Supporting and serving the African Nova Scotian community

Supporting and serving the African Nova Scotia community

The Association of Black Social Workers (ABSW) is a volunteer charitable organization consisting of black social workers and human service workers throughout the province. The ABSW is a forum through which black social workers and workers in related fields can exchange ideas, offer services and develop programs in the interest of the black community and the community at large.

ABSW was originally formed in Montreal, Canada in 1977 and the Nova Scotia group started in 1979 and was reactivated in 1987.

The ABSW’S objectives are:

• To advance education by providing courses, seminars, and workshops about social work related projects and programs geared towards persons of African descent.

• To advance education by providing scholarships, bursaries, awards and other forms of financial assistance to persons of African descent enrolled in a social work degree program.

• To do all incidental and ancillary things to achieve the other objectives above.

The NSABSW: Where it all began

The Nova Scotia Association of Black Social Workers has existed for the past 38 years. Dr. Diane Jacobs, a social worker who had been studying MSW at Howard University, brought the idea to Canada. She was introduced to the ABSW at a National ABSW conference. Working as a social worker in Montreal, Canada, she recognized the need for an ABSW in Canada & created one in the city. Maxine Sheppard, a Nova Scotia native was a student of Dr. Jacobs. Maxine was excited as she brought the idea back to Nova Scotia.

The NSABSW has survived over the years through partnerships and grant funding. The organization has formed partnerships with other organizations inside and outside the African Nova Scotia (ANS) community. These partnerships have fostered many opportunities for interdisciplinary programs and projects to service this population.

New & continuing partnerships

As the NSABSW continues with established partnerships, they have also established many new partnerships.

An example of this is the Africentric Immersion Summer Camp, which interconnects social work, education, recreation, and business. This camp teaches ANS students in grades five and 6 about literacy, math, science, recreation, entrepreneurship and social work all in an Africentric way.

Parents are also very involved and engaged in their children’s learning. This camp runs for four weeks in the summer in a low-income area in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM).

This partnership is a true example of working interdisciplinary to enhance the well-being of the ANS community.

Presentations & training

ABSW provides an immense amount of training. Africentric Theory training is increasingly required and requested within organizations servicing ANS’s directly but also those that are seeking to be more culturally aware.

The organization also presents on topics they’ve researched including: family violence, disability, women’s health, healthy eating, mental health, addictions, grief and gambling.

Challenges & strategies

The NSABSW faces the challenge of lack of funding and resources. Although they’ve received grants, the NSABSW does not have core funding which means that time is spent fundraising rather than providing services.

Recruiting participants is a challenge as the organization aims to implement programs within the community. Potential participants may face issues with location, access to transportation, child care, and advertisement strategies. Upon learning of these barriers, ABSW seeks to eliminate them as much as possible.

Future plans

As demands for services grow, ABSW needs permanent funding to enable the organization to hire a second social worker. There are many areas that ABSW has been unable to address due to limited resources including sexualized violence opportunities as well as disabilities, HIV and other Sexually transmitted and blood borne infections.

Learn more about the NSABSW at www.nsabsw.ca