2025 Community Awards Spotlight – Renee Kokonya Sullivan

Renee Kokonya Sullivan – Welcoming Community Champion

The second recipient of the Welcoming Community Champion Award recipient for 2025 is Renee Kokonya Sullivan.  

Since moving to Almonte from Tanzania in 2017, Renee has generously dedicated her time and talents to make Mississippi Mills a more welcoming community for newcomers.  

As a stay-at-home parent of three young children, she quickly became a community builder – organizing playgroups focused on intercultural music, and volunteering at Naismith Memorial Public School to speak about multiculturalism and inclusivity. Renee is always eager to share her culture with anyone she meets and encouraging friends to explore rural Ontario.  

In 2020, Renee and her husband, Bart, launched the first Black History Month dance party, which has continued to grow year after year, becoming three events in 2025 to educate families, youth and adults about Black history, music and dance.  

Not only does this initiative fundraise for causes supporting Black communities but also helps raise cultural awareness in our community. In 2022, proceeds from the Black History Month dance party sponsored a Black-authored collection at the Mississippi Mills Public Library.  

Renee also created and ran a diversity summer camp for children at her home, Stonecroft Barn, in 2023, creating a vibrant and welcoming space for people of colour and African descent to share their culture and experience rural life and history in Mississippi Mills.  

Renee is now giving back through The Inclusion Project, an initiative that is preparing to host the second annual Multicultural Potluck in collaboration with the Municipality on June 27 and present a BIPOC Vendor Market at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum this July.  

Here’s what her nominators had to say about Renee: 

“Renee’s remarkable ability to listen attentively and offer thoughtful, non-judgmental feedback has undoubtedly informed her approach to community building. She possesses a keen understanding of the community’s needs and responds with initiatives that blend critical thinking with the joy of gathering – a truly effective approach for a growing and evolving community like ours.” 

“As part of The Inclusion Project, she has worked alongside her committee members to develop initiatives that encourage inclusion and ensure our community is a welcoming place for everyone, regardless of background. Her experience and leadership in this community project is shaping the future of our community and her dedication to fostering diversity and inclusion is an inspiration to us all. Renee doesn’t just talk the talk; she walks the walk! Her work has inspired many and will have a lasting impact on our community.” 

Thank you, Renee, for being a champion for inclusion in Mississippi Mills.