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Leadership announcement
We're delighted to announce that the Board of Directors have appointed Cliff Ledwos as our new Executive Director.
Read the full announcement
Now open on College Street
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Call 416-324-9380 to book a same day or next day appointment.
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Access Alliance is currently hiring. Visit our Career Centre, or click the button below for up-to-date info.
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Because learning should be shared
Our new website is full of resources for anyone looking to learn more about arts-based interventions for newcomer mental health.
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Join us for a fun-filled afternoon with music, BBQ, raffle prizes, and family-friendly activities!

Registration is required — first come, first served.

For more information, please contact: CommunityWest@accessalliance.ca
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French settlement services
Pour des services d’établissement en français et/ou la formation linguistique en français, veuillez contacter : rexdalechc.com/fr | centrefranco.org

If you wish to access French language training and/or French settlement services, please contact: rexdalechc.com/fr | centrefranco.org

Welcome to Access Alliance
Multicultural Health and Community Services

Are you a community member?

Are you a community member?

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Are you a researcher or social justice advocate?

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Are you looking for interpretation or translation services?

Highlights and Initiatives

Check out our programs and services!

We offer free programs and services for immigrants and refugees of all ages living in the City of Toronto.

COVID-19

Information about COVID-19 supports and resources at Access Alliance and in the City of Toronto.

Volunteer Opportunities

We welcome those who wish to help make a difference to our community. There are many ways you can get involved!

Our Stories

Read stories from community members, staff, volunteers and others who have helped make Access Alliance what it is today.

Upcoming events

NEWCOMER WOMEN’S SUPPORT GROUP

July 6 @ 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Read more

Newcomers Seniors' Program: Arts and Crafts (Age 55+)

July 6 @ 1:15 pm - 2:15 pm Read more

HOUSING FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS: INFO SESSION FOR NEWCOMERS

July 6 @ 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm Read more

Newcomers Seniors' Program: Bingo (Age 55+)

July 6 @ 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm Read more

EAST EFFORT PROGRAM

July 7 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Read more

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accessalliance.ca

A community health centre serving vulnerable immigrant & refugee communities across Toronto for 30+ years. Account not monitored 24/7.

Many newcomers arrive in Canada seeking safety and

Many newcomers arrive in Canada seeking safety and a better life, proud to be a part of this country, and committed to uphold our values of inclusion and respect. Like them, we see the potential to create a shared future of equity, trust, respect, and prosperity. This Canada Day, we celebrate our newcomer clients and communities. Their contributions strengthen our neighbourhoods and build bridges across cultures. Recognizing and valuing their knowledge and skills, we strive to create opportunity with them.As we work with newcomers to support their new beginnings, we also recognize that we all live on treaty land. As reconciliation partners we encourage newcomers to also adopt their shared responsibility to address the ongoing impact of colonialism and advance solidarity with Canada's Indigenous Peoples.We continue to be focused, every day, on breaking down barriers to create a more inclusive, equitable country for all.#AccessAlliance #CanadaDay #CanadaDay2026

📣Join us for a 6-part "Creative Pathway" webina

📣Join us for a 6-part "Creative Pathway" webinar series to learn about advancing arts integration in healthcare and settlement. This series emerges from the Hubs of Expressive Arts for Life (HEAL) Project. Learn more here: artsforfamilyhealth.accessalliance.ca/heal-project💡Webinar #4: Weaving stories and data: A mixed methods evaluation🔍 What does implementation research look like in an arts context?🔍 This webinar explores how we can better understand and measure the impact of expressive arts on newcomer mental health and wellbeing. Participants will gain practical strategies for integrating research into programs and strengthening participatory design with newcomer communities.🎨 We'll also discuss key challenges in gender-based violence research, along with real-world approaches and solutions. Looking ahead, the session will highlight future directions in the field, including scaling effective interventions and sharing best practices across organizations.Registration is required. Please see link in bio.🤲Panelists: Moderated by Christen Kong, HEAL project coordinator, Access Alliance> Shruthi Anna Thomas, Masters of Public Health Student, University of Ottawa> Jasmine Sidhu, Applied Psychology PhD(c), Fielding Graduate University> Ruth Wilson, Associate professor at Kings University College at Western University🎉 See you there! Learn more at the Access Alliance Arts for Family Health digital platform: artsforfamilyhealth.accessalliance.ca/stories-articles#UpcomingWebinar #CreativePathways #AccessAlliance

