Survey Recruitment
Job posting Project Coordinator
INTERNAL JOB POSTING For members, volunteers, service users, and current employees Project Coordinator Application Deadline: Wednesday, April 13, 2022 (11:59 p.m.) Part-time (21 hrs/week) Starting Date: As soon as possible ACAS is seeking a passionate person to implement the Asian Migrant Farms Workers’ (AMFWs) HIV Outreach Project. The Coordinator will work in partnership with MFW HIV Alliance members consisting of Positive Living Niagara and Latinos Positivos of Toronto. Responsibilities • Recruit, train and support 2 peer champions per year • Organize outreach plan and activities • Design and conduct educational workshops that are appropriate for AMFWs as audience • Assist AMFWs on service navigation and refer to appropriate health services • Coordinate testing service and transportation with local and ethnic-specific volunteers, sexual health clinics, AIDS service organizations, and project partners • Plan with Alliance members to organize an annual health fair, and a community forum • Maintain project statistics and prepare written progress reports • Manage project budget Qualifications • Speak, read, and write Thai fluently • Basic knowledge of HIV and STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections) • Basic skills in workshop facilitation, and training design • Demonstrated some experience in HIV/STIs outreach • Thorough understanding of ACAS mission, AIDS stigma and discrimination, LGBTQ+ issues, healthy sexuality, and harm reduction principles and practices • Demonstrated commitment to anti-homophobia, anti-oppression, and healthy sexuality principles • Excellent interpersonal, and communication skills • Ability to work as part of a team and independently • Ability to work in the evenings and weekends that require travel outside of Toronto • Must possess a valid Full G driver’s license and have a good driving record • Own vehicle is an asset • Computer skills: MS Office, social media and graphic design (an asset) Please send a cover letter, resume with 2 references by email to: Subject: [...]
Only the Lonely
By Ryan Tran It can sometimes feel like a lonely world out there for a gay Asian man, even long before a pandemic kept us apart. Like many queer folks, I struggled coming to terms with my sexual orientation in middle school and throughout high school. It was hard seeing my classmates pair up on dates, while giving excuses like “I didn't have time” or “that pretty girl wasn’t my type”. But all I really wanted was to have that first kiss, hold hands, and go on cute walks in the park with a handsome guy. I desperately craved having that first relationship with someone and to shower them with all my pent up love. I laid in bed imagining what it felt like to cuddle with a warm body as I fell asleep. It seemed so easy for my straight peers to find someone to date, but as queer folks we felt largely invisible. The beginnings of loneliness started in adolescence, but it didn’t end there. A lot of queer folks come out of the closet and expect to be welcomed with open arms when they finally venture into the LGBTQ community. I expected the same too, but instead I would find more hurdles and fences. We see people divided into tribes, cliques, and groups that force us into boxes and labels. For someone who is still grappling with who they are, how are they supposed to know what tribe they should be a part of? After feeling like an outsider growing up, we tend to assume that we’ll finally feel like we belong when we first step into the LGBTQ community. Where you first step into can really impact how you meet new people and who you meet [...]
ACAS 2020/2021 Annual Report
ACAS had our Annual General Meeting on January 15th, 2022. We extend a big thank you to our funders, sponsors, individual donors and especially our ACAS volunteers who have been instrumental in our mission. Thank you as well for all the love from those advocates who participated in our virtual AGM.
EduAsian
EducAsian is a series of workshops hosted by ACAS that aims to equip and empower East and Southeast Asian LGBTQ+ youth with basic knowledge and skills to deal with Anti-Asian racism in their daily lives and connect them to the community. We are offering six free Expressive Arts Therapy sessions on Mondays from January 24th to Feb 28th, 6PM-8PM EST. The Expressive Arts Therapy sessions will allow LGBTQ+ Asian youth to work with professionally trained expressive art therapists to creatively self-express, reconnect their body, mind and spirit, create a safe space to explore feelings, and provide a channel for healing. Participants will attend all 6 sessions together with the same cohort of peers, and will receive a FREE art kit to participate in the creative activities! More information in the registration form; go to our linktree in the QTAY Instagram bio, or the ACAS website, or DM us for the link. Please email Angela at community@acas.org if you have any questions or concerns. We hope to see you soon!
The EducAsian workshop
EducAsian is a series of workshops hosted by ACAS that aims to equip and empower East and Southeast Asian LGBTQ+ youth with basic knowledge and skills to deal with Anti-Asian racism in their daily lives and connect them to the community. We are offering four free digital workshops in December, and six free Expressive Arts Therapy sessions from January 2022 to March 2022. ➡ Sunday Dec 12th, 6PM-8PM: Missing from the History Textbooks: Understanding Asian LGBTQ+ and Anti-Asian Histories in Toronto, led by Angela W. ➡ Wednesday Dec 15th, 6PM-8PM: Roundtable Dinner: A Discussion on how Anti-Asian Racism Intersects with Sexism, Homophobia and Transphobia (Special Guests TBA!) ➡ Saturday Dec 18th, 1PM-3PM: Microaggressions, Racial Biases and How to Deal with Them, led by Sezen T. ➡ Wednesday Dec 22nd, 6PM-8PM: Do You Really See Me? Moving Past the Model Minority Myth as Asian LGBTQ+, led by Cho ➡ Jan 2022- Mar 2022: Expressive Arts Therapy session (Dates + Times TBD) Please find more information in the registration form; you can go to the ACAS website, the ACAS/QTAY Instagram, or email us for a link. Please email Angela at community@acas.org if you have any questions or concerns. We hope to see you soon!
Seed25+ Community Forum
Dear Supporters, Allies, and community members, You are cordially invited to our ACAS Seed25+ community forum: Real talk from aging PLHIV and the impact from COVID19 and beyond. HIV has been around for more than 35 years, many PLHIV are aging and facing health challenges such as opportunistic infections. We have been living in the pandemic for more than 20 months which creates a huge impact on their Psycho/social life. In this forum you will hear from three PLHIV speakers from different ethnic communities, sharing their journey on aging and how Covid 19 has truly changed their physical, mental and emotional health. By listening to the honest real talk from the speakers, we hope to create a healthy dialogue to find ways to support peers, organizations will have a better understanding of how to improve the quality of life for their service users. Come and join us virtually on this special forum on Wednesday, December 8, 2021, at 7 p.m. sharp for this interactive and meaningful engagement. Please R.S.V.P. to Mr. Alex Ma support@acas.org no later by Monday, December 6. A zoom link will be sent to you via email once registered. ACAS seed25+ community forum is proudly sponsored by ViiV Health Care Canada