'No one on the fringes': Newmarket to welcome region's first Black-led community centre

Yorkregion.com
Nov. 1, 2021

The Newmarket African Caribbean Canadian Association (NACCA) plans to open its Black-led community centre, a first for York Region, at a historic site in Newmarket in December.

“It is important for Newmarket to have a Black-led community centre because Black people live in Newmarket, and we cannot serve (the) community without having a community space,” said chair Jerisha Grant-Hall, adding the centre will draw people from across the region.

“A community centre allows Black people to connect, create their own vision, support one another and embrace culture. Owning a space is a decolonizing act.”

NACCA is leasing the Hollingshead House at 449 Eagle St. from the town.

Newmarket Mayor John Taylor calls NACCA an “emerging leader in dismantling anti-Black racism and providing culturally relevant services to community members.”

The centre will support the organization’s programs dealing with food security, mental health and an annual scholarship program.

“Education is one of our core values, so the centre will house a library with Black-affirming books and resources that the community can access,” Grant Hall said.

Hollingshead House “feels like home” and will provide a sense of belonging from a location in the middle of the community close to downtown, Grant-Hall said.

“Our vision for the centre is that it will become not just a historical record of our presence here, but that it will disrupt barriers, lead to innovation and create more opportunities and pathways to an inclusive Newmarket where all of us belong,” she added.

“It’s a place where community thrives, where we can preserve our history and culture, one story at a time.”

NACCA is a B3 organization, meaning it’s Black-led, Black-focused and Black-serving, but it’s not exclusive, Grant-Hall said.

“All are welcome. We operate within an anti-oppression and resisting anti-Black racism framework to build bridges that promote intercultural understanding; create opportunities for community engagement that support a sense of belonging; bring awareness to issues affecting and relating to Black youth and culture; embrace prospects within the community to address and dismantle anti-Black racism, inequality and discrimination; (and) seek opportunities for positive interaction that will foster pride in Black history, culture and identity,” she said.

“We welcome all like-minded individuals who are committed to sharing and celebrating our stories, the stories that form the foundation of our collective history.”

Volunteer coordinator Keisha Wright said the centre will stand as a significant landmark.

“The centre is essentially symbolic of NACCA’s commitment to building and understanding. Building community, building relationships and building bridges in Newmarket. It's symbolic of growth for the community because we're now at a state of awareness,” she said.

“We’re now trying to build and rebuild that sense of belonging and intercultural understanding that is required to propel us to the level of that we need to be. It's also symbolic of our acknowledgement of the need for partnership and engagement, intercultural partnership and intercultural engagement that would uplift and empower not just the community but also the Black community.”

Building a sense of space for the Black community is important, Wright said.

“Black residents are still outnumbered, right? And that's very evident. As a result of that disparity at present, there tends to be that sense of not belonging. There is a sense of, ‘Oh, we're just on the fringes’ and that kind of thing. Having a centre will help to build and to promote the conversation and will help to support the engagement that we need to support belongingness for all,” she said.

“And it’s not just belongingness for Blacks, it’s belongingness for all because we’re all a part of the same community. What we want to see is we have no one on the fringes, that no one is feeling that they belong on the fringes or that they have to remain on the fringes.”