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.

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.

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 AALV’s Naweza Muderhwa (she does smile most of the time!) showed courage yesterday when she spoke amongst a panel of Vermonters about racial profiling in the Green Mountain state.  Her tesitmony was noted by the Burlington Free Press today.  Naweza and others speaking at the State House called for investment in programs that will train police officers in the dangers of profiling and how to improve communication between police officers and minority communities.  Write to your state legislators and the governor if you believe Vermont should be investing more in these important trainings! (Photo courtesy the Burlington Free Press.)

The Association is determined to continue its increasingly popular sewing and English groups, despite not winning some critical funding. Three groups meet twice per week at Franklin Square Housing, Riverside Housing, and the Winooski Community Center to engage in sewing, needlepoint, and knitting. English instruction is also offered during two of the groups.

The groups help socially isolated, unemployed African women living in public housing complexes build skills which preserve culture and may, in the future, hold promise for micro-enterprise. If you know of a business or foundation that may wish to sponsor one or more of these groups, feel free to contact us. Thank you for your support!!

Welcome to the Radio Africa blog. The Radio Africa blog allows you to speak out on issues affecting Vermont’s African-born community. The blog is maintained by the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV) and the two Radio Africa DJs.

On the blog, you’ll find information related to:
• News and events related to the AALV
• Translated cultural integration information on a range of subjects
• Radio Africa audio segments
• Advocacy initiatives
• Other information important to Africans in Vermont

Anyone can participate, but we ask that your comments be respectful of people’s different opinions, backgrounds, and perspectives. Political and hate speech is not tolerated and will not appear on the blog.

To learn more about the AALV, click here.