All Access Alliance clinics and offices will be cl

All Access Alliance clinics and offices will be closed on Wednesday, July 1 for Canada Day. If you have a medical emergency, please call 911.We'll resume our regular hours on July 2. Have a safe and happy holiday!🍁

☀️💦🎈Join us for a fun-filled afternoon w

☀️💦🎈Join us for a fun-filled afternoon with music, BBQ, raffle prizes, and family-friendly activities!Summer Splash is at Woolner Park, July 9, from 3 to 6:30 pm. For more information, please contact Esra'a at: CommunityWest@accessalliance.caWe hope to see you there! 👉🏽 Register today via link in bio.#AccessAlliance

✨ "Arts is a health behaviour" is a series co-wr

✨ "Arts is a health behaviour" is a series co-written by Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services practitioners and partners, and published by Healthy Debate. It imagines the healthcare and settlement sectors as sites for arts engagement.The series shares evidence and stories about how arts participation can improve the social determinants of health among newcomer individuals and communities.✨ This is the final article in the series, "Art reaches: Creative insights from participant to practitioner " by Lana Cho.Main ideas:🎵 1. Arts create respite in the midst of life's challenges. For newcomers navigating settlement, health concerns, family responsibilities, and uncertainty, creative expression offers a restorative pause that helps people reconnect with themselves, recharge, and build resilience.🤝 2. Arts build relationships and belonging. Through shared creative experiences, participants and practitioners connect across language, cultural, and social differences, transforming unfamiliar spaces into communities of trust, support, and belonging.✨ 3. Arts help people reimagine themselves and their futures. Creative expression encourages curiosity, confidence, and new ways of seeing, allowing individuals to move beyond limitations and discover new possibilities for who they are and what they can become.Read full article at healthdebate.ca.Learn about Hubs of Expressive Arts for Life (HEAL) project: artsforfamilyhealth.accessalliance.ca/heal-project#AccessAlliance #arthealing #healthydebate

Cultivate Kids is an outdoor, garden-based program

Cultivate Kids is an outdoor, garden-based program for kids aged 7–12, on Thursdays and Fridays from 1 to 2 pm throughout July.This hands-on program lets kids connect with the nature through activities like scavenger hunts, mud-pie masterpieces, and gardening!Register using the link in bio!#AccessAlliance #AccessAllianceRooftopGarden

Our Scarborough Cycles team advocates for bike lan

Our Scarborough Cycles team advocates for bike lanes in our neglected eastern suburbs, because better biking infrastructure means improved safety and accessibility for cyclists.🚲Through partnerships, City Council deputations, and collaboration on bike-safety initiatives, we advocate for streets where cyclists and pedestrians can travel with confidence—these efforts have contributed to upcoming road safety improvements in Scarborough. Our work will continue, because we’re committed to addressing barriers to safe cycling, and ensuring Toronto’s roads are welcoming and safe for cyclists of all ages and abilities.Better bikeways mean better access to this fun, healthy, sustainable and equitable way to explore our city.Follow @accessalliance.ca and @aasustainability for updates on road safety campaigns near you! 💙Learn more about Scarborough Cycles by visiting the link in our bio!#AccessAlliance #CyclingToronto #BIkeToronto

