Thank you.
On the first pillar, capacity building, the SBCCI works with communities to support a sustainable ecosystem of Black-led and Black-serving organizations.
As you heard on Monday, to ensure that community voices are centred, funding is provided to high-capacity Black-led organizations that act as national funders, and in turn provide funding for capacity building to smaller Black-led community-based organizations.
The four national funders, as you heard, are Tropicana Community Services in Toronto, the Black Business Initiative in Halifax, Groupe 3737 in Montreal and the Africa Centre in Edmonton. To date, the national funders have together awarded over $25.7 million to more than 705 Black-led and Black-serving grassroots organizations across Canada, helping to build community-based capacity.
The SBCCI has also invested directly in more than 1,370 projects under the capital assistance stream of the initiative, which is administered by ESDC. A total of almost $82 million was invested to help organizations more effectively deliver programs and services to the communities they serve.
Turning to the second pillar, systems change, there are a couple of elements designed to support the projects and initiatives that address systemic barriers. One of those is the external reference group, which is a commitment the government made and is in train. There is also the national institute for people of African descent, for which a call for proposals was launched. Again, a selection process is under way and in train.
Under emerging priorities, there are a range of initiatives that have taken place, including with regard to one place that I was able to visit this summer, just outside Halifax. It's the former Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children, which has been returned to the community. The project has funded significant renovations to turn that space into a community hub for the Black community in Nova Scotia.
To wrap up, the last thing I'll note is a complementary initiative, which I think you heard a little about earlier this week as well. That is the Black-led philanthropic endowment fund. This sits alongside the supporting Black Canadian communities initiative and is designed to build capacity and put funding in the hands of Black-led and Black-serving organizations in the future.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm happy to take questions.