AALV: The Association of Africans Living in Vermont, Inc.

Announcement: The Association of Africans Living in Vermont, in partnership with the Champlain Valley Micro-business Development Program and Opportunities Credit Union, will be hosting an African Small Business Development Fair on Saturday, December 13th at the Winooski Community Center from 12:30 - 4 p.m. The purpose of the fair is to expose members of the African immigrant and refugee communities to the concept of starting a small business. The fair will include vendors from different small business assistance programs, a presentation on how to develop a small business concept, and a panel of existing refugee and immigrant small business owners in Vermont. Attendees will also be able to sign up for free tax assistance through Casey Family Services.

We’re pleased to highlight Ahmed Museh’s successful employment as a welder at Fab-Tech, Inc in Colchester!  The welding workforce development project continues.  If you are intested in joining the project as a participant, feel free to contact project manager Naweza Muderhwa at 985-3106.  The project is partnership between the Advanced Welding Institute, the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, and the AALV.

This Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, in partnership with the Vermont Workers’ Center, will deliver its second Employment Rights Workshop to the African community.  The workshop, which will be held at the Winooski Community Center (32 Malletts Bay Avenue), will explore the unemployment benefits system and workers’ compensation laws.  We encourage attendees to bring their personal testimonies to the workshop to discuss with the experts.

And listen up for Kate Kanelstein from the Vermont Workers’ Center on Radio Africa this Wednesday at 10 a.m.  She’ll give us a preview of the workshop and explain what’s going on at the Workers’ Center.

As always, if you need a ride to the workshop, call the AALV at 802 985 3106.  Translated workers’ rights handouts can be found here: somali, swahili, french, english.

This is a very important update: Radio Africa will now be broadcasting from 10 a.m. until 12 noon every Wednesday on 88.7FM, WWPV. This is a change from our previous broadcast time on Sunday afternoons. AALV made the change to accommodate the schedules of DJs and guests, alike. We’d like to thank our friends at St. Michael’s College and WWPV for allowing AALV to continue this important public service and modify its programming schedule to better meet our needs.

The same great music and interviews will still be broadcast. Tune in to the warm sounds of the Continent every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 12 noon!

We want to highlight an event taking place at the First Congregational Church on Sunday, October 12th from 5 – 7 p.m. AALV, the Church, and Church World Service (CWS) will be hosting an event featuring CWS East Africa staff, Sarah Bureti and Mary Obiero. CWS East Africa is responsible for much of the refugee resettlement processing out of Africa. This is your chance to come out and speak first hand with those at the center of refugee service in Africa. Here’s the event flier.

Big thanks are in order to the Kimberly-Clark Corporation and the United Way of Chittenden County for connecting the AALV-JUMP (Joint Urban Ministries Project) Collaborative with more than a $1,000 worth of diapers for our community.  AALV staff members Naweza, Kalton, and Bol are clearly very excited about the donation!  The AALV-JUMP collaborative connects low-income members of the African refugee and immigrant community with emergency utility shut-off assistance, extra diapers, extra food, and vouchers for clothing and laundry.  While this type of assistance sounds like relatively little, it in fact can mean the difference between self-sufficiency and homelessness. 

Thank you, Kimberly-Clark, for your donation, and thank you, United Way, for your wonderful networking assistance!

All of us at the Association are pleased to share our 2007 Annual Report (annual-report_d22) with the community.  Please feel free to download the file and learn more about what AALV accomplished during 2007.  Our 2008 activities have been wonderful so far, and we look forward to achieving many of our year-end goals.  If you have any questions about the report or would like to learn more about our community and programs, phone us on 802-985-3106.

Just a quick message to the African community: there will be a Fair Housing community workshop on Saturday, September 27th, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, at the Winooski Community Center.  The Winooski Community Center is at 32 Malletts Bay Avenue in Winooski. 

The workshop is our second on understanding fair housing rights in Vermont.  Subjects covered will include: how to communicate effectively with your landlord; understanding the security deposit; how to prevent against eviction and what to do if you are in eviction proceedings.  The Fair Housing Project of CVOEO and Vermont Tenants will be our presenters.  Come.  Bring friends.  Spread the word.  We’ll see you on the 27th!  Call us at 985-3106 for more information or a ride.

We couldn’t resist putting up these great shots from our favorite photographer Ned Castle - taken at a recent farmers’ market.

The New Farms for New Americans project had its biggest farmers’ market sales of the season tonight at the Old North End Farmers’ Market at the H.O. Wheeler School.  That must have been because of the good looking veggies the farmers have grown over the course of the project - nice work, New American farmers!