📣Join us for our 6-part "Creative Pathway" webi

📣Join us for our 6-part "Creative Pathway" webinar series to learn about advancing arts integration in healthcare and settlement. This series emerges from the Hubs of Expressive Arts for Life (HEAL) Project. To learn more, visit: artsforfamilyhealth.accessalliance.ca/heal-project💡Webinar #3, June 30: The HEAL program explained: Cultural colours and trauma-informed tones🌍 What does it mean to culturally tailor a newcomer expressive arts program?As settlement and healthcare systems continue to evolve, there is growing recognition of the importance of culturally responsive and culturally specific approaches to care and healing.🎨 This webinar panel brings together HEAL facilitators to share their experiences adapting expressive arts programming. We will explore how gender-based violence and pathways to healing and belonging are understood in diverse cultural contexts, and what it means to design programs that truly reflect lived experience.Registration is required. Please see link in bio to register.🤲Panelists: Moderated by Christen Kong, HEAL project coordinator, Access Alliance> Afsaneh Shafai, Registered Art Therapist & Psychotherapist> Majd H. Sayed, Expressive art therapist> Victoria Matta, Expressive art therapist🎉 See you there! Learn more at Access Alliance arts for family health digital platform: artsforfamilyhealth.accessalliance.ca/stories-articles#UpcomingWebinar #CreativePathways #AccessAlliance

June 22-28 is Pollinator Week! 🐝🌻 Think abo

June 22-28 is Pollinator Week! 🐝🌻Think about your morning coffee, that afternoon piece of chocolate, or a fresh slice of summer watermelon. We owe every single one of them to our tiny, hard-working pollinator friends. In fact, one out of every three bites of food we eat exists because of them! 🍎This week, let’s give them the credit they deserve. You can celebrate by:✏️Learning about the wild variety of local pollinators (it’s not just bees—think butterflies, bats, and beetles!).🪴Protecting their homes by skipping the pesticides.🌱Growing native plants in your yard or window box to create a backyard buffet. 🌸Small changes make a massive buzz. How are you celebrating Pollinator Week this year? 👇#PollinatorWeek #SaveTheBees #GoNative #Biodiversity #GardeningTips

We are delighted to announce that Cliff Ledwos has

We are delighted to announce that Cliff Ledwos has been appointed the new Executive Director of Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services! Cliff will officially step into the role on July 2, 2026.In his many years with Access Alliance, Cliff has built vital connections with staff, clients, and collaborators, and developed a deep understanding of our mission and values, and strategic vision.In his tenure with the agency, Cliff has provided steady leadership as Director, Primary Care, Associate Executive Director, and—most recently—as the Acting Executive Director, while guiding an expansion of services, and developing key partnerships and grants.We are pleased to welcome him to this permanent role, and look forward to this bold new chapter for Access Alliance.Read the full announcement via the link in our bio.#AccessAlliance

🐝 We're buzzing with purpose! 🐝 Did you kno

🐝 We're buzzing with purpose! 🐝Did you know that 1 in every 3 bites of food we eat depends on pollinators? Butterflies, bees, and beetles keep our ecosystems alive and our plates full.But they need our help. We're launching a pollinator census to count these local heroes, track their populations, and protect their habitats. By spending just a few minutes counting the insects around your home, you'll provide crucial data to help protect our pollinators.Want to become a citizen scientist? This Pollinator Week and beyond, you can join the count and protect our pollinators! See link in bio.#AccessAlliance #PollinatorWeek #PollinatorGarden

✨ "Arts is a health behaviour" is a series co-wr

✨ "Arts is a health behaviour" is a series co-written by Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services practitioners and partners, imagining the healthcare and settlement sectors as sites for arts engagement.This series shares evidence and stories about how arts participation can improve the social determinants of health among newcomer individuals and communities.✨ The fourth article in the series is: "What if your healthcare team included an artist?" by Christen KongMain ideas:🎨 1. Artists can be part of the healthcare team. Just as healthcare relies on interdisciplinary teams, artists can contribute unique skills that support emotional expression, connection, recovery, and overall well-being alongside clinical care.✨ 2. Art is more than decoration; it can be an intervention. From bedside arts programs to community-based initiatives, arts engagement has been shown to reduce anxiety, improve mood, strengthen self-confidence, support healing, and help people make meaning of their health experiences.🤝 3. Arts can improve health equity and access to care. For newcomers and other underserved communities, artists often act as trusted connectors, creating culturally responsive pathways that foster belonging, support mental health, and encourage engagement with health services.Read the full article at healthydebate.caLearn about the Hubs of Expressive Arts for Life (HEAL) project: artsforfamilyhealth.accessalliance.ca/heal-project/#AccessAlliance #artishealing

