reciprocal cooperation and respect for all stakeholders.
- About connecting the personal to the collective and the collective to the personal that the individual is the community and the community is the individual: 2 As 1 and 1 of (never without) 2.
Core Programs and Services include:
Justice & Immigration Services
NAIFA Toronto provides reintegration services and exit strategies for African Canadians, landed immigrants and refugees currently involved or at risk of involvement with the Justice and Immigration Systems especially those within and outside the correctional and detention systems.
A counselor visits the Ontario Correctional Institutes and Detention Centers in and around Toronto, once per week or as time and/or resources allow to do discharge planning and other supportive programming with prisoners and detainees who will be released to the local area. This program can also be conducted over the phone. Service users can call for free through collect calls from any detention or institution. This program also includes outreach services to various courts and tribunals in Toronto.
Information and Orientation
NAIFA Toronto New Immigrant Settlement and Adaptation Program (NISAP) is aimed at newcomers and refugees in Toronto. Its goals are to help newcomers and refugees settle in so that they can participate fully in Toronto life as their abilities and outlooks dictate or allow as soon as possible.
This program provides services such as the provision of general information on life in Toronto, in particular, and in Canada, in general; interpretational and translation services; referral to community resources; solution-focused counseling, especially on issues such as re-adaptation issues; and advocacy-related services.
Our Other Key Program Components include:-
Positive Re-enforcement Program (PREP)
PREP is Violence and Crime Prevention for at-risk Youth that uses Peer to Peer and Group Mentorship and is based on The Empowerment Agenda (TEA).
PREP works with youth in the court systems for various reasons. It focuses on anger management, conflict resolution, and the building of positive relationships with those in authority by working collaboratively with the Toronto Police Services, The Black Community and community agencies, school administrators and parents.
Supporting Community Youth Achievement Project (SCYAP)
SCYAP is a collaborative youth focused and youth led initiative that supports youth whom the educational systems have underprepared to fully participate in society and to benefit from such participation.
SCYAP is aimed at improving the educational attainment of participating youth often considered as being at-risk by working in partnerships with key community agencies, educators, TDSB and the York University Center for Education and Community. The program helps:
- Youth to set achievement goals;
- Youth learn how to learn;
- Learners for 6 hours a week in a learning circle with between 5 to 6 other youth;
- Learners one-on-one through social and cultural counseling;
- Learners register and pass the GED exams.
- SCYAP uses a continuous intake process.
Immigration Supervision and Support Services Program (ISSS)
ISSS is offered to clients of African and/or Black background who, for many reasons including past or current involvement in the justice systems, are being held on immigration hold and who are unable to secure bond for release from immigration detention. ISSS is an alternative to detention program and requires eligible clients to show clear commitment to working with our agency and adhering to our reporting and supervision requirements.
Service users in the ISSS program are required to report by being physically in our office; telephone calls and other forms of notifications are no substitute. Failure to adhere to this constitutes breach of the ISSS agreement, which every service user must sign within a week after being released from detention.NAIFA also offers a similar program for those who are detained for involvement in the Justice Systems.
Contact our agency for more information.
Other Services include:
- Connecting people who are either in prison or in detention to their family and community – This service links service users to their families and programs and services necessary for their successful transition and reintegration into the society. It helps those are incarcerated to maintain contact with their families, loved ones and community.
- Producing and disseminating cultural information and material to people who are detained or imprisoned – This service provides educational and informational material in various African languages when needed.
- Promoting Awareness on issues that affect people who are in prison or in detention centers to the general public. This service targets the general community by promoting awareness of the issues that disproportionately affect African Canadians, African refugees and newcomers in detention centers and prisons.
- Prison Visits: Arranging for individual and group social-cultural visits to people who are detained or imprisoned s in various institutions in Ontario.
Collect Call Service: Provides people who are incarcerated or detained access to their lawyers and loved ones through regular telephone contacts.
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