Settlement help, youth programs, arts, business, health, and community life across Toronto and the wider GTA. Thirty-one doors that are open to us right now, all verified active in 2025 and 2026.
Ask a Yardie where to get the best patty in the GTA and you will get eleven answers and one full argument. Ask where to go when the rent is due, the job fell through, or your teenager needs tutoring, and the room gets quiet. This is the article for the second question.
The first version of this directory covered Toronto. Readers asked for the 905, so we went and found it: Brampton, Mississauga, Etobicoke, York Region, Halton and Durham. Thirty-one organizations, all verified active in 2025 and 2026, doing the work right now across settlement, youth, arts, business, health, and community life. Bookmark it. Send it to the cousin who just landed. You will need it before you think you will.
A word on how this was built: this is desk research, compiled from the organizations’ own published information and cross-checked against current listings. Two entries near the end were verified through corporate records and community partnerships rather than a standalone website, and we say so where it applies. Programs, hours, and intake windows change, so check the website or call before you make the trip. What doesn’t change is that these doors are open to us.
Settlement and newcomer support
This is where the directory starts, because for a lot of us this is where the GTA started.
FCJ Refugee Centre
208 Oakwood Ave, Toronto | fcjrefugeecentre.org
Works with people in the most precarious situations: refugee claimants, trafficking survivors, people without status. Housing, legal orientation, health care access, community support. If your immigration situation is complicated, start here. They have seen it before.
CultureLink Settlement and Community Services
Toronto | culturelink.ca
One of the city’s largest newcomer agencies. Settlement counselling, refugee claimant support, employment help, English circles. Less specialized than FCJ, broader in reach. For a straightforward landing, this is your first call.
Rexdale Women’s Centre
21 Panorama Ct, Suite 13, Etobicoke | rexdalewomen.org | 416-745-0062
Independent nonprofit serving high-need immigrant, refugee and newcomer women and families across the GTA: settlement, counselling, employment services. Rexdale’s Caribbean catchment is large, and this is one of its anchors.
Youth and education
Tropicana Community Services
Scarborough | mytropicana.ca
A Scarborough anchor since 1980, founded specifically to serve Caribbean youth and families. Tutoring, mentorship, employment services, plus the Village Pantry food bank. Forty-plus years in, still doing the work.
CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals
Toronto, serving the GTA | ceetoronto.org
Career and empowerment programming for Black youth and young adults aged 18 to 29, across finance, tech, trades, and more. If you are under 30 and trying to break into an industry, talk to CEE before you send another cold application.
Black Youth Helpline
1111 Finch Ave W, Toronto | blackyouth.ca | 1-833-294-8650
A national helpline with stay-in-school initiatives, mental health support, and family coaching, built with a culturally specific focus on Black youth. Put the number in your phone. You hope you never need it. Someone you know might.
United Achievers’ Club of Brampton
Brampton (mailing: P.O. Box 74015, Brampton ON L6V 4J7) | unitedachieversclub.com | 905-796-1916
A Black and Caribbean heritage club founded in 1980. Annual scholarships for Peel students of Black and Caribbean heritage, plus the Celebrity Chef fundraiser, whose 27th edition ran in April 2026.
Congress of Black Women of Canada, Mississauga and Area Chapter
Meets at Camille’s Place, 4983 Rathkeale Rd, Mississauga | mississauga.cbwc-ontario.org | (905) 819-8361
Volunteer women’s group offering post-secondary scholarships, EQAO tutoring, parenting sessions, Black History Month events and a youth group. Also manages Camille’s Place, an 82-unit nonprofit housing community.
York Region Alliance of African Canadian Communities (YRAACC)
10184 Yonge St, Suite 204, Richmond Hill | yorkregionaacc.ca | 647-425-5700
Registered charity advocating for Black residents across all nine York Region municipalities. Runs Sankofa youth programs covering mentoring, identity and storytelling, plus tutoring, seniors programming and parent engagement.
