This Place for Displaced

When folks come to us for shelter, we want them to feel welcome and that they belong. That was the idea behind commissioning artwork for our shelter— to make it feel more like a home and less like an institution. To achieve this, we commissioned a piece by Downtown Eastside artist Rickie “Sugars” that now […]

Black Excellence Day

Black Excellence Day Today is Black Excellence Day – a day to celebrate the contributions and achievements of Black communities across Canada. The day was born out of Black Shirt Day, which falls on January 15th, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, and is a day to show solidarity with black communities. But because of […]

Juneteenth

Social justice is one of First United’s core values. We’re committed to combatting the oppression and marginalization of racialized folks. As an organization that serves a diverse community and has a large portion of staff that identifies as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of colour), we know that racism is very much still present and […]

Black Excellence Day

Guest post by Stephanie Kallstrom, Case Planner, FIRST UNITED On this day of January 14th, 2022 (on January 15th each year or on the preceding Friday if it falls on a weekend or holiday) marks the first year that the province of British Columbia has proclaimed ‘Black Excellence Day’! It is to celebrate the outstanding […]

A new Easter tradition

This Easter we invite you to add a new tradition to your celebrations: the pursuit of justice. A special post by Dr Cheryl Bear