Atlantic Equity and Research Alliance – Creating balance and value across all communities

Call Of Entry

Call to entry: We are in search of Black, Indigenous, and racialized groups within the age of 5-24 years to benefit from our tuition-free foundational program in creative media arts (i.e. film, photography, audio, and interactive video).

Simply fill in the application form in the link below, in your age group, for an opportunity to be part of AEARA’s Creative Media Arts Program (CMAP) 2023 student cohort!

Ages 5-15 Ages 16-24

Atlantic Equity and Research Alliance

Creating balance and value across
all communities

NB Youth Outreach Program

Youth Outreach. Education. Creative Arts

Open Education New Brunswick Project

Experience AEARA’s virtual Black-centered learning project. The first in the cultural series of our Open Education platform – Relevant for teachers, educators, youth and everyone interested in open style learning.

Creative Media Arts Program (CMAP)

Interactive, engaging, and Open Educational program is designed for ages 16-24. With support for family development, participants will learn the skills to become professionals in the media industry in a cross-cultural environment.

Services

AEARA is a community-based organization established to address systemic barriers to people of African descent, Indigenous Peoples and other racialized communities in the Atlantic region (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island), in particular with regards to education, justice, public safety and employment. We are run by a volunteer board of directors, all of whom are people of African descent.

COMMUNITY DISAGGREGATED DATA ANALYSIS

Disaggregating the data between racialized groups to determine how and in what ways different groups are affected by system racism.

SUSTAINABLE HOUSING RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT

Supporting the development of sustainable housing in the northern region of New Brunswick that is energy efficient, environmentally sustainable, and cost effective, with potential tiered support in the form of subsidies for rental units.

BIPOC CHILDREN & YOUTH SERVICES

Supporting programs that lead to better educational outcomes for children and youth, and that involve the whole family.

VIRTUAL EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT

Designing virtual programs to support youth education that is culturally relevant

SUPPORTING OS TECHNOLOGY

Proudly supporting development and access to Open Source (OS) software for individuals, families and small business who do not have funding to purchase commercial products.

JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY REFORM

Collaborating with Public Safety and other stakeholders to provide data, share lived experience, and advise on justice reform at the provincial and federal levels.

Programs

AEARA undertakes various programs in keeping with our mission and mandate to address systemic racism and promote self-reliance. Here are some of our current projects:

Open Education NB – Equity Lens

Youth Outreach Program (Tier 1)

Creative Media Arts and Film Project (Youth Outreach Tier 2)

About Us

Our vision and Mission

Vision

AEARA’s vision is to stimulate, strengthen, and advance equity for Canadians of African Descent, Indigenous Peoples and racially marginalized groups by advocating for equitable access to justice, education and economic development and by influencing policy and legislation in order to uplift our peoples within Canada, North America and throughout the world.

Mission

Our mission is to remove the barriers experienced by people of African descent, Indigenous Peoples and racially marginalized groups in the Atlantic region by conducting research, developing educational tools and providing services that address systemic racism in education, justice and employment.

Team

Ronald Sharpe

Director and Co-founder

Ronald Sharpe is a Director and co-founder of AEARA, is a community organizer and advocate whose work has focused on challenging systemic racism and inequality in order to improve the material conditions of Black and racialized Canadians in the Atlantic Region.

In 2019 he accepted the role of the Atlantic Region Representative of the Federal Black Employee Caucus and supports Black employees in the Atlantic Region to address workplace anti-Black racism. He conceptualized the Investment in Black Talent Program (Atlantic Region) which is a career development program for Black public servants (to Managerial levels) and was Instrumental in the Development of the Building Black Leaders program (to Executive levels) within the Federal government. He has been supporting sustainable change for equity and diversity in communities and the federal public servant for over 15 years.

Waisu Adeoje

Director and Co-founder

Wasiu Adeoje, Director and co-founder of AEARA. Wasiu is a seasoned Architect, Project Management Professional, and a business entrepreneur with a wealth of experience in the construction / real estate industry. He brings his decades of experience to AEARA by helping to guide research, and provide creative solutions and ideas to support the economic inclusion of racially marginalized Canadians.

In 2015 Wasiu was awarded winner of the most innovative design by the Nigerian Institute of Architects for a project called Blue-Lakes, a sustainable housing project for an overpopulated community in Lagos State. He is currently a Property Assessor with Service New Brunswick.

Lisa-Gay Taylor

Director and Co-founder

Lisa-Gay Taylor, Director and co-founder. As a Black woman who immigrated to Canada, and as the Director of the Immigrant Women’s Association New Brunswick (IWANB) of which she is also a founding member, Lisa brings both her lived experience and professional expertise of the barriers to integration and access to services within the provincial education, justice and economic structures. She leads the development of AEARA’s educational programs and services for community members, as well as initiatives to educate social service providers, policy-makers and federal, provincial and private sector employers about the barriers to inclusion. She also supports AEARA in conducting research and collecting evidence-based data on the experiences of immigrant workers and is experienced in engaging government in discussions on multiculturalism, diversity, racism and religious discrimination centred around education reform at all levels of the New Brunswick (NB) education system.