Our 15th Anniversary Celebration
Inspired by the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “we set out on a path to tackle the most shocking and inhumane form of inequality – injustice in healthcare.
Reflecting on our journey,
inspiring a healthier future
This year we embark on a journey to reflect on our remarkable history and envisioning an even brighter future.
Our journey has been marked by challenges, struggles, and triumphs, but through it all, we have remained steadfast in our commitment to delivering quality healthcare services to our community. Together, we have achieved remarkable milestones, from expanding our programs to reaching new heights in culturally inclusive patient care.
With an Anti-Black Racism, anti-oppression, and Afrocentric health promotion approach, TAIBU Community Health Centre has centered its values and beliefs of the African and Caribbean community, ensuring that patients are listened to, respected, and understood.
2022-2023 – Highlights
We continue to support the Scarborough Indigenous Wellness Advisory Council in delivering culturally appropriate and essential programs including mental health support, on the land healing, workshops on addictions, ribbon skirt workshop and other cultural events.
With funding received from Ontario Health, we continued supporting our communities under the High Priority Communities Strategy. We conducted cancer & chronic disease screening events, mental health support services and food and income security to over 1500 community members.
The Toronto Community Crisis Response pilot continues to expand. In 2022-23 we added Toronto Police Services Division 41, now covering the whole of the Scarborough region. We have serviced over 2,311 calls during the year.
TAIBU hosted its first ever and immensely successful national conference on mental health and knowledge mobilization with over 200 participants from all over Canada. This was one of the deliverables of the Amandla Olwazi – the Power of Knowledge project funded by Public Health Agency of Canada.
The LEARN Academic Mentorship Program has served 90 students with significant change registered in their learning outcomes.
In 2022-23 we started the implementation of the Black Social Prescribing projects. This initiative integrates clinical and social services by using a patient-centered and holistic approach for improvement of the wellbeing of clients. TAIBU will incorporate African centeredness and an empowerment lens to the initiative.
Le centre de santé communautaire TAIBU, dans son engagement quotidien à desservir la communauté, offre une gamme variée et culturellement adaptée d’activités pour différents groupes allant des jeunes aux ainés en passant par les familles. Plus de 30 programmes ont été mis en œuvre et plus de 1500 personnes ont été servies.
Joint Message from the President of the Board & CEO
It is with great pride and joy that we celebrate our 15th year of excellence!
We couldn’t have done this without you. We are grateful to the past and present Board of Directors, to the engaged communities, to our staff and volunteers, to our funders, and to our partners. The journey has been filled with challenges and triumphs, and 15 years later we are still standing strong.
The Board led the process of refreshing TAIBU’s strategic plan “Forward” and has approved the organization’s priorities for 2022-2027. TAIBU will focus on
1) Expanding and Deepening its programs and services, 2) Influencing the Black Health and Social Services ecosystem, and 3) Strengthening organizational leadership, legacy, and resiliency. The Board in collaboration with staff has started the implementation of these bold priorities to take TAIBU Community Health Centre forward into the future.
We have expanded our Ubuntu Village seniors’ program to the South of Scarborough and the west side of the city.
The Annual Black Mental Health Week initiative continues to draw more partners and collaborators nationally. This partnership with the City of Toronto plays a key role in shining a spotlight on the impact of anti-Black racism on the mental health of Black communities. In March 2023, TAIBU hosted its first national conference on Black mental health and knowledge mobilization. This hugely successful conference was organized as part of our Amandla Olwazi – the Power of Knowledge project.
Three new partnership initiatives were launched during 2023. The Kaya Project – working with Children’s Aid Society Scarborough to support Black parents access wrap-around services and facilitate and expedite their move out of the child welfare system.
The Aya Circle of Care in partnership with the Black Health Equity Lab at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) under the leadership of Dr. Notisha Massaquoi is a research project that incorporates the development of a culturally affirming intensive care management as a best practice model.
The third project is the Black Social Prescribing project, implemented together with five other Community Health Centres is developing an Afrocentric model of social prescribing.
This year we published our report “Observation, Engagement, Adaptation & Perseverance – TAIBU’s Proportionate Response to a Disproportionate Pandemic” highlighting how our race-based data collection was helpful to monitor and plan our community engagement and outreach strategies. The work was also published in Longwoods Publishing.
We continue to work on a research project that engaged communities around vaccine mistrust. The report titled ‘We are not hesitant; our trust needs to be earned’ will be published very soon.
It sounds too cliché to say that we had another very busy year, however, 2022-23 has been another year of great accomplishments. We owe it all to you our members, our clients, our funders, our staff, our volunteers, and our partners.
Thank you,
Thank You to Our Community
We want to thank you, our community, for being with us every step of the way. From our early days, fighting for equitable healthcare, to our growth, our programs, and our commitment to the holistic well-being of the Black community, it’s been an incredible journey.
But we’re not done. Our vision for the next 15 years is bolder, stronger, and more determined than ever. We will continue to tackle inequality, promote wellness, and be the change our community deserves.
Thank you for 15 amazing years, and here’s to the next 15! Together, we will move ever forward, making history, and shaping a healthier, brighter future.
