Community Knowledge Centre - Toronto Community Foundation

About this organization

Mission

CultureLink is dedicated to facilitating the independence and full participation of newcomers in Toronto's diverse community. This is done by:

• Enhancing skills that promote self-sufficiency

• Promoting positive interaction with and understanding of newcomer communities

• Providing innovative programming to meet the changing settlement needs of newcomers and volunteers

• Promoting well being for all participants.

History of Organization

In 1988 with the development of the Metro Toronto Host Program this organization began service delivery. In 1992 the organization was incorporated as a non-profit organization and the name changed to CultureLink with charitable status attained two years later. Programs were expanding as a result of status change to include ISAP Youth Project, Settlement Education Partnership in Toronto (SEPT), Job Search Workshop (JSW) and Newcomer Youth Centre (NYC). At the same time, CultureLink increased service collaborations with major community partners which included the ROMA, Tibetan and Midaynta Somali communities. In 2000 our key partnership with the Toronto Public Libraries (TPL) began which has been critical in supporting our English Conversation Circles and the Settlement Education Partnership in Toronto. Services are provided for Immigrants and Refugees in Toronto. Based on the successful working relationship and experience with the Toronto Public Library, in 2008, CultureLink expands its services to serve newcomer clients by working with three selected libraries through the Library Settlement Partnership (LSP) Program. Currently we offer a range of settlement programs that include helping ease the transition to life in Canada for newcomers by promoting friendship and mentoring between newcomers and welcoming host community members through one-on-one matching and group activities (HOST); assisting newcomer students and their families by connecting them to services in the education system and the community at large (SEPT); finding employment through pre-employment preparation (JSW); providing youth case management (NYC); and supporting immigrant/refugee processes (NSP); providing settlement services year-round in public libraries (LSP).

Accolades and Accomplishments

CultureLink Settlement Services (Charitable # 1011-76-09) is a Greater Toronto-based settlement agency that offers programs to facilitate the settlement and integration of newcomers to the City of Toronto. Last year, CultureLink celebrated its 20th Anniversary of providing services to newcomers across the GTA. Today, CultureLink is a household name and one of the leading settlement service providers in Toronto; it enjoys a reputation of being a welcoming environment for newcomers and a true reflection of our communities - we serve clients in more than 30 languages. In 2008 CultureLink provided services to 14,015 clients through its various settlement programs and has grown from a 6-staff operation in 1988 to the current multi-lingual workforce of 50 individuals. It is governed by a group of highly qualified, engaged and committed volunteer Board of Directors who spends many hours of their time on governance and also contributes financially to the fundraising drive of the agency.

Programs

>Wintegration - After School Peer Leadership Program
>Newcomer Seniors’ Centre
>Newcomer Youth Centre (NYC) Summer Theatre Program

CultureLink’s programs include the Host Program; the Settlement and Education Partnership of Toronto (SEPT) serving newcomer children and their families in 23 High Schools within Cluster 5 of the TDSB; the Job Search Workshop Program (JSW); Library and Settlement Partnership (LSP) Program; the Roma Centre, serving the Roma community in Toronto; the Newcomer Youth Centre (NYC) serving youth throughout the GTA; the Newcomer Senior Centre (NSC) serving Polish, Spanish, and Chinese speaking seniors in Toronto’s south west quadrant; and our newest program in partnership with the Toronto Cyclists’ Union – Partnership for Integration and Sustainable Transportation – which promotes cycling among newcomers in 15 languages and aims at engaging and including newcomers in grassroots initiatives through the Bike Union’s Ward representation membership.