Newmarket African Caribbean Canadian Association (NACCA)
449 Eagle St, Newmarket | naccacommunity.ca | 905-781-6222
Black-led registered charity strengthening Black communities across York Region: youth mental wellness, school success programs, seniors club, food security. The current calendar is full, with a comedy fundraiser, Mental Health First Aid training and a new cohort all landing in October 2026.
Markham African Caribbean Canadian Association (MACCA)
505 Hood Rd, Markham | macca1987.com | 905-946-9998
Afro-Caribbean community organization serving York Region since 1987: scholarships, cultural events, health and education programs. The 39th Annual Scholarship Awards Gala ran in 2026.
Black Mentorship Inc.
Suite 605, 700 Dorval Dr, Oakville | blackmentorshipinc.ca | 905-337-7111
Mentorship and skills development for the Black community in Halton, plus the annual Black Excellence gala, whose 2026 edition was held February 7.
Durham Family and Cultural Centre
Unit 18, 570 Westney Rd S, Ajax | durhamfcc.org | 905-409-0299
Nonprofit providing counselling, parenting, education, mentorship and child and youth development programs for Durham’s Black community. Hosted a May 2025 town hall on missing Black boys.
Arts and culture
Nia Centre for the Arts
524 Oakwood Ave, Little Jamaica | niacentre.org
Canada’s first professional multidisciplinary Black arts centre. Exhibitions, residencies, youth mentorship, steel pan workshops. It sits on Oakwood in the heart of Little Jamaica, which feels exactly right.
CaribbeanTales Media Group
Toronto | caribbeantalesmediagroup.com
Champions Caribbean film and television: the CaribbeanTales International Film Festival, a filmmaker incubator, worldwide distribution. Our stories, told by us, on screens everywhere.
Canadian Caribbean Association of Halton (CCAH)
Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre, 2302 Bridge Rd, Rm A071, Oakville | ccah.ca | 905-815-6184
Registered charity running Black history tours, steelpan and parang lessons, summer day camp, youth leadership and seniors programming across Halton. Awarded $215,742 in Halton Region funding for Black, African and Caribbean youth programming.
Canadian Caribbean Cultural Association of Durham (CCCAD)
157 Harwood Ave N, Unit 2, Ajax | canadianccad.com | 365-885-7750
Caribbean cultural charity based in Ajax, serving the Durham Caribbean community.
Business and professional
Black Business and Professional Association (BBPA)
180 Elm St, Toronto | bbpa.org
The hub for Black business excellence since 1980. Business training, the BBPA Academy, scholarships, and the Little Jamaica revitalization initiative. If you are building something, build it with people who want you to win.
Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce
Toronto, national reach | blackchamber.ca
The national hub of the Black business ecosystem: advisory services, entrepreneur programming, and connections to capital. BBPA is your local gym; the Chamber is the national league.
Afro Caribbean Business Network (ACBN) Canada
350 Rutherford Rd S, Brampton | acbncanada.com | (289) 624-6868
Supports Black and Afro-Caribbean entrepreneurs through a 3,000-plus business network, a six-month accelerator, microloans and the annual Legacy Symposium. If BBPA is the Toronto home base, ACBN is the 905 counterpart.
Health and wellness
TAIBU Community Health Centre
27 Tapscott Rd, Malvern, Scarborough | taibuchc.ca
Primary health care and health promotion designed for Black populations: medical care, mental health, dental, early years programs. Culturally competent care is not a luxury. It is the baseline, and TAIBU delivers it.
Women’s Health in Women’s Hands
2 Carlton St, Toronto | whiwh.com
Primary health care designed for racialized women, with Caribbean women among its priority communities. A space built for us, on purpose.
Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black CAP)
20 Victoria St, Toronto | blackcap.ca
Canada’s largest Black-specific AIDS service organization: HIV education and support, counselling, settlement programs, youth programs. Doing necessary work without flinching, for decades.
Roots Community Services
36 Queen St E, Brampton | rootscs.org
Peel Region’s Black-led answer to culturally responsive care: mental health, addictions, and social services for Black and Caribbean residents. Brampton needed this. Now it has it.
