CitiWide is developing two abandoned buildings into a modern and well-equipped African Community Center in Washington, D.C. which will provide jobs, life skills, healthcare training, IT skills & arts and culture to low-income families, immigrants and refugees who face insurmountable challenges with little help from government and the general public. We have over 20 years of experience providing social services and workforce training to our population in the District of Columbia. We need help!
To build a community center that would help African immigrants, refugees, and low-income DC residents have access to: *Permanent and stable jobs; *Access resources to help their families; *Housing; *Social services; *Health care; *Child Care; *Arts and culture awareness; *Job skills training; *Referrals to mental health; When citizens are suffering due to harsh economic conditions, immigrants suffer even more in silence. Our access to social services has fallen below 45% since 2011.
Over 150K African Immigrants would have: *A meeting place for immigrants residing in DC Metro Area. *A center for youth whose parents work during after-school hours *A site to provide health care services/referrals *A place for arts and cultural exchange *A place for workforce training, computer literacy, career skills and employment awareness *A place to meet and share common ideas, cultures and news from the motherland *A summer program site for youth 16-25 years old in June-August.
A community center in the real sense of the word; Continue programming for longevity; Safe space and ownership of site is comforting; Cultural and Arts center of exchange 95% (250) clients will learn essential skills for job readiness; A sense of belonging would be established Immigrants would find a place of unity and rest in their own center, no longer depending on others to determine their fate; social and economic advantages would be to provide necessary skills for the jobs of tomorrow.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
