The African Center for Community Development, Inc. is a Madison-based 501(c)(3) organization that serves as a cultural, civic, and intellectual hub for African immigrants, refugees, and their families across Dane County while also functioning as a vital community partner for African Studies at UW–Madison. Founded to be a “home away from home,” the center supports integration, family stability, and cultural continuity through programs spanning housing, youth education, health, immigration, and economic development.
For scholars, students, and community researchers, the African Center provides a rare bridge between academic inquiry and lived African diasporic experience. Through its Africa Talks Community Lectures, co-organized with the African Studies Program, researchers share work on Africa and the African diaspora in dialogue with community members, fostering reciprocal knowledge exchange that connects theory, history, and everyday life. The center also partners with UW researchers on community-based health studies, training African community members as co-researchers and expanding access to ethical and participatory scholarship.
Beyond campus, the African Center anchors African cultural life in Dane County through youth storytelling programs, cultural festivals, multilingual health fairs, women’s professional networks, and immigrant legal and housing assistance. Together, these initiatives make the center a key site for African Studies in practice—where culture, research, and community empowerment converge.
Click to The African Center for Community Development, Inc. Website