History

The Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre (KIMC) is a registered charity with Limited Company status that was established in April 2000. 

The vision was conceived and developed by Liverpool Black Sisters (LBS) an organisation that was set up in the early 1970’s by a number of local black women to highlight the lack of childcare facilities and lack of support in dealing with a number of highly sensitive issues including immigration / nationality, mental health and the ad-hoc selection and recruitment of black foster carers, domestic violence, racial harassment and the under-representation of black women in professional employment.  Central to all of these issues were racial discrimination, sexism and classism, which black women experienced.

(LBS) identified the need for a local, family centre through continuous community consultation.  In the late 90’s LBS commissioned research, based on a series of focus groups within the Liverpool 8 community with existing users of LBS and with those who had no contact with the organisation.

LBS identified through the local consultation and surveys that a new, more wide-ranging service was needed to improve and support black women and their families into mainstream living.  The organisation had operated from the basement of the Liverpool 8 Law Centre since the early 1980’s, establishing itself as a successful, high quality, child-care and training provider, being the first organisation in Liverpool to register an ‘after school’ service in 1993 and, with its staff being the first to complete the NVQ level 3 in Play Work in the Northwest.  The portfolio of services and support delivered from this limited space is impressive and the organization has built on its reputation to realize the dream of the Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre(KIMC).

KIMC secured the £3.1 million of capital funding from the Millennium Commission and ERDF in 1998 for the design and build of the Centre of excellence, which is a beacon within the community and a resource for the Liverpool 8 and surrounding areas (Liverpool 1, 3, 7, 15 + 17).  The Centre opened its doors to the community in 2004.

Kuumba Imani is a Social Enterprise combining social objectives and commercial and trading activity as part of an overarching enterprise solution to social and economic deprivation. Income is re-invested in the Company to improve existing services and develop new ones for the local community.

Initially KIMC was set up as a separate company from Liverpool Black Sisters to enable LBS to retain it’s core value of being a women’s organization developing and delivering services for women and children.  In December 2006 It was agreed that LBS would cease trading and that it’s assets and liabilities would be transferred to KIMC and all of it’s activities would be
delivered by KIMC with the dream being realized of one centre, one mission and recognized quality provision from both under the same roof and same name.

Over the years hundreds of local women and men have worked tirelessly to ensure that the Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre mission is realized and that the many individuals, groups and organizations from all sectors benefit from this quality provision.

More about our mission »