ACCL Summer Program Newsletter

Dear friends and members of the African community center of Lowell,

Since the founding of The African Community Center of Lowell (ACCL) nearly four years ago, we have been privileged to assist our African clients through the various services we offer. This includes work opportunities for African students of UMass Lowell and other immigrants who have been living in Lowell for a while. We have also received educators and other dignitaries visiting from Africa through our partnership with UMass Lowell.Our work has enabled families to stay connected and engaged with the work of the community. We have created opportunities for members of our community to sit on the Advisory Board of the Lowell School Department and have been privileged to host parents and families meeting with the School Superintendent, and an event with the Chief of Police.

We have also created a coalition with many local organizations and we proudly say that our events have been patronized by several City Councilors including our sitting Mayor, John Leahy.The ACCL Summer Program is an avenue for us to teach African children important life lessons in addition to preserving the values and traditions of the countries they represent. The Summer Program for the past four years has served over two hundred children from the continent of Africa and other parts of the world like Haiti, Iraq, Nepal, and Syria. This year, we launched our first Virtual Program and Read-a-thon fundraiser Campaign.

The latter raised nearly $1,500.00. Our objective is to grow the Summer Program to where children can have access to materials such as Chromebooks so they may continue their studies in their own homes and provide any further assistance they may need.Despite the successes we have chalked, we acknowledge challenges that lie ahead. These include the growing concerns about children of our clients not being able to meet the standards of their competitors. The family as a unit is greatly affected by the severe lack of access to resources in our communities like homelessness prevention, mental health services, therapy and counseling and we are working towards finding the means to resolve the situation.It is our aim as a Center to serve as an advocate to alleviate the many hardships to ensure that our clients become community-forward law abiding citizens, provide a healthy environment for children to receive quality education and peace of mind to the family at large.Thank you.

Gordon Halm,

ACCL Executive Director