About Us
Matching English-speaking Bilingual Black Quebecers with Forward looking jobs
With an ongoing labour shortage in Quebec, public, private, and civil society partners have joined forces to source and place available and qualified talent from the English-speaking Black Community (ESBC) in available jobs in the Greater Montreal Area (GMA).
Key partners, including Sobey’s, Una Buro, and the English Montreal School Board, along with the Venture lead, Black Community Resource Centre (BCRC), and the hub partner, CEDEC, are leveraging a pool of young, educated, and bilingual English-speaking Black Montrealers who are ready and willing to work or seek new opportunities. EmployESBC is improving their economic outlook while boosting the performance of businesses and institutions in the Greater
Montreal Area.
Inequality in Canada’s economy specifically impacts visible minorities, particularly with underemployment and unemployment. This collaborative Venture is an innovative, proactive, and concrete way to promote tangible economic benefits and help English-speaking Black Montrealers to advance their careers and contribute their talents to the growth of the economy. By bringing together the know-how and resources of public, private, and civil society sector organizations, a more efficient matching process will pair untapped talent from Montreal’s English-speaking Black community with available jobs.
Vision: To provide meaningful and forward-looking employment for English-speaking bilingual Black talent in the Greater Montreal Area creating the opportunity improve their economic wellbeing as well as to continue contributing to the local economy.
Mission: To generate quality matches between job seekers and employers that recognize the value of diversity and the untapped potential within Montreal’s English-speaking Black Community.
History of EmployESBC
Pushing recruiting boundaries to transform lives
In September of 2020, the Black Community Resource Centre (BCRC) and CEDEC met with employers and stakeholders to discuss how to take advantage of this very important and untapped talent pool.
By March of 2021, a Talent Matching pilot was carried out that included participation of 18 employers and 52 job seekers which validated the demand for a more tailored matching experience between English-speaking Black talent and employers.
By October 1, 2021, multiple stakeholders across all public, private, and civil society sectors agreed that this opportunity could produce the following tangible economic end-state benefits:
• Immediate employment for talent from the English-speaking Black Community
• Improved income for employed individuals
• Enhanced productivity and diversity for employer organizations
By March 2022, the Black Community Resource Centre, Sobeys, Una Buro, English Montreal School Board and CEDEC signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formally launch the Venture. Concurrently, a partnership with the Socio-Economic Summit for the Development of Black Communities Youth (also known as the Afro Summit) was developed to exchange research and fund a coordinator position to increase progress matching qualified talent with available jobs.
In February 2023, the EmployESBC Venture was granted funding from Groupe 3737 to retain our Recruitment Coordinator and to hire a Communications Coordinator to increase the visibility and ultimately match great talent with employment opportunities.