CAVR 2009 Intersections Diversity PPT
•
1 like•495 views
Presentation by R. Tollenaar Topic: Intersections - Eliminate barriers to help integrate new immigrants into your community Presented at VolpediA CAVR 2009 Conference
![Volunteer Alberta ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Viewers also liked
Similar to CAVR 2009 Intersections Diversity PPT
Similar to CAVR 2009 Intersections Diversity PPT (20)
More from Volunteer Alberta
More from Volunteer Alberta (9)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
CAVR 2009 Intersections Diversity PPT
- 1. Intersections Supporting Rural Organizations to Better Engage Immigrant Volunteers Accessing untapped volunteer resources
- 3. Intersections Why undertake this project? Interest expressed by various rural Alberta nonprofit and voluntary sector organizations. Volunteer Alberta supports the issues and trends being seen in rural Alberta that affect the nonprofit and voluntary sector. Volunteering is an effective way of engaging new immigrants in a community and creates relationships that help strengthen communities. Limited current literature or research specific to rural communities.
- 9. The Statistics Over the next decade and beyond, immigration will be the main source of population growth in Alberta. Figures from Statistics Canada, Census data 1991 - 1995 1996 - 2000 2001 - 2006 62,240 65,720 103,680
- 12. Eight Rural Pilot Communities City/Town Population (approx.) % Immigrant Population (approx.) 1996 – 2006 Brooks 12,500 10.4% Fort McMurray 51,000 5.4% Grande Prairie 47,000 2.0% Lethbridge 80,000 2.3% Medicine Hat 55,000 1.8% Okotoks 20,000 3.5% Red Deer 100,000 3.0% Vegreville 5,300 1.5%
- 23. Organizations’ Perceptions We can say we’re 9 or 10, but if we don’t see immigrants volunteering and [our organization doesn’t] represent diversity then it isn’t realistic. You need to know more about these cultures to be really inclusive. Focus Group Participant [Our organization is] high on the surface, [we are] really trying hard, it’s a matter of figuring out the path to go there. Focus Group Participant [ Our organization is] very open, but [have] no actual diversity, we’ve had opportunities but no one has applied. Our Calgary office has lots of multiculturalism but we have zero, but for openness I’d say we’re an 8, 9, 10! Focus Group Participant The employees aren’t diverse at all. It just is the way it is. Focus Group Participant
- 24. Immigrants’ Perceptions [It is] very difficult... for organizations to even accept youth… if they’re having trouble accepting youth then how will they accept immigrants. Focus Group Participant The language barrier drops [an organization’s openness] dramatically. Focus Group Participant Depends on the organization, depends on who’s doing the work, the welcoming, the screening, etc. there are some who aren’t welcoming and patient, but there are some who bend over backwards. Focus Group Participant [It is] dependant on the day/week/who answers/busy. Focus Group Participant
- 25. What the Research Says… Organizations’ perception of openness Immigrants’ perception of openness % Openness Scale (1 – 10)
- 30. A Fresh Look A systems approach to engaging immigrants as volunteers: Immigrant perspective
- 31. A Fresh Look A systems approach to engaging immigrants as volunteers: Rethinking the Role of the Volunteer Centre
- 32. Thought for the Day… Let’s start thinking of immigrants as the next wave of volunteers because they are the next wave of workers. The Government of Alberta expects to double the number of immigrants it expects to welcome this year. They’re here and they’re here to stay. Focus Group Participant
Editor's Notes
- INTERSECTIONS: Supporting Rural Organizations to Better Engage Immigrant Volunteers “ Accessing untapped volunteer resources”
- Introduction VOLUNTEER ALBERTA a. Speakers – Karen Lynch, Rosanne Tollenaar Professional and Personal Context b. Volunteer Alberta About the organization
- Project Intro Volunteer Alberta’s “Supporting Rural Organizations to Better Engage Immigrant Volunteers” project Explain rationale behind project in very general terms.
