Healing, Connection, and Hope: The African Communities Program (ACP)

In Alameda County and across the Bay Area, African communities continue to face unique barriers in accessing mental health care. Language gaps, stigma, and cultural disconnect too often leave communities without the support they deserve. The African Communities Program (ACP) was created to change this reality.

Generously funded by Alameda County Behavioral Health Department, ACP delivers preventive early intervention services that are culturally responsive, community-based, and rooted in ancestral knowledge.

We meet people where they are — in schools, churches, coffee shops, community centers, hair salons, and homes. This eliminates transportation barriers, reduces stigma, and builds healing in trusted spaces where community members already feel safe.

Our Goal

At the heart of ACP is a clear mission: to increase access to culturally responsive, strengths-based emotional support, outreach, education, counseling, and community-based healing.

Our Objectives

• Increase Access — bringing counseling, outreach, and education directly into community spaces like schools, churches, coffee shops, and cultural centers.
• Decrease Stigma — normalizing mental health conversations and dismantling discrimination that prevents families from seeking help.
• Improve Timely Access — ensuring people connect with care and support before issues become severe or disabling.

Our Strategies

We pursue our objectives by delivering community-driven, client-centered services that prioritize creativity and originality, while grounding our work in Afrocentric and decolonial approaches. Through strong partnerships and networking, combined with advocacy at both the grassroots and donor levels, we aim to amplify voices, promote equity, and create meaningful, lasting change.

Measurable Impact

• 1,818 individuals served in 2024–2025 across Alameda County and the Bay Area.
• 2,500+ reached annually through culturally rooted events, workshops, and one-on-one support.
• Community leaders now reach out directly with urgent needs — such as suicidal ideation in Kenyan youth, PTSD among Rwandan refugees, autism concerns from Ethiopian parents, and women’s mental health issues among Eritrean communities.
• Stronger safety nets built through healing circles, peer gatherings, and faith-based collaborations.
• Reduced isolation among immigrant and refugee families by fostering belonging and peer connection.

Success Stories

Afro-Soccer Wellness Event

More than 250 participants came together in a joyful, healing environment. Nearly 100 adult soccer players represented Cameroon, Rwanda, Morocco, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Eritrea (two teams), Pan Afrique, and BAAFC, joined by 35 youth players from NorthStar San Leandro Teams A & B. Over 100 additional community members attended, enjoying BBQ, live DJ music, a kids’ zone, a Know Your Rights corner, and free legal consultations. This event showed how sports and culture can unite communities, build resilience, and normalize mental health conversations.

 Decolonizing Mental Health: Moving Through Fear

In partnership with Wellness in Action, CERI, and New Light Wellness, ACP hosted a groundbreaking workshop with 80 participants — including mental health professionals, community leaders, and faith leaders. Through panel discussions, group dialogues, drumming, meditation, and Capoeira, participants explored how colonial systems use fear as control, and how communities can resist and heal. The day fostered healing practices rooted in ancestral wisdom, validating collective experiences beyond Western models of care.

 Youth Wellness Week (Summer Program)

Youth ages 8–15 engaged in a five-day program centered on creativity, painting, and peer connection. Each participant created their own canvas to take home and received a certificate of participation. Beyond art, the program gave young people a safe, affirming space to build skills, find joy, and form friendships — while also giving parents a much-needed break. 

A Story of Healing

When a respected local leader called ACP about a young mother struggling with domestic violence experience, she was hesitant to seek help outside her community. ACP Wellbeing Coordinator met her in a familiar and safe space — her church. Through ongoing, culturally attuned support, she reconnected with her children, began building coping strategies, and found new hope for her future. This is the heart of ACP: when support feels safe and rooted in cultural identity, healing begins.

Why Your Support Matters

Today, demand for ACP’s services far exceeds current resources. With your  support, we can:

• Expand outreach to unserved and underserved communities across the Bay Area.
• Train community-based leaders and providers while ensuring that wellbeing services are accessible.
• Provide support to marginalized groups by creating safe and inclusive spaces, such as support groups for women, parents of children with autism, newcomer youth navigating a new environment, LGBTQIA+ individuals facing isolation, and others in need.
• Scale innovative, culturally rooted healing models that combine tradition, creativity, and modern care

Join us 

In ensuring no one faces mental health challenges in silence – one healing journey at a time.

Coming This October: 

Join us for Awaken Hope 2025, PTR’s 10-Year Anniversary Celebration! ✨ Together we’ll honor resilience and community with stories of healing, food, drinks, and connection. 

Saturday, October 11 | 3–7 PM | The Ramp, San Francisco.