A non-profit organization in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley is encouraging community members to start a conversation about Black history beyond the month of February, all while enjoying a special kind of coffee that’s aimed to benefit the future of African Nova Scotian youth.
“One of the easiest ways of building allies is allowing people to have the option and a chance to make a contribution,” said Robert Ffrench, CEO of the Valley African Nova Scotian Development Association (VANSDA).
This chance comes as VANSDA begins raising money for scholarships through its ‘Legacy Series Coffee’ project.
“One of the largest barriers to African Canadian youth going into post-secondary is cost,” said Ffrench.
Partnered with JustUS! coffee, Canada’s first fair trade roaster, VANSDA is selling bags of fair trade coffee, which features packaging labels of Black trailblazers and their connection to Nova Scotia.
The first in the series was a tribute to William Hall VC, Rose Fortune, Marcus Garvey and Portia White.
Ffrench said that the original purpose of VANSDA, a social development organization, was to increase employment opportunities for marginalized people throughout western Nova Scotia for the last 20 years.
“As the years have gone on, we have expanded in our activities to being wide ranging from justice projects and tourism projects,” he said.
“And the one thing that we kept on seeing throughout the history of our expansion into multiple areas outside of the employment area has always been the real impact of what education and lack of education has been doing to many people within the BIPOC population.”
Even though the organization has successfully entered into a partnership with Acadia University five years ago, it meant that only one person was able to get a scholarship.
“We were only able to help one child…(this meant we were) leaving others that don’t get the opportunity, so as a social development organization, between myself and my board, we tried to think about else we can do to help,” said Ffrench.
It was around that time that the idea for the Legacy Series Coffee was born.
At this point, the organization’s CEO said the scholarships are a $1,000 each per university entrance, but would ultimately like to offer $2,000 per entrance.
“It all depends on the revenue we earn (through the project),” said Ffrench.
For instance, if VANSDA generates $10,000 from sales, that would be five $2,000 scholarships.
“I don’t think that people realize the impact of a $1,000 or $3,000 can have on a youth who’s looking at a $40,000 student debt,” he added.
People can purchase a bag of coffee beans directly from VANSDA’s website, any JustUS! coffee shop or Sobeys.
“If somebody goes and picks up one of our bags over one of the more national brands, then they are making a statement that they are trying to support the cause,” Ffrench said.
“And I think that’s one of the things that I’ve seen in the past year that is really indicative of how people can become active supporters and allies for and within the Black community.”
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