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| New Tools for Employers to Better Integrate Skilled Immigrants
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Success stories on workplace integration of skilled immigrants and information on mentoring, internships and loans programs will soon be available online.
At a media event at the national headquarters of Deloitte, Senator Hugh Segal announced an $800,000 investment for ALLIES (Assisting Local Leaders with Immigrant Employment Strategies), a joint project between Maytree and the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation.
By disseminating what’s been learned through the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council TRIEC and others, Maytree aims to demonstrate to employers and other stakeholders the value of international experience and credentials, thereby creating new employment opportunities for skilled immigrants in major cities across the country.
(Pictured left to right: Alan Broadbent, Chairman, Maytree, Senator Hugh Segal, Ratna Omidvar, Executive Director, Maytree, Jane Allen, Chief Diversity Officer, Deloitte, John Bowey, Chairman, Deloitte) |
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| Apply Now for Maytree’s Leaders for Change Program |
Are you a social justice activist looking to enhance your leadership skills? If so, then apply today to participate in Maytree’s longest running leadership program, Leaders for Change.
View an excerpt from a film project created by last year's participants in partnership with The Stop and Schools Without Borders.
Deadline for applications: Tuesday September 16, 2008 at 5:00 PM |
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| Maytree Leader Profile |
Through his extensive volunteer work and in his professional life Jehad Aliweiwi has been a dedicated advocate of greater accessibility for newcomers and ethno-cultural communities to the cultural, social and political landscape of Canada.
In recognition of his contribution as a volunteer he was awarded the 10 years Volunteer Award from the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship Culture and Recreation. He is also a recipient of the City of Toronto 2002 William P. Hubbard Race Relations Award. As a member of Maytree’s DiverseCity onboard program, Jehad was appointed to the board of the Ontario Science Centre in February 2007.
Jehad worked as a Race Relations Officer and as Executive Director of the Canadian Arab Federation, followed by serving as Regional Director, Metro Region of Catholic Cross-Cultural Services. Today he leads Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office, a multi-service nonprofit organization serving this east Toronto community, where he has been Executive Director for the past four years.
With a grant from Maytree Jehad will be directing a project at Thorncliffe to engage community organizations, newcomers and the general public in supporting the extension of municipal voting rights for non-citizen residents.
Read an interview with Jehad and Maytree’s Sangeeta Subramanian. |
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| More People Getting on Board! |
DiverseCity on Board continues to recruit new faces to sit on public, corporate and nonprofit boards across the city. Here’s the last month’s list of appointments:
Dr. Jagdish Butany, Scarborough Hospital 
Rabiz Foda, Health Professions Appeal and Review Board
Malcolm Gabriel, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario
Louroz Mercader, GO Transit Customer Service Advisory Committee
Wangari Muriuki, Health Equity Council
Hena Prasanna, Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention
Bruce Poon Tip (pictured), Ontario Science Centre
Rupen Seoni, Canadian Urban Institute
Rakesh Tiku, Art Heart Community Centre
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Maytree Leadership Network News |
Our community of leaders now counts more than 650 members. Here’s what some of them are up to:
- Charanjit Bambra (DiverseCity on Board) was appointed Executive Director of the Social Services Network on July 15, 2008.
- Zahra Dhanani (School4Civics) was featured in Toronto Star's DesiLife Magazine for her work in promoting social change.
- Sandra Gonzalez (Leaders for Change) will be presenting a paper on Voter Education in Toronto Community Housing at the Learning Democracy by Doing Conference (October 16-18) organized by the Transformative Learning Centre, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (OISE/UT)
- Elnora Magboo (Leaders for Change) received a Vital Idea award from the Toronto Community Foundation for the Highfield Community Enrichment Project. For ten years this Summer Enrichment Program has worked with newcomer parents and pre-school children for two weeks in the summer to prepare them for entry into Junior Kindergarten. Parents learn to interact with the school system and children are given basic skills to integrate, setting them up for early success. Funds from the Award will go to evaluation and dissemination of the program to other newcomer neighbourhoods in Toronto.