- Volunteer Alberta – mention VOLUNTEER CENTRES, as their participation is integral to the success of this project Alberta Human Rights, Citizenship & Multicultural Education Fund NorQuest College Centre for Excellence in Intercultural Education : Do you have a logo in the word doc that Sarah sent – ie their letterhead, that would be better?
- RESEARCH: Collect information about the volunteering practices, community engagement, experiences and attitudes of newcomers in rural Alberta communities as well as the attitudes and practices of nonprofit/voluntary organizations regarding engaging new Canadians as volunteers. This information will inform the creation of training materials as well as reports of the findings available for public use. CAPACITY BUILDING : In addition to the development of resources and tools, focused training sessions will be held in eight rural Alberta volunteer centres. These sessions will develop expertise in the area of ethno-cultural volunteer engagement, in particular, engaging Canadians who have immigrated to Canada within the last decade. Training will focus on developing an understanding of immigration status, the diversity of immigrant experience, strategies to eliminate or minimize systemic barriers within the stages of volunteer management and building intercultural communication skills. Included will be directors, board representatives and volunteer managers from each participating volunteer centre as well as key nonprofit/ voluntary sector organizations in the communities to encourage support at all levels within the organizations taking part. SUSTAINABILITY: To encourage the continued development and implementation of the expertise developed within the eight volunteer centres taking part in the training sessions, Volunteer Alberta will support a minimum of four centers in establishing further working groups. These groups would include nonprofit/voluntary sector organization executive directors, managers of volunteers, and board members who did not take part in the original training. The sessions would be organized and facilitated by volunteer centre staff, with the exception of the intercultural communication portion. These working groups will allow the volunteer centres to build upon their new connections with immigrant serving organizations in their communities and access local expertise, as well as give them an opportunity to share their knowledge with other organizations within their network. AWARENESS: Appropriate social marketing tools (both print and web) to inform new Canadians about volunteering opportunities will be developed and distributed for use by volunteer centres and nonprofit/voluntary sector organizations. This step is important because many rural organizations do not have the budget or resources to develop focused tools for ethno-cultural engagement within their community (i.e. translation, photographic resources, etc.)
- RESEARCH: Collect information about the volunteering practices, community engagement, experiences and attitudes of newcomers in rural Alberta communities as well as the attitudes and practices of nonprofit/voluntary organizations regarding engaging new Canadians as volunteers. This information will inform the creation of training materials as well as reports of the findings available for public use. CAPACITY BUILDING : In addition to the development of resources and tools, focused training sessions will be held in eight rural Alberta volunteer centres. These sessions will develop expertise in the area of ethno-cultural volunteer engagement, in particular, engaging Canadians who have immigrated to Canada within the last decade. Training will focus on developing an understanding of immigration status, the diversity of immigrant experience, strategies to eliminate or minimize systemic barriers within the stages of volunteer management and building intercultural communication skills. Included will be directors, board representatives and volunteer managers from each participating volunteer centre as well as key nonprofit/ voluntary sector organizations in the communities to encourage support at all levels within the organizations taking part. SUSTAINABILITY: To encourage the continued development and implementation of the expertise developed within the eight volunteer centres taking part in the training sessions, Volunteer Alberta will support a minimum of four centers in establishing further working groups. These groups would include nonprofit/voluntary sector organization executive directors, managers of volunteers, and board members who did not take part in the original training. The sessions would be organized and facilitated by volunteer centre staff, with the exception of the intercultural communication portion. These working groups will allow the volunteer centres to build upon their new connections with immigrant serving organizations in their communities and access local expertise, as well as give them an opportunity to share their knowledge with other organizations within their network. AWARENESS: Appropriate social marketing tools (both print and web) to inform new Canadians about volunteering opportunities will be developed and distributed for use by volunteer centres and nonprofit/voluntary sector organizations. This step is important because many rural organizations do not have the budget or resources to develop focused tools for ethno-cultural engagement within their community (i.e. translation, photographic resources, etc.)