On National Indigenous Peoples Day, we celebrate t

On National Indigenous Peoples Day, we celebrate the unique cultures, heritage and contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples across this country. June 21 coincides with the summer solstice, a day of deep significance for Indigenous peoples and their communities, who have celebrated it for centuries as a time for connection and renewal.We also acknowledge that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has two specific Calls to Action related to newcomers and seven related to health (see link in bio for more info.)While progress has been made on most of these calls to action, there is still work to be done. Today is an important opportunity for non-Indigenous people, including newcomers, to learn more about Indigenous history, the systemic barriers affecting Indigenous peoples in Canada today, and the strength of Indigenous communities in the face of colonization. Use this day to learn more about and support Indigenous communities near you.To find an event or activity in your community visit the link in our bio.

No one chooses to flee from their home. Refugees

No one chooses to flee from their home.Refugees strengthen our communities by bringing new skills, perspectives, and the determination to start again. We’ve watched them turn unfamiliar streets into community, strangers into neighbours and friends, and uncertainty into hope.At Access Alliance, we believe that everyone has the right to live without the threat of violence or persecution. If we don't build equitable systems that recognize refugees' inherent right to safety, those that are forcibly displaced will struggle to thrive.We've served and supported refugees for over 35 years. We advocate to remove barriers they face, barriers like access to employment, housing and healthcare. Despite the challenges before them, refugees share their skills and experiences and strengthen our communities as they work against the odds to rebuild their lives.On World Refugee Day, we stand in solidarity with all refugees, including our valued clients and community members. We continue to advocate for equitable, welcoming systems that offer safety and security for people fleeing persecution. Because none of us is safe #UntilEveryoneIsSafe.We believe we're stronger when we act together. For more on #BetterTogetherCanada, visit: https://bettertogethercanada.ca/week-of-action/#WorldRefugeeDay #RefugeesWelcome #AccessAlliance

🌱 Gather & Grow with us this summer! Join us f

🌱 Gather & Grow with us this summer!Join us for this free summer program for adults, focused on sustainable living and health. We've cultivated a welcoming space for newcomers with hands-on workshops: topics range from balcony gardening, to pickling, to herbal teas!👉🏽 Register via link in bio.#AccessAlliance #gatherandgrow

✨ "Arts is a health behaviour" is a series co-wr

✨ "Arts is a health behaviour" is a series co-written by Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services practitioners and partners, imagining the healthcare and settlement sectors as sites for arts engagement.This series shares evidence and stories about how arts participation can improve the social determinants of health among newcomer individuals and communities.✨This the third article in the series: "Art is health infrastructure: Rethinking gender-based violence responses for newcomer women" by Jasmine SidhuMain ideas:🎨 1. Healing is not always verbal.For newcomer survivors of gender-based domestic violence, expressive arts offer a trauma-informed pathway to healing that supports emotional regulation, self-expression, and recovery without requiring immediate disclosure of traumatic experiences.✨ 2. Arts create connection, agency, and belonging.The HEAL Project demonstrated that group-based expressive arts can reduce isolation, strengthen peer relationships, build confidence, and help participants see themselves as knowledge holders, creators, and active agents in their own healing journeys.🌱 3. Arts are health infrastructure, not an extra. When integrated into settlement, health, and violence prevention services, culturally responsive arts-based interventions can improve well-being, strengthen organizational capacity, and contribute to more equitable and accessible systems of care.Read full article at HealthyDebate.caLearn about Hubs of Expressive Arts for Life (HEAL) project: artsforfamilyhealth.accessalliance.ca/heal-project/#AccessAlliance #HealthyDebate #artishealthcare

