We are pleased to share that our executive director, Marichu Antonio, has been awarded with the 2020 Citizen of the Year Award under the Community Achievement Awards category at the Calgary Awards. 
This is given to an outstanding individual Calgarian who, within the last five years, has made extraordinary contributions to the community, as a volunteer and/or professional, that improved the quality of life in Calgary or brought recognition to Calgary. Watch Marichu’s acceptance speech here.
Marichu is an extraordinary pioneering leader and innovator with close to 50 years of working passionately towards community development and empowerment. She is a strong advocate of social justice, human rights, and equity for all citizens.
As Executive Director for nearly twelve years, Marichu’s leadership has transformed ActionDignity into a strong platform organization that serves to amplify the collective voice of over100 culturally diverse groups and organizations. Through her leadership, these empowered communities became a force in transitioning public institutions and in advocating for public policies that are responsive to racialized communities. She is a strong advocate of providing safe spaces for racialized communities to speak out and be heard. She believes that those that are greatly impacted by inequities are the best people to provide solutions and to guide policy and systems change.
Taking the words of Kimberly Manalili, former ActionDignity’s Board Chair, “Marichu is a pioneering leader…with a passion to work with communities. This has made her the perfect person to lead ActionDignity to what it is today. Under her leadership, our operating budget has grown substantially, our number of multi-year programs are at its highest, we have the most number of staff ever, and our partnerships have expanded considerably. ActionDignity has grown and advanced so much, thanks to her leadership. Those of us who know her can see what a dynamic and inspiring woman she is.” She was appreciated “for persisting to make ActionDignity a vibrant organization it has become, which we could not have imagined years ago.”
During Marichu’s tenure as Executive Director, ActionDignity has increased its budget over 200 times, from less than $60,000 when she started to over $1.5 million today, and staffing from 1 to more than 40 today, of those 70% are employed full-time. This has enabled ActionDignity to expand its reach and create impacts to more ethnocultural communities.
Throughout out her life serving Calgarians of diverse backgrounds, Marichu has been a trailblazer for many initiatives and provided leadership to important community endeavours. Marichu’s leadership is deeply anchored to her commitment to help those in need. Always on the lookout that no one falls through the cracks and the systems. Below are examples of her work within the last five years:
- At the height of the Cargill Meat Packing Plant outbreak and JBS in Brooks in March 2020, Marichu has proactively responded to the essential workers’ needs. She quickly shifted ActionDignity’s focus from program to emergency response and reached out to essential workers, provided them with culturally appropriate food hampers, and assisted in navigating government benefits package in addition to mental health online forum and information on COVID 19 in first language. Through these initiatives thousands of essential workers and their families were provided supports.
- Key collaborator of the Calgary East Newcomer Collaborative (CENC) that comprises 17 agencies serving East Calgary. Marichu is the co-founder and initiator of the CENC Multilingual Emergency Response to COVID-19 (MERC) hotline. This program includes 22 cultural brokers who speak 24 languages. They provide information and supports to COVID 19 impacted individuals and families. To date, the MERC hotline has supported 2,600 newcomers and immigrants, and served close to 10,500 people with food, and supports to mental health, employment, government benefit navigations and financial support. Her effort, together with the other measures have helped reduce the curve of daily rising COVID-19 cases and support families to heal with honor and quarantine in a dignified way. It reached out to 209 communities with COVID 19 information and provided guidance on how to ensure that their members call the MERC hotline if they are in need.
- Guided by her leadership, ActionDignity has expanded the Community Broker Strategy. Pathways to Prosperity Canada, a partnership of federal and provincial migration ministries, municipalities, organizations involved in newcomer settlement and researchers from over fifty universities, recognized the Community Broker Strategy as a Promising Practice in March 2020. This strategy engages advocates and natural leaders embedded in ethnocultural communities, who can bring in the most vulnerable and isolated members of communities. Through this initiative many of non-traditional users of services, and those that would usually be considered non-users were linked to services. Additionally, Cultural Brokers bring a community voice to inform decisions towards improving policies, programs and services of government, public institutions and service provider organizations. Through this Strategy, which Marichu has helped formed, the lived experiences of ethnocultural communities were brought from the margins to the mainstream of discussions.
- Anti-racism: George Floyd’s death ignited a fury of protests across America and in Canada, and heightened focus on anti-racism and addressing anti-Black racism. Marichu quickly worked with staff and ActionDignity released a statement to support Black Lives Matter; and subsequently made public its sentiments against the racist attack, hate and threat to Pink Flamingo and its planned mural highlighting BLM movement. These events underscored ActionDignity’s commitments, but also catalyzed reflection and internal examination of its anti-racism work and programming, including systems and policy change. As a result of this, ActionDignity has embarked to strengthen its internal capacity with the designation of a Strategy Lead on Anti-Racism and Equity; and enrich its 5-year strategy plan to ensure that ActionDignity’s strategies are aligning with and addressing the needs of the time.
- Under Marichu’s leadership, ActionDignity seized its great opportunities for collaborative work during COVID-19 pandemic. Several projects, which she conceptualized and developed brought partnerships to 32 ethnocultural communities greatly impacted by COVID 19.
- Marichu is an inspiring leader. ActionDignity increased its private donor base to over 1000 individuals in 2020 from a mere 100 the year before. ActionDignity through Marichu was also in the media spotlight on equity issues, especially workers’ rights.
- She contributed to various publications, among which are: Better Together, Charity and Non-Charity Partnership Manual. Toolkit for Community Hubs, published by Enough for All Strategy. Toolkit for Engaging Ethnocultural Communities
Marichu is concluding her last year with ActionDignity and will retire from public work in June 2021. Because of her leadership, ActionDignity is placed in its best position to promote and improve equity and inclusion of ethnocultural communities in all public and community matters. Because of her, tens of thousands of diverse Calgarians’ voices have been heard, at the city, provincial and federal levels, which in turn helps improve their quality of life. Because of her, ActionDignity has become the face and conduit of anti-racism work. Exceptionally with COVID-19 response, and anti-racism work, we are thrilled that Marichu Antonio has been awarded the Citizen of the Year Award.
Marichu would like to dedicate this award to racialized communities for their everyday heroism.
The City of Calgary established the Calgary Awards in 1994 to celebrate and recognize exceptional achievements and contributions made by Calgarians. Each year, individuals, corporations, community groups and organizations are nominated in five major award categories. More information on each award category, eligibility criteria, and previous award recipients can be found here: calgary.ca/calgaryawards