- 6 questions Tell about project as we take the quiz Preliminary findings Project runs through 2009.
- Question “1” A) “Demographics” Immigration is influencing communities across Alberta What we wanted to know was – how are ORGANIZATIONS working to engage immigrants in their communities through volunteerism. We know volunteerism is a valuable way for people to become part of the community.
- The number of immigrants entering AB in the last 5 -8 years is the greatest influx since the early 1900’s – back then, majority of immigrants were European – now there is wider ethno cultural diversity: In 2004-05, AB received 17,400 immigrants from over 100 countries world-wide Plans to increase this to at least 24,000 per year. The proportion of Albertans who are immigrants is expected to rise from 15% in 2001 to between 16% and 19%. This does not include the additional 20 000+ individuals residing in Alberta as temporary foreign workers.
- The number of immigrants entering AB in the last 5 -8 years is the greatest influx since the early 1900’s – back then, majority of immigrants were European – now there is wider ethno cultural diversity: In 2004-05, AB received 17,400 immigrants from over 100 countries world-wide Plans to increase this to at least 24,000 per year. The proportion of Albertans who are immigrants is expected to rise from 15% in 2001 to between 16% and 19%. This does not include the additional 20 000+ individuals residing in Alberta as temporary foreign workers.
- 7) Focus Group Communities – criteria
- Set up focus groups in these communities to talk to ORGANIZATIONS & IMMIGRANTS Compare responses to determine gaps Lead to what is (training, resources, tools) in communities for organizations to be more inclusive For Example: In EDMONTON & CALGARY there are numerous ethnocultural orgs, settlement orgs, etc that work with immigrants specifically to assist them in their new community In rural areas options are often limited. As population grows, support can also grow encouraging more immigrants to move into the community – Red Deer is a good example. Orgs have to be proactive and aware of trends – “build it and they will come” idea Small numbers (%’s) also point to why there has been limited research so far on the challenges of immigrants in rural communities – only now are more studies focusing on that aspect – in AB and MB in particular.
- Red Deer - importance of parents volunteering within schools, modelling positive attitudes toward diversity in the home. Grande Prairie - “Big sign outside Safeway: “Safeway celebrates Ramadan, Rosh Hashanah, etc”. There is beginning to be an appreciation of how other cultures celebrate.” Ramadan (Islamic) and Rosh Hashanah (Jewish) are religious celebrations – part of culture, very specific aspect of it. Perceptions of world religions/ cultures in rural communities are just awakening. - discuss changes, migration patterns, perhaps reasons why, lead into choices for Focus Groups - someone may bring up economic changes – still, it is unlikely AB will see less influx as job opportunities decrease in provinces like ON, trend will most likely continue as we are viewed as a “have” province, also downturn in economy makes it even more important to develop community networks/ integration to make best use of skills, rural communities have history of pulling together during rough economic times, this should include newcomers.
- 9) Question “2” B) “Volunteerism perceptions” True or False: The term “Volunteerism” means the same thing in countries around the world?