📣Join us for a 6-part "Creative Pathway" webina

📣Join us for a 6-part "Creative Pathway" webinar series to learn about advancing arts integration in healthcare and settlement. This series emerging from the Hubs of Expressive Arts for Life (HEAL) Project, learn more: https://artsforfamilyhealth.accessalliance.ca/heal-project/💡Webinar #2:Preparing the canvas together, Strong foundations for successful, culturally-informed expressive arts programs🛠️ What does it take to prepare for a successful expressive arts program?🎨This webinar explores key foundations for effective program planning, including partnership development, culturally responsive and trauma-informed outreach, participant recruitment, service provider training, and screening processes.🌱 If you're a program coordinator, don't miss these valuable tips for designing and implementing impactful expressive arts programs.Registration required: https://accessalliance.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YIeyAwYvQtiwm2kOPLWfrQ#/registration🤲Panelists: Moderated by Christen Kong, HEAL project coordinator, Access Alliance> Narges Khazraei, Trauma and Wellness Counsellor, Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic> Farhama Haris, Community, Settlement Service Worker , The Neighbourhood Group (TNG)> Shruthi Anna Thomas, Masters of Public Health at University of Ottawa🎉 See you there! Learn more and watch the first webinar, “When words aren’t enough”, at: Access Alliance arts for family health digital platform: artsforfamilyhealth.accessalliance.ca/stories-articles/#AccessAlliance #UpcomingWebinar #CreativePathways

“I am able to ride to work and school because of

“I am able to ride to work and school because of the help here.”— Scarborough Cycles program participantSee what our DIY Bike Repair and Bike Tune Up & Safety Check drop-in programs make possible!These free programs offer a welcoming place to tune up and repair your bike — no experience needed!The skills you build here go beyond the shop floor: “[I can now] help my friends with their bikes,” a participant proudly shared.Scarborough Cycles also matches community members with donated and refurbished bikes, and advocates for safer roads across the city.Find out more at the link in our bio!#AccessAlliance #BikeMonth #ScarboroughCycles

✨ "Arts is a health behaviour" is a series co-wr

✨ "Arts is a health behaviour" is a series co-written by Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services practitioners and partners, imagining the healthcare and settlement sectors as sites for arts engagement.This series shares evidence and stories about how arts participation can improve the social determinants of health among newcomer individuals and communities.✨ This is the second article in the series: "Beyond attachment:The role of community artists in newcomer primary care" by Christen KongMain ideas:✨ 1. Access to primary care is not enough: trust and relationships matter. Connecting newcomers to a primary care provider is an important first step, but sustained, trusting relationships with care teams are what support long-term health and well-being.🎨 2. Community artists can help bridge newcomers to care.Artists create culturally responsive, welcoming spaces that build familiarity, confidence, and trust, helping newcomers feel more comfortable engaging with healthcare services.🤝 3. Belonging is a health intervention.Arts-based approaches strengthen connection, reduce isolation, and support newcomers in navigating both settlement and healthcare systems, transforming attachment to care into meaningful engagement and well-being.👉 Read full article at HealthyDebate.ca.

Rain or shine, our Among Friends community knows h

Rain or shine, our Among Friends community knows how to celebrate! 🌈☀️Among Friends 2SLGBTQI+ newcomer participants came together for a day full of joy, colour, and good energy for our picnic celebrating PRIDE at the park!Here’s a peek at the activities:💄 A decor station with face paint, stickers & temporary tattoos🎨 A community mural where kids and adults painted side by side🚲 Bikes from our Scarborough Cycles program — we pedalled with pride! @aasustainability 💛 Sexual health resources from Toronto Public Health🍔 Hot burgers, hot dogs, snacks & drinks to keep everyone fuelled🎶 Dancing, games & music that kept the energy going all afternoonA huge thank you to our incredible volunteers who set up, showed up, and poured their hearts into making this day so special.Want to learn more about Among Friends and 2SLGBTQI+ newcomer programs, services & events at Access Alliance? Visit the link in our bio! 🔗#AccessAlliance #AmongFriends #PrideMonth #NewcomerCommunity #TorontoPride CommunityHealth

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