TORONTO – National Aboriginal Day is a great time to celebrate our Indigenous Peoples, and a new charity, Kocihta, which will empower Indigenous people to overcome challenges to reach their dreams and career potential.
The Kocihta Charity will officially launch on October 23, 2013 at a fundraising evening being held in Toronto at the Daniels Spectrum Centre – a social enterprise facility serving the multi-cultural community of Regent Park.
“Indigenous people are our nation’s largest underleveraged asset. A career offers the best way for Indigenous people to achieve their potential, renewed hope, and self-sufficiency”, said Kelly J. Lendsay, President and CEO of the Aboriginal Human Resource Council — a 15-year old national social enterprise. “We have initiated the formation of the Kocihta Charity to build capacity within the First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities in order to increase economic strength within the Indigenous community, within corporations, and within Canada”, said Lendsay.
Children who grow up in poverty give up hope by age 5. According to a new census report, 50 per cent of First Nations people in Canada live in poverty – triple that of the national average. The situation is also grim within the Inuit and Métis communities — adversity and barriers are their daily reality.
Kocihta, named after a Cree word meaning ‘to reach one another’, ‘to reach someone’, ‘to reach something’, will reach out to foundations, corporate Canada and philanthropists for support to deliver programs and services that help Indigenous people to acquire the skills and training needed to become exemplary members of Canada’s workforce.
Kocihta is the only national charitable organization in Canada with an exclusive focus on Indigenous human resource development.
To learn more about Kocihta and how you can support the cause through donations, or the purchase of tickets/corporate sponsorship to the October charity event, visit aboriginalhr.ca or download the Kocihta Charity brochure.
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