Job at the Immigrant Partnership Winnipeg

Community Engagement Coordinator



Position Description
The Community Engagement Coordinator will work alongside the Immigration Partnership Winnipeg (IPW) Coordinator, to facilitate and implement a community-wide strategy for improving the settlement and integration of newcomers in Winnipeg. The Community Engagement Coordinator will facilitate engagement of a diverse stakeholders and community groups in building a welcoming community for immigrants and refugees in Winnipeg.
Background
Immigration Partnerships Winnipeg (IPW) is multi-sectoral collective that brings a new form of collaboration, at the community-level, to newcomer settlement and integration. IPW was designed to establish, facilitate and implement a community-wide strategy for improving the settlement and integration of immigrants.

The IPW is a collaboration of Manitoba Association of Newcomer Serving Organizations (MANSO) and the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg and is overseen by a 23 member council from various stakeholders including business, community organizations and the three levels of government.
Position Expectation:

 Developing and implementing the communication and outreach plan that will identify and integrate partners in the community in accordance with the Immigration Partnership Winnipeg Council strategy;



 Through outreach to, organizing and facilitating ethnocultural community meetings work to identify community needs and issues that will contribute to the implementation of the IPW Welcoming community strategy in Winnipeg.

 Oversee the practical arrangements for ensuring that people from all sections of the community (community leaders and key people) are actively involved and contributing to the community development process, as part of IPW strategic planning and implementation;

 In collaboration