ACSONI (African and Caribbean Support organisation Northern Ireland) is the leading voice among the black communities in Northern Ireland. It is a community-based organisation formed in 2003, ACSONI delivers customised capacity building programmes, advocacy programmes including working extensively to alleviate the everyday pressures experienced by those among our service users who are socially and economically disadvantaged.
ACSONI also leads in programmes that assist in the preservation and promotion of the African & Caribbean peoples' identity and cultural heritage - conveyed through various exchanges which aid in the wider integration process.
Our strategic aims: Key Strategic Objectives:
- African & Caribbean people are settled, safe and are able to participate and contribute to NI society
- African & Caribbean cultural heritage is preserved and promoted - There are multi-agency and community support for African & Caribbean people in NI
- The rights and needs of African & Caribbean people in NI are reflected in public policy-making and programme design.
#MakeNIARacismFreeZone
https://youtu.be/xjVRmNM_uO0
The world watched in horror to see racism at work as
#GeorgeFloyd was murdered in the most horrific way by a US policeman. The
#blacklivesmatter movement triggered a worldwide response and people from all over the world not only stood against this brutal act but also triggered an outcry against systemic racism in other countries across the world.
Here in Northern Ireland thousands of people protested and stood together against all forms of racism locally. The black community experiences social disadvantages and finds themselves vulnerable because of racism and increased xenophobia. We have seen more and more from people reporting to ACSONI Centre suffering abuses from their places of work, students affected in their schools, some suffered racist bullying online ( social media), as well as in their communities. It is evident that there is so much to be done.
As a society, we need to be honest with ourselves and admit that we are all working with a broken system and we need to make every effort to work together to fix it. ACSONI has been doing its part to deal with the overwhelming number of reports & has been working tirelessly to build good relations across communities. ACSONI depends on unsecured competitive annual funding and has been struggling from year to year to do this very important work.
Please join in supporting ACSONI to help towards building better and racism-free Nothern Ireland.
Building a strong sustainable organisation that impacts the social landscape of Northern Ireland.
- To provide strong administrative support to manage the day to day running of the centre
- Help to streamline the strategic business of ACSONI.
- Help with funding applications and fundraising activities ( GoFundme, Local Giving, Crowd Funding)
- To organise and manage public events ( seminars, excursions, exhibitions, festivals & cultural activities )
- To assist with general charity activities