- 10) Answer 2 Use FG quotes about volunteerism in participants’ 1st countries - need for org’s to be aware that their messages around volunteerism need to reflect different perceptions Gotongroyung: what language/ country is this term from? What about the latin american example where they talked about volunteering being something the wealthy class did? Or the Polish example? It would be nice to have an example from Asia, Africa, South America, Europe – reflects diversity of immigrants in FG’s
- 12) Question “3” D) “Why Volunteer”
- They don’t have a lot of inroads…good way to express talents, being a volunteer is a good way to showcase their talents, takes down barriers It is all part of the integration, settling into a community means becoming part of it, i.e. Schools are a very important aspect of volunteering in your community but a lot of immigrant families just don’t understand this…’I send my child to school, you teach them, you send them home’. One culture thinks why doesn’t my child have homework and the next thinks ‘what do you mean I have to sit and read with this kid all night’ Now you want me to come to school and work with other peoples children? Give immigrants a voice, things like this (group), people should be here. Hard to engage them, we try to connect with them and tell them ‘go and do this’ but often they come from cultures where the government makes those decisions, and some are afraid of government NPVS should work with companies in the community to engage temporary foreign workers
- Read this quote and talk about it – highlights importance of trust and capacity building: Volunteerism, for immigrants, lets them make a new start in this new country…when you come here for reasons like a refugee but the confidence and self esteem to trust people again, it’s very important. Volunteerism is a very powerful tool for that. We see that at CARE; it would be great if they could feel as welcome as they do with us with other organizations. According to AB stats from CSGVP, main reason Canadian born residents volunteered was because someone asked them. Is this also true for immigrants? Reflecting back to previous question, Who do you ask and how? Majority of immigrants end up volunteering for ISO’s – (like CARE) – reflection on desire to give back to org that helped them, but also because they feel comfortable and because they were ASKED…
- Explain Intersections training will focus on these aspects in more detail to assist orgs We need to look at our processes, i.e. security check. Can they even get one yet? We would ask the ISO how we can work together to find the best place for them and to deal with the communication issue. No photo ID, etc…now a permanent residence card has photo. For the ISO, the volunteer is in their comfort zone Some are afraid of the police; sometimes they don’t have a photo ID. Awareness: do they need a check, a criminal record check occurs when they are coming to the country.
- Explain Intersections training will focus on these aspects in more detail to assist orgs We need to look at our processes, i.e. security check. Can they even get one yet? No photo ID, etc…now a permanent residence card has photo. Awareness: do they need a check, a criminal record check occurs when they are coming to the country.
- 14) Question “5” F) How do organizations percieve themselves in relation to diversity?
- Talk about orgs that are overcoming barriers – good examples above – First step is sometimes just ACKNOWLEDGING that things could be done differently… Spend a lot of time explaining what volunteering means in AB, what benefits they can gain, gives them new perspective on how this can be utilized…makes it much easier to apply these skills. Self esteem increases…sometimes we do need more help, acknowledge mistakes, give them extra support. It takes much more time. Tell me about yourself, then go from there…looking for a skills base instead of a more formal system Quote 1: Grande Prairie Quote 2:Vegreville Quote 3: Okotoks Quote 4: Okotoks
- Talk about orgs that are overcoming barriers – good examples above – First step is sometimes just ACKNOWLEDGING that things could be done differently… Spend a lot of time explaining what volunteering means in AB, what benefits they can gain, gives them new perspective on how this can be utilized…makes it much easier to apply these skills. Self esteem increases…sometimes we do need more help, acknowledge mistakes, give them extra support. It takes much more time. Tell me about yourself, then go from there…looking for a skills base instead of a more formal system Quote 1: Grande Prairie Quote 2:Vegreville Quote 3: Okotoks Quote 4: Okotoks
- Talk about orgs that are overcoming barriers – good examples above – First step is sometimes just ACKNOWLEDGING that things could be done differently… Spend a lot of time explaining what volunteering means in AB, what benefits they can gain, gives them new perspective on how this can be utilized…makes it much easier to apply these skills. Self esteem increases…sometimes we do need more help, acknowledge mistakes, give them extra support. It takes much more time. Tell me about yourself, then go from there…looking for a skills base instead of a more formal system Quote 1: Grande Prairie Quote 2:Vegreville Quote 3: Okotoks Quote 4: Okotoks
- 14) Question “6” F) “Rural AB context” Vegreville – Alberta Research Council Brooks – Meat Packers Red Deer & Lethbridge – College – for Education
- Question “6” F) “Rural AB context” See the result quote - Vegreville Vegreville – smallest community Chinese community quote – Grande PRairie
- Question “6” F) “Rural AB context” See the result quote - Vegreville Vegreville – smallest community Chinese community quote – Grande PRairie
- Question “6” F) “Rural AB context” See the result quote - Vegreville Vegreville – smallest community Chinese community quote – Grande PRairie