Nyarayi Kapisavanhu
TOES Niagara
Topic: Community Highlight Interview
A multilingual communicator, community leader, entrepreneur and teacher at heart, Nyarayi is the Founder and Executive Director of TOES Niagara, an organization that works with women, men and youth from diverse communities and backgrounds, giving them the Tools Of Empowerment for Success (TOES) through multi-lens educational workshops, programs, and other support services to enable the improvement of economic and educational outcomes
Matter of Black
Connect with Matter of Black
Topic: Community Highlight Interview
Matter of Black’s mission is to share and amplify Black voices, Black history and Black businesses in the Niagara Region. Matter of Black was born out of a call to action at the peak of the Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM). With BLM protests happening around the world and within our own region, Matter of Black wanted to do something longer lasting than the protests we had been participating in. That’s when (with a gentle nudge from St. Catharines’ Mayor Walter Sendzik) we decided we would take on revitalizing the Emancipation Day picnic that some of our members had celebrated since childhood. Three of our co-founders – Natasha Bell, Erika Smith and Jaida Steenhuis – are descendants of freedom seekers who followed the underground railroad to Canada where they settled and began their lives as free men and women in the Niagara Region. We value creating a safe, welcoming space for Niagara’s Black community to discuss a multitude of challenges the community faces.