A busy year for SOFIFRAN

It is always striking to see just how much SOFIFRAN buzzes with activities and projects. Once again, the annual general meeting held on June 20 gave a full sense of this organization’s impact in Niagara and well beyond.

A wide range of new activities also grew out of the pandemic. Nineteen workshops on the different sides of the crisis and the ways of coping with it, along with the distribution of food and hygiene baskets, are good examples.

SOFIFRAN also received support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Canadian Women’s Foundation and the Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative, in particular to train its staff, buy certain equipment and guard against the spread of the virus.

As usual, it was executive director Fété Kimpiobi who gave an overview of the past year’s accomplishments.

Not surprisingly, many regular activities had to be moved online (Mother’s Day, Francophone Immigration Week, Festiv’Ébène and others), while others were cancelled or postponed (fruit and vegetable picking and Folk Arts). Even so, circumstances or necessity allowed a few initiatives to go ahead in person, such as the volunteer recognition evening and the launch of a pilot home child care.

The organization also brought on a very promising colleague over the past year. “We are lucky to have a new artistic director, Mr. Saïd Ben,” Fété Kimpiobi noted. SOFIFRAN’s audience got a first look at his projects and favourite themes at the most recent Festiv’Ébène.