Starting the second week of February, we will be featuring agencies and organizations across Ontario on our website.

For this week, we are featuring a settlement organization up north - the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre (NBDMC). In partnership with local LGBTQ initiatives, NBDMC showcases a commitment to creating awareness on LGBTQ issues and promoting positive spaces spaces in the North Bay and area. That's why we chose to feature them this week!

The history of Asian Community AIDS Services (ACAS) is about social justice and preserving people's dignity. This organization was formed by a group of Asian gay men, lesbian women and straight allies who realized that the only way to fight marginalization and discrimination faced by Asians living with HIV/AIDS and LGBTQs is to work together and form an organization to address such service gap. ACAS is committed to creating a safe environment for our community, and ensuring service users feel safe and dignified.

We mentioned on our last blog entry that we are going to start featuring agencies and organizations that showcase a commitment to being an inclusive, welcoming, safe and positive space. For this week, we are featuring Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services!

Windsor Women Working With Immigrant Women has been a Positive Spaces Initiative (PSI) partner since July 2011, after an invigorating and informative two-day PSI training presented by OCASI. When WWWWIW identified and recognized the need to address the gaps in knowledge and skills amongst staff and clients at the agency on LGBTQ newcomer issues, two of WWWWIW staff began looking for formal LGBTQ newcomer welcoming and inclusive communities’ workshops. They soon came across OCASI’s Positive Spaces Initiative training.