Black Health and Social Services (BHSS) Hub Peel
19 Rutherford Rd S, Unit 2, Brampton | bhsshubpeel.ca | 647-812-5226
An Afrocentric health hub for Black, African and Caribbean communities in Peel: primary care, mental health and addictions support, social services. A partnership of Roots Community Services, LAMP CHC and CMHA Peel Dufferin, backed by a $25M Ontario Health investment, with its grand opening in August 2026.
Rexdale Community Health Centre, AMANI Mental Health and Substance Use Program
8 Taber Rd, Etobicoke | rexdalechc.com | 416-744-6312
Culturally responsive, Africentric mental health and addictions counselling for Black, African and Caribbean youth aged 12 to 29 in North Etobicoke. One of eight AMANI sites across Ontario, and every AMANI staff member identifies as Black.
My Neighbourhood Services, Caribbean Seniors Group
3540 Morning Star Dr (Malton Community Centre, Hall A), Mississauga | mnsinfo.org | 905-677-6270
Free drop-in group for Caribbean and other seniors: dominoes, games, trips, health workshops. Mondays 12:30 to 3:30pm. Run by Malton Neighbourhood Services, serving newcomers since 1975.
Community and cultural associations
Jamaican Canadian Association
995 Arrow Rd, North York | jcaontario.org
The GTA’s Jamaican community headquarters, running for over 60 years. Cultural programming, tutoring, seniors club, scholarships, advocacy. The institution. If you only remember one address from this list, make it this one.
CAFCAN (Caribbean African Canadian Social Services)
995 Arrow Rd, North York | cafcan.org
Africentric counselling and youth mentorship: counselling, children’s programs, youth outreach, family and women’s support. Same building as the JCA, different lane, both essential.
ANCHOR (African Canadian National Coalition against Hate, Oppression and Racism)
Registered office: 13-3120 Rutherford Rd, Suite 255, Vaughan | no official website
Formerly the Vaughan African Canadian Association, founded 2003. Community programs, anti-racism advocacy and refugee support in Vaughan and York Region; the organization fed and housed roughly 65 African asylum seekers in 2023. Verified through corporate records and community partnerships rather than a standalone website, so check with YRAACC for a current contact.
Congress of Black Women of Canada, Ajax and Pickering Chapter
Workshops in Pickering, near Dixie Rd and Kingston Rd | ajax-pickering.cbwc-ontario.org
Volunteer nonprofit founded 1996, advocating for Black women and families in Durham: scholarships, Black History Month events, workshops. A free six-week Wills, Wealth and Wellness series ran September to October 2026. No public street address, so check the site for current workshop locations.
Editor’s pick
Tropicana. A Scarborough organization founded in 1980 specifically for Caribbean youth and families, still standing, still serving, running a food bank on top of everything else. Longevity is the hardest thing to fake in community work.
And a 905 honorable mention: the BHSS Hub Peel in Brampton, a $25M bet that Afrocentric health care belongs in Peel, opened August 2026. Watch this one.
Where to start
Don’t read this list top to bottom. Start where you are.
Just landed? CultureLink for general settlement, FCJ Refugee Centre if your status is precarious, Rexdale Women’s Centre if you’re a newcomer woman in Etobicoke. Under 30 and job hunting? CEE Toronto. Kid struggling in school? Tropicana or the Black Youth Helpline in Toronto, YRAACC or NACCA in York Region. Need a doctor who gets it? TAIBU in Scarborough, Women’s Health in Women’s Hands downtown, Roots or the BHSS Hub Peel in Brampton, AMANI at Rexdale CHC for youth in Etobicoke. Starting a business? BBPA in Toronto, ACBN in Brampton, then the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce. Want to make art or watch ours? Nia Centre and CaribbeanTales in Toronto, CCAH in Oakville. A senior looking for community? The Caribbean Seniors Group in Malton, Monday afternoons. Want a community home base? The Jamaican Canadian Association in North York, MACCA in Markham, NACCA in Newmarket, or the Congress of Black Women chapter nearest you.
One honest caveat before you go: this directory was verified active across 2025 and 2026, but organizations change hours, move locations, and pause intake. Check the website or call ahead. And if you work at one of these organizations and something here is out of date, tell us. This directory only works if it stays true.
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