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Upcoming Events |
A conversation with Alan Riddell, neighbourhood revitalization expert
Thursday, August 21, 3pm
Join Maytree when keynote speaker Alan Riddell will address: How can NGOs work more effectively with governments in neighbourhood renewal? What are the lessons learned from the UK experience? He will also comment on his experience in working with differentially-impacted ethnic and cultural communities in this context.
Until July 2007 Alan was Director of Local Development and Renewal at the English Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG), and Director of the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit (NRU).
Please register online for this event. There is no fee to attend.
Event Details:
Thursday, August 21, 3pm
St. Michael's College
81 St. Mary Street
Elmsley Hall, Charbonnel Lounge
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Has the Time Come?
Extending the Municipal Franchise to Toronto’s Permanent Residents
Tuesday, August 26, 4-6pm.
Keynote speaker: Dr. Howard Duncan, Executive Head, Metropolis, and panellists
Panellists:
Professor Myer Siemiatycki, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University
Ratna Omidvar, Executive Director, Maytree
Phil Triadafilopoulos, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Department of Social Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough
Maytree, in partnership with the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance, invites you to explore the rationale behind this new civic engagement strategy. For background information read Maytree’s Policy in Focus issue on the expansion of municipal voting to non-citizens.
Event Details
Tuesday, August 26, 4-6pm
Debates Room, Hart House
7 Hart House Circle
University of Toronto
Reception to follow
Please register online. Seating is limited.
For more information, contact Dr. Enid Slack at enid.slack@utoronto.ca
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Financial Leg-up Gives Immigrants Much Needed Access to Employment Training |
Amadi (not his real name) is a landed immigrant from Nigeria with over eight years of experience as a math lecturer. Initially unable to find work in his chosen field, he received a loan through the Maytree-Alterna Savings Immigrant Employment Loan Program to attain his post-graduate certificate from the College Teacher Training Program for Internationally Educated Professionals at George Brown College. Today, he is working part-time as a math instructor at the College.
The Loan Program provides access to credit for newcomers to pay for short-term training (up to 1 year). The maximum loan considered is $5,000 and funds can also be used to cover an assessment of credentials, examination and professional association fees. To learn more about the program contact: loans@maytree.com
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Urban Nation – available in bookstores now |
Nearly 80 percent of Canadians now live in cities and, despite our country's steadfast economic engine, our urban centres may not be equipped to sustain this growth.
With the publication of his new book Urban Nation, Maytree Chairman Alan Broadbent outlines how revitalizing our commitment to cities can maximize our economy and our cultural and social structure, as well as reconnect us to government and a sense of nationhood.
Urban Nation is inspiring community thinkers, fuelling discussion amongst politicians and igniting the kind of controversy that leads to action.
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Community Building Through Dialogue |
Facilitated conversations among people from diverse walks of life are a building block for social advancement. So suggests a new book by Tamarack president and co-founder Paul Born.
In Community Conversations, Born offers informative and inspiring examples of multi-stakeholder collaboration that have led to reducing poverty and crime and to re-energizing citizens and social programs.
Tamarack – An Institute for Community Engagement is a partner organization with Maytree.
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Diverse Communities Express Their Cultural Identity Through Architecture |
Thanks to the influence of newcomers Toronto’s suburban landscape is no longer dull and uniform.
The impact of multiculturalism on the suburb’s architecture and design is being explored in a new exhibit at the Design Exchange. Fringe Benefits: Cosmpolitan Dynamics in a Multicultural City explores this phenomenon through videos, maps, photography, essays and art.
One example is T.Junction, Toronto’s first Tamil shopping mall slated for completion early next year in the Eglinton and Warden area. Sri Lankan architect Yaso Somalingam is one of the mall’s four developers.
For more information, visit the Design Exchange.
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Contact Us |
Questions or comments about What’s Budding @ Maytree? Send an e-mail to whatsbudding@maytree.com.
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Maytree
170 Bloor St. W. Suite 804, Toronto, ON
CANADA M5S 1T9
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