Before Tinu Ark of Mercy had a name, it had a room. In 2012, a small group of women started meeting weekly through their church community to talk honestly about what they were carrying: raising children far from the villages that raised them, grieving losses nobody around them understood, holding families together with very little support and even less recognition.

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Those conversations didn't stay small. By 2016, the need had grown into a weekly grief and healing circle. By 2018, Tinuola Abimbola Akhere had turned that circle into something bigger. Tinu Ark of Mercy became a community built specifically for Black families, caregivers, immigrants and elders in Brampton. We incorporated federally in 2020 and became a registered charity in 2025.

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We are not a service you visit once and leave. We are a village you settle into.

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Our Mission

To relieve poverty by delivering essential support and services to underserved individuals and families in our community.

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Our Vision

A compassionate society where every individual, regardless of circumstance, has access to basic needs and the dignity of life.

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Our Mandate

Tinu Ark of Mercy primarily serves Black communities in Peel Region. We empower Black families with the tools to achieve wellness, through services that address oppression, trauma, isolation and a lack of support. Every programme we run is designed for and with Black residents of Brampton, and our leadership, board and facilitators are Black.

Who We Are For

Tinu Ark of Mercy exists for Black men and women across Peel Region: immigrants adjusting to life in a new country, parents raising children between two cultures, caregivers stretched thin, and elders who deserve to be seen, not sidelined.

 

If you've ever walked into a room and had to explain your culture before anyone could help you, this is the place where that explanation isn't necessary.
 

 

How We Work

Everything we build comes from the same starting point: our community already has the wisdom, we just build the room. Our programmes run through group circles, one-on-one support, and partnerships with counsellors, health practitioners and community leaders who understand the specific weight our people carry.

 

We approach every family with an anti-oppressive, trauma-informed lens, because healing that ignores context isn't healing, it's just paperwork.

 

We also design with our members rather than for them. Programmes begin with what people tell us they need, and we ask again after every cycle. Nothing about us without us.

 

 

Our Programmes

Seniors Connect. Three years of year-round gatherings where Black elders stay active, informed and celebrated, in person and online. Movement and swimming, nutrition and winter wellness, cyber safety, legacy and family connection, arts, and help navigating the services our elders are entitled to but rarely reach.

Caregiver Circle. Support for the people holding everyone else together.

Healthy Relationships. Prevention, education and safety for families navigating harm.

Liberation Time Circle. Cultural space for healing, confidence and community connection.

 

We are also building toward transitional housing, because a village isn't complete until everyone in it has a stable place to stand. Six families have found affordable housing through our work so far.

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Where We Are Now

Last year we engaged over 500 community members across Peel and delivered over 350 programme sessions. We work in partnership with the City of Brampton, Peel Region's Community Investment Program, Lady Ballers Centre and other community organizations who serve the same families we do.

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Peel Region's Black-focused, Black-led and Black-serving (B3) funding has anchored our operations, and City of Brampton funding has carried Seniors Connect through three full years of delivery. That backing tells you something simple: the people whose job it is to know which organizations Black residents actually trust have chosen to invest in this one.

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Where We Are Going

Our ambition is not modest. Peel is home to one of the largest Black populations in Canada, and too many of them are carrying isolation, grief, caregiving and poverty without a village around them.

 

We intend to reach every one of them.

 

That means growing from a room in Brampton into a regional presence: more elders in our circles, more caregivers supported, more families housed, and more Black residents of Peel who know that somewhere in this region there is a place where they don't have to explain themselves first.

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Led By Our Community, For Our Community

Tinu Ark of Mercy is run by professionals of African descent who bring both lived experience and real expertise to this work. Our founder and Executive Director, our board of directors and our programme facilitators are Black.

Our team understands that showing up for Black families in Brampton means understanding Brampton, and understanding Black families, not choosing between the two.

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Registered charity. Federally incorporated 2020.

Charitable registration 709874077 RR0001.
156 Main Street North (Grace Place Building), Brampton, ON L6V 1N9