Our mission and mandate is to educate, empower and strengthen youth & families and to harmonize the community. MACCA runs a Reading & Robotics Summer Camp for children ages 5-12. Each year over 70 children attend camp to enrich their love for reading and learning. We have teamed up with Logics Academy to expose the campers to foundations of coding and building robots and employ 6 trained staff to deliver science related games and activities and excursions throughout the summer.
We have steel pan classes for both youth and seniors. Our kids have performed at the Markham Music Festival, Tropicana Awards the Pan Am Games. We have a youth leadership council and a thriving weekly Senior’s Program. Our annual events include our Scholarship Awards, where we provide scholarships for York Region students demonstrating academic excellence and community engagement. Since our inception, we have provided 325 scholarships to some of the brightest students of African or Caribbean descent in York Region valued at over $300,000. Click here to view a clip of previous scholarship gala presentations.
We host an Annual Black History Month Show in partnership with the City of Markham where we have honoured and awarded hundreds of black Ontarians making a difference in York Region. As part of our 10 year plan to focus on STEAM, we have themed our BHM program on Black Innovation. Over 200 children from across York region come to see community leaders receive awards. They also see their peers showcasing STEAM related projects and experiments and feature a local trailblazer in the area of science & technology. Our Annual Black Youth Empowerment Conference is now being funded by the Canadian Heritage Anti-Racism strategy. Last year we brought YouthRex, Roots 4 Change and FlightUnit together to present Design Your Future Black Youth Legacy event. Youth are engage in a community based hack-a-thon to problem solve community challenges.
Our members sit on various advisory councils and committees and community boards. We have meaningful, enduring, reciprocal relationships with many ethno-cultural and faith based groups all over Markham and beyond. We have close ties with our York Regional Police and both the York Region public and Catholic School Boards.
Until recently, we ran a weekly Saturday School tutoring program had been running for 20 years. Run by our Director of Youth & Education and 1 paid staff. We had faculty of education, post- secondary students and high school student volunteers who assist children in grades 4-12 with homework, while also teaching leadership and test taking skills using culturally relevant curriculum.
In 2019, we launched a brand new program in called the MACCA KINNECTYOUTH Mentoring Program funded by the Ministry of Children and Community Services. This program is specifically aimed at providing mentors and critical life skills development for young black teenagers aged 13-19 who are in contact with child welfare or are newcomers to Canada. Our mentees learn about financial literacy, entrepreneurship, health and wellness and much more. We assemble a team of community role models and trained mentors to encourage and support out youth.