The African Community Center - Denver, CO - Helping Refugees and Asylees From All Countries Integrate Into the Denver Community

What is the African Community Center?

The African Community Center of Denver is a Program office of the Ethiopian Community Development Council Inc. (ECDC), a community based Organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. ECDC is a 501 (c) (3), non profit organization. The African Community Center of Denver's newest Refugee Resettlement program which welcomes newcomers who have had to flee persecution within their home country. Many of our clients arrive in the United States with little but possess great hope about their lives in America.

The African Community Center of Denver conducts educational and social service programs that help newcomers resettle in their new communities and acculturate, recover from past trauma, gain personal independence and economic self-sufficiency, and quickly become able participants and productive, contributing members of American society. In addition, our agency works with African community-based organizations to provide technical assistance in developing the leadership capacity to serve their respective communities. Our community outreach also promotes awareness about refugee issues and the challenges faced by newcomers as they move through the resettlement and cultural adjustment process. The African Community Center of Denver engages newcomers and members of the wider community to enhance cross-cultural communication.

Our Background

The African Community Center of Denver was created in May 2001. We now have several bilingual and multicultural staff members to help newcomers from diverse cultural heritages become self-sufficient, contributing members of the community. We assist clients from countries as diverse as Bosnia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Liberia, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam, Burma, Congo, Burundi, the former Soviet Union and others.

History and Mission

The African Community Center is a Program Office of the Ethiopian Community Development Council, Inc. (ECDC)

ECDC's mission is to resettle refugees, promote cultural, educational, and socioeconomic development in the refugee and immigrant community in the United States, and conduct humanitarian and development programs in the Horn of Africa. To pursue this mission, ECDC:

provides programs and services that assist newcomers to the country become productive members of their new American communities;
fosters greater understanding among newcomers and the wider community;
conducts outreach and education activities to increase public awareness about refugee and immigrant issues;
promotes African community-based organizations increase their capacity to serve their local communities;
promotes civic participation by newcomers in the decision-making process at the local, state, and national levels; and
provides cross-cultural training to service providers' on the diverse cultural backgrounds of the clients they work with.