Community Integration & Special Services
A Caring Place for Africans and their Families

Even with sufficient healthcare and employment, Africans in central Indiana still must cope with common challenges that are connected with their new status, unfamiliarity with American culture and civic society, and a lack of understanding of their consumer, financial, and legal rights. Being unable to effectively deal with these challenges affects an African’s ability to integrate into the community. For native adult Hoosiers, knowledge about civic society and their rights is slowly learned over a number of years, as well as ingrained into American culture. If a Hoosier needs a particular civic service or realizes that her or his rights are being threatened, then this person most likely already possesses a general knowledge about where to receive assistance.

However, for many Africans it is difficult to find the time to grasp all of the rules, regulations, and processes of the highly technical and structured life that is found in the United States. The business, public, and nonprofit sectors in the United States all perform different functions and interact in particular ways. Thus, the process of finding the right form of assistance while maintaining their pride and feelings of independence can often be a

frustrating and tiresome process for many African newcomers. The African Center possesses key services, resources, and staff expertise that can address these particular challenges that prevent Africans from integrating into the American society.

The African Center’s

…help Africans acquire the assistance and peace of mind that is needed to make them more proactive participants in their new homeland. Imagine a young adult from the Horn of Africa not possessing the linguistic capabilities to rectify an income tax statement issue with the IRS. Imagine a single father on the brink of homelessness for not knowing how to resolve discrepancies in his credit rating that preventing him from signing a new lease. Imagine a West African refugee who is having difficulties in getting his money back from a faulty vehicle that was sold to him by a used car dealer.

The African Center has begun the process to organize African-born people in our community into country-based groups or associations. This is the community integration initiative (link to community integration initiative page) that is gradually re-shaping the way the African community functions and opens up opportunities and access for members of that community to become active participants.

Community integration initiative involves collaboration with the faith community. African Center consults with the African Religious Leaders on regular basis. (link to African Religious Leaders Forum page).

Connection to Africa
The African Center do assist individuals, families, organizations and businesses with interest or desire to explore Africa for vacations, leisure, research, business or philanthropy. The Center has capacity to offer language acquisition training to groups in languages commonly used in Africa.