Our Mission
The Afghan Women Centre of Montreal’s (AWCM) mission is to empower socially isolated racialized immigrant women by creating programs according to their needs, facilitating self-development workshops, and promoting team-based projects. The Centre is committed to helping racialized immigrant women revive their hopes and dreams and take their take rightful place in Quebec society.
Who We Are
The AWCM is a community of racialized immigrant women striving to make positive changes by coming together and sharing their challenges, dreams, and goals. The AWCM works with women individually and collectively to help empower them to participate in and benefit from their communities, discover their rightful place in society and break the unique economic and sociocultural seclusion that immigrant women face.
The AWCM recognizes the unique struggles brought by establishing oneself in a new country, especially as a woman – from struggles with learning the language(s), accessing employment and child care, intense feelings of loneliness and mental hardships to not having their skills, knowledge, and contributions recognized in an unfamiliar environment.
In addition, the AWCM recognizes and understands the vulnerability of seniors as well and responds by offering intergenerational activities of social exchange, transference of skills, and leadership development opportunities for older individuals.
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What We Do
We take pride in providing a support system for our members outside of the courses and activities we provide, such as acting as a reference to public health services and Quebec’s social systems, translating documents, and making phone calls on their behalf. We also create program according to the needs of socially isolated racialized immigrant women in Montreal, facilitate self-development workshops and promote team-based projects.
The Afghan Women Centre works to give women a sense of belonging and a safe space for them to express themselves, as well as hope for a better future within Quebec’s society and system.
Our Objectives
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Mental: To provide information sessions to members & connect them to useful resources to build a strong community of trust & support
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Social: To put in place activities that will foster our members’ social skills and break their social isolation
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Financial: To provide immigrant and refugee women with opportunities that will allow them to find employment and be financially secure and empowered
Activities
The AWC offers a variety of activities dedicated to seniors & racialized immigrant women in order to promote a healthier lifestyle and mental well-being. These activities include a walking group, Yoga classes, information sessions on health topics, information sessions about the legal rights, as well as the basic computer literacy, linguistic French & English classes to our members.
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The AWC also offers courses and workshops. All sessions are offered free of charge and, in addition, transportation costs are generally covered by the Centre. With an average attendance of 15-20 women per session, our courses and workshops provide many opportunities to meet people of various ethnic backgrounds and countries of origin (e.g. Iranian, Kurdish, Syrian, Chinese, Bangladesh, Punjabi, Hindou). For more information on these projects and services, click on "Projects and Services"