A new project will highlight the achievements and contributions of African Canadians in Windsor-Essex County.
The Northstar Cultural Community Centre is getting a $63,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to help with the project.
OTF grant review team member Lucie Lombardo was on hand Tuesday night to congratulate the centre’s members.
Officials say the project and the resulting book will preserve the history of Windsor-Essex’s black community, and inspire generations to come.
"This is a very important project and opportunity for our community, supported by this Ontario Trillium Foundation grant,” said James Allen, president of Northstar Cultural Community Centre. “This grant has allowed us to tell the African Canadian story – a history that is often neglected or untold.”
In addition to supporting the research, editorial and pre-press aspects of the book project, 250 advanced copies of the book will also be funded.
Northstar will also bring together a number of regional Black organizations to test how to collect and preserve the information.
“The Northstar Cultural Community Centre will be delivering a project that has significant meaning and profundity,” said Lisa Gretzky, MPP for Windsor West. “The collection of archival information from the African Canadian Community in Windsor-Essex will bequeath the people in this community with a true sense of their past and their contributions to this community over time.”
