Refugees Settlement through Volunteering and Community Involvement

Transcription

1 Refugees Settlement through Volunteering and Community Involvement People Assisted Settlement Services (PASS) Model Presented at the 2017 ANSER/ARES Conference at Congress 2017 May 31, 2017 Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada Noor Din Founder & CEO, Human Endeavour 1

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3 The goal of this presentation is to: 1) highlight the volunteering and citizen engagement of diverse cultural, educational, career backgrounds and age groups that can play a key role in the successful settlement of refugees and immigrants. 2) share the work of a citizens collaboration that sponsored a 12 member Syrian refugee family and voluntarily carried out tasks for the family s successful settlement in Bradford, ON. 3) show how the learning from this project was utilized to provide social inclusion activities to 150+ recent refugees in York Region. Human Endeavour is promoting this model to innovate settlement and revitalize the important grassroots role. The Presentation 3

4 Recent Refugees have come to Canada through 1. Privately (plus Blended) Sponsored Refugees 2. Government Assisted Refugees Two Models of Refugee Sponsorship 4

5 1. Privately (/blended) Sponsored Refugees Case study of a 12 member Syrian family settled in Bradford West Gwillimbury (population 29,000) What services are provided and how? Who is involved? 2 (+) year sponsorship/support plan for the family Sponsored/supported by a group of 18+ Canadians (plus Government s financial support [not utilized in this case] 2. Government Assisted Refugees Case study of a 6 member Syrian family settled in Mississauga (population 713,443) Sponsored by the Canadian Government and supported by local agencies after arrival Sponsorship Models 5

6 Housing Financial Transport Interpretation Socialization Integration (belonging, feeling valued & respected) Recreation English learning Training Job Financial literacy Others (depending on the family background, experiences, special needs etc.) Services Needed for Refugees 6

7 Housing 2 year no rent to refugee family Financial Full financial support year 1, year 2 transition ESL ESL for kids ESL for Mother - one on one ESL for father & eldest son 10km away after work driven by community members* Socialization/recreation/belonging Home Visits/Socialization -> Communication Trips / outings Community events One on one support to mother Soccer for boys / activities for girls Transport For groceries To & from work during winter (5:30am-6pm) Outings/trips To & from ESL class Doctors/dentists visits Training / Jobs Interpretations Interview arrangements for jobs Summer jobs and training kids Job for father in 1 st month after arrival Volunteer opportunities for elder kids for the kids (negligible now) still need for father (extensive) and mother (moderate) Financial Literacy Managing transition from sponsorship Rental and House purchase options Banking and bill payments Credit building 18+ community members of diverse careers and background from a small town have delivered thousands of hours of services that met the needs of the family and resulted in successful integration. Case1: Service Delivery by Community 7

8 10+ retired teachers Lawyer, engineers, from non-profit, church and business leader/affiliates Community members People Involved 8

9 Gov t Assisted Refugee family of 6, 2 adult and 4 children Temporary accommodation at the time of landing. Were given $2000 to cover initial expenses Every adult was given $750 per month to cover expenses An agency found them an apartment with rent of $1500/month No money to buy food No formal introduction of the family to any tenant Our staff living in this building noticed distress of the family Immediately food was donated to the family and arrangements were made with a local food bank and few families for groceries Volunteers collected clothes for the family. TV, Computer, internet and toys for the kids Arranged a $100 cheaper apartment Created a social circle with Arabic speaking individuals Connected head of the family with few entry level jobs Family is doing fine with the support of the community members Case 2: Service Delivery by Organizations 9

10 As a Canadian, what message will you give to the World about what Canadians have done and achieved by supporting recent refugees? Canada has simply done what any group of compassionate people should do when other humans are in need. I believe our success as a nation in welcoming and integrating 30,000 refugees and giving them opportunities available in Canada was a morale booster for Canadians. That communities and government work best as partners. Government is best to bring people here and to teach hard skills - community is best to teach soft skills, share social networks, and promote successful integration. The effort to help Syrian refugees expressed compassion and generosity which are values highly regarded by Canadian. Canadian Generosity 10

11 Community initiatives ensure success because of the grassroots involvement and their dedicated support Learn as you go model. Many members delivered settlement services after research and learning There were targets and deadlines but no allocation of maximum time per client (issue with formal services) Many settlement services are more effective and only possible through non-formal community model Formal service does not necessarily mean successful settlements Government resolve for humanitarian causes can motivate and encourage public participation Community members did this because they believed in doing good and serving humanity and will do it again (surveys) Without community involvement successful settlements are impossible to achieve Conclusions 11

12 Learning from the sponsorship was promoted through media (RogersTV, whyshouldcare.ca & public discussions) and utilized to form partnerships to provide social inclusion activities to 150+ recent refugees in York Region. The non-profits, liaison workers/staff from the school board, settlement workers and other public sponsors worked together to organize many social inclusion events along with catering to the basic needs of the refugees. In this presentation we have briefly looked at the role of community. However, there are other important contributions by the governments, schools, public at large, non-profits and businesses that are part of the overall successful integration of refugees. Watch short videos on the life of recent refugees in York and Simcoe on Conclusion 12

13 Thank you! Noor Din, CEO, Human Endeavour Cell: Address: 439 Glenkindie Ave. Vaughan, Ontario, L6A 2A2 13