Wintegration - After School Peer Leadership Program

The NYC After-School Sports Leadership Program (“WINTEGRATION”) is a new program that will run from September 2009 to August 2010 in the south west quadrant of the city of Toronto (south of Eglington, west of Yonge, East of highway 427). The NYC Sports Program seeks to engage newcomer and refugee youth in sports and recreational activities that they find familiar and popular (e.g. soccer) and use these as vehicles to gain confidence and learn winter sports and recreational activities – such as ice skating and snow shoeing. The aim is to facilitate the adaptation and integration of newcomer and refugee youth by fomenting their sense of belonging and identification in their community; by enhancing their sense of identification with other peers and developing leadership skills; and ultimately, to increase their participation in North American sports by building on their confidence through other sports and increasing access to safe public recreational spaces. This program will identify and train 10-15 youth peer-leaders to become mentors to other newcomer and refugee youth in their community and facilitate access to public recreational spaces throughout the year. The program will involve both sports and training weekly activities during the school year on weekdays after school, and on the weekends once per month – estimated total number of group activities (including games) 50. In the summer of 2010, we will have the trained Youth Peer Leaders participate in our Newcomer Orientation Week (mid-August 2010) in three secondary schools within the TDSB Cluster 5 (St. Mary’s Catholic Secondary School, Central Technical School, and Bishop Morocco) and engage and mentor refugee and newcomer youth commencing studies in September 2010.

Program Impact

The newcomer and refugee youth who participate in this winter sports program benefit by having access to youth networking opportunities for future personal and professional relationships; opportunities to improve English language skills; access to a place to stay if their parents work at night and on weekends. The program promotes creativity among the youth, particularly with respect to recreational activities; helps build a culture of peace and tolerance; offer positive images of community spirit; may help children forget about their difficult pasts or the challenging immigration. Participation in sports and recreational activities provide youth with: • Identification with peer group • Cognitive development • Social development • Physical development and personal health • Emotional development • Moral development and community connectedness • Economic health

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“After-school programs make a critical difference in safety and skill development: the hours between 3 and 6 p.m. are a high-risk period for unsupervised children. During these hours, children are more likely to engage in gang-related or delinquent behaviour, or become victims of crime. Children in mid-childhood (6-12 years old), who spend time in safe and supervised after-school programming are less likely to experience academic problems, engage in delinquency or be assaulted.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

Participant Vignette

Linda* is a refugee claimant and therefore would not be able to access most other programs for newcomers. She was recommended for this program by the settlement counsellor in her school. When she came to us she had only been in Canada six months and was have a lot of trouble adjusting to her new life. She faces some difficult problems at home. Her mother has been in Canada a number of years and so has not been a big part of Linda’s life since she was a child. Moving to Canada has meant moving back in with her mother and struggling to build a new kind of relationship. Her mother tends to be strict and is very concerned that Linda’s marks are not as good as they were when she lived in her country of origin. She is struggling – however - to learn English, meet friends and feel comfortable in her new home and so it has been difficult for her to keep her marks up to her mother’s high standard. During group discussion Linda has talked about feeling discriminated against at school and has even shared some experiences of direct racism with the group. Since the program started the facilitators have noticed Linda sharing more and more and coming out of her shell. She is bonding with newcomer youth from other schools and finding friendship and companionship in this new social circle. She says she feels better knowing that she has people to talk to about her problems and that she can get help with school or English when she needs it. She has become a strong leader in the group and attends almost every session. Last week she taught the group a game from her country of origin and she designed the logo for the Outlanders that the group voted to use. She says she’s found a place where she can come and be herself. She has also learned to skate through the program and says that she is learning how to eat healthier food and rely less on junk food. Linda’s story shows just how important this programming is for young newcomers.

Newcomer Seniors’ Centre

In the Newcomer Seniors’ Center at CultureLink we envision a service center that is a common good of immigrant seniors, for immigrant seniors, and primarily driven by seniors. We recruit and train newcomer senior volunteers to help address the immediate settlement needs of their peers. Volunteers help seniors to fill up application forms, translate their letters and bills and connect them with other resources available in the community. We also help leaders among seniors to organize workshops and social events for the immigrant seniors to mingle and learn more about their communities. We are constantly exploring different ways to engage immigrant seniors and facilitate their integration and contribution to Canadian society. Like all other CultureLink programs, our program promotes multiculturalism and embraces cross-ethnical activities.

Program Impact

To promote leadership among immigrant seniors and encourage community engagement by recruiting a active senior volunteers from diverse backgrounds and with different skill sets to lead wellness programs for their peers. The main impact we’re looking for is to break social isolation and de facto cultural segregation of immigrant seniors by: • assisting senior volunteers to establish their own wellness club and organize regular group activities at CultureLink and other public places in their neighbourhood, e.g. public libraries and community centers • using the wellness club as a cross-cultural open forum for seniors to share their wisdoms on mental and physical well-being: effective ways of staying active, healthy eating, different types of physical exercises and meditation. • arranging activities for mixed generations, such as book clubs and cooking classes, to facilitate intergenerational dialogs and to provide a venue for immigrants of different generations to benefit from each other’s experiences and skills. 

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“Toronto has the highest proportion of seniors (aged 65 and older) in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). More than half of the seniors living in the GTA (53%) reside in the City of Toronto: seniors comprised 13.3% of the City population in 2007. More than 25% of seniors were living alone in 2006 (up 5.4% from 2001) increasing the challenges of social isolation and access to healthcare. In 2006, 39% of Ontario’s low-income seniors (and 68% of the low income seniors in the GTA) were living in Toronto. Low-income rates for Toronto seniors were nearly double the Ontario rate.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

Participant Vignette

Roxana, a senior from El Salvador who was originally sponsored to come to Canada by her family, cared for her son’s newborn baby for her initial three years in Toronto. During that time she didn’t have time to socialize and learn English as a second language through LINC classes. Now that four years have passed since her arrival, she found that she no longer was eligible to receive LINC classes because she applied for, and received, Canadian citizenship recently. She found out about the Spanish speaking seniors group at the Newcomer Senior Centre at CultureLink and started coming every Wednesday night for the peer support meetings. There she found that she was not alone in her isolation and that many seniors who have come to Canada have fallen through systemic cracks in various Provincial and Federal programs. Roxana not only found the support she needed but also got connected to other ESL classes open for all through CultureLink’s Library Settlement Partnership (LSP) program at Mimico Library. Now Roxana is connected to other people in the community and began learning English full time.

Newcomer Youth Centre (NYC) Summer Theatre Program

In July and August of every year the NYC provides a voice to newcomer and refugee youth through its Summer Theatre Program. The NYC hires a theatre coordinator who guides and teaches up to 12 youth in grades 9 – 11 production, writing, and acting an original theatre piece based on their own experiences of having been uprooted from their home countries, the challenges of adapting to their new schools and new country. The youth performers are hired full time for 8 weeks – for some of them this is their first job in their lives and thus provides an opportunity to develop their self-confidence and self-esteem, sharpen their English Language skills, and find out about the resources that exist in the community to enhance their academic and social life. At the end of August, the youth present the play to the community and youth festivals throughout the city.

Program Impact

The Summer Theatre Program seeks to empower youth by providing employment and an opportunity to develop their self-confidence and self-esteem, sharpen their English Language skills, and find out about the resources that exist in the community to enhance their academic and social life. At the end of August, the youth present the play to the community and youth festivals throughout the city. The performances foster a dialogue of understanding between the host communities and the newcomer youth issues and struggles of adapting and integrating in Toronto.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“58.2% of Toronto residents reported a strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to their local community; a sense of belonging tends to decline as the community becomes more urban and is highest among the young (77.45% of the 12-17-year age group) and weakest among younger adults (54.5% of the 18-29- year age group.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

The Newcomer Youth Centre (NYC) Summer Theatre Program provides a voice to newcomer and refugee youth and fosters a dialogue of understanding between host communities and newcomers around their issues and struggles of adapting and integrating in Toronto.

Participant Vignette

Polina from the Ukraine got hired for the Summer Theatre program in 2008. She got referred by one of our Settlement Counsellors in schools from the SEPT program at CultureLink. She had been toying with the idea of acting and drawing but was too shy to enrol in Drama classes at school and because she thought her English was not good enough to be able to act. She arrived to Canada in 2007 with her family. After the Summer Theatre program was in full swing, and after she had gained the self-confidence through singing and enunciation workshops she became the lead actor of a comedy the youth group named “The Loves and Pain of Immigration”. The play was showcased at CultureLink’s Annual General Meeting at the University of Toronto in October in front of almost 500 guests. Polina is now very happy because she made many friends at the Summer Theatre program, but also because she found the confidence she was looking for, and it has enabled her to pursue her dream of acting in English.