Company History

Project ELIKYA is a culturally responsive program designed to promote healthy relationships, emotional and mental wellbeing, and family harmony as well as proven differences navigation tools within the African immigrant community in the DMV area.

Due to stigma, cultural norms, and fear of social consequences, many African individuals face challenges discussing sensitive family issues openly. This program addresses those barriers by using culturally grounded, implicit approaches such as storytelling, wellness education, and community dialogue.

Our Mission

Our mission is to create unbiased, supportive spaces where individuals and families including children can speak openly, and reclaim their power; to equip families with restorative skills through workshops, culturally appropriate coping mechanisms and mentorship programs

Objectives

• Community Engagement: conduct community dialogue sessions to promote healthy communication, cultural understanding, and family wellness.

• Family Strengthening: improved communication and conflict-resolution skills

• Youth & Parents connection: facilitate 6 intergenerational workshops designed to bridge cultural and generational gaps between parents and children

• Emotional Wellness Awareness: provide culturally responsive wellness education, dismantling barriers and increasing awareness of healthy coping strategies

• Leadership & Advocacy: train and mentor community leaders, peer advocates, and volunteers to support outreach, education, and culturally sensitive family support initiatives within African immigrant communities.

• Navigating Differences conversation: Promote respectful and emotionally sound family environments, create supportive dialogue spaces and find strength in the community

Ultimately, Project ELIKYA aims to increase community participation in prevention-focused family wellness programs by 40%, while creating sustainable support networks that strengthen family unity and community resilience.

Immigration & Change

Change is a reality that quietly enters every immigrant’s life, regardless of background. At first, it is subtle and almost unnoticeable. Over time, however, that subtle shift can become a habit—one that may either strengthen or challenge immigrants family dynamics. Can someone continue thinking exactly as their grandparents did while living and working in a modern society? When we adapt, are we creating distance within our families, or are we building bridges toward understanding?

Ultimately, when individuals and families fail to address these gaps, conflict often follows. Misunderstandings within families and communities are not always rooted in culture itself, but in the effort to preserve norms and expectations that may no longer serve every member of the household. These challenges affect men, women, and children alike, shaping the way families communicate, relate, and grow together.

Changes bring important questions, often unaddressed:

• Where does reality become blurred?

• At what point is the gap between assimilation into American society and the preservation of African cultural values bridged?

• What happens when one spouse has adapted, the children have adapted, but one parent refuses to cross that same bridge?

• How do families resolve these tensions?

• Will the conflict disappear on its own, remain temporary, or continue to grow over time?