| Calgary Black Chambers | |
| Formation: | 2020 |
| Headquarters: | Calgary |
| Founder: | Jon Cornish |
| Leader Title: | Co-Founders |
| Leader Name: | Jon Cornish, Chi Iliya-Ndule, Kene Ilochonwu, Chucks Okafor, Michael Lee Hing, Akwasi Antwi, Clarence Wynter and Charles Buchanan |
The Calgary Black Chambers is a Canadian society of black professionals that promotes leadership capacity, advocates for social justice, and runs the Calgary Black Achievement Awards.
The Calgary Black Chambers was started by Jon Cornish, who "rounded up a few dozen Black professionals to join him in his efforts to nurture Calgary's youth, knowing the struggles young Black Canadians can still face today." Jon's efforts were based on an idea from his wife, inspired by the late Manmeet Bhullar and his work in Calgary's Sikh youth community.[1]
Alongside founding board members Chi Iliya-Ndule, Kene Ilochonwu, Michael Lee Hing, Chucks Okafor, Akwasi Antwi, Clarence Wynter, and Charles Buchanan, the Calgary Black Chambers came to be in 2020. As of February 2022, had 200 members.[2]
Calgary Black Chambers provides educational scholarships between $1,000 and $7,000 each annually.[3] [4] It also provides mentorship to secondary students and[5] runs the Calgary Black Achievement Awards.[6]
In 2022, the Calgary Black Chambers received the Friends of Education Award from the Alberta School Board Association for the Soft Skills curriculum.[7] The same year, the organization called for an inquiry into the killing of Latjor Tuel.[8]