The opening of Hackney’s first permanent African and Caribbean community centre is “a turning point” but better access to services is needed to satisfy the community’s needs, the founder has said.
The AFRIDAC community centre, on Lower Clapton Road, is run by charity African Development and Advocacy Centre. The centre is open seven days a week and hosts a range of activities including English lessons, community advocacy training days and sexual health education sessions, including free HIV and STI testing.
Oladapo Awosokanre, founder and executive director, said last month’s opening was “a step in the right direction,” but that the centre is “still a very small space compared to what the community needs”.
Founded in 2011, AFRIDAC operated out of a shared office space at the Halkevi Turkish and Kurdish community centre in Dalston for 11 years. It was granted the new premises in September after a lengthy and competitive bidding process against 48 other organisations.
“It’s been something we wanted for a long time […] Unfortunately the local authority has very limited space for community centres.”
Praising the discounted rent and favourable lease arrangements, Awosokanre said the new premises offered AFRIDAC “a lot of independence in how we manage the space compared to when we were sharing a small office space”.
Over one-fifth (22%) of Hackney’s population is of a Black African or Caribbean ethnic background, according to 2021 census data. Despite being the “second largest community” in the borough, Awosokanre said they were “the least represented in terms of access to culturally appropriate services and spaces”.
In a statement, Hackney Council said that the choice of AFRIDAC as the building’s new tenant was “the latest action to fulfil a commitment to provide more services for Black and ethnic minority residents in Hackney”.
The official opening of the community centre on 22 October was attended by Mayor of Hackney Philip Glanville and six councillors.
Alastair Binnie-Lubbock, Green party councillor for Hackney Downs, said it was “nice to see [the building] being used to promote activities and development for the African community… it’s really great to see the support [AFRIDAC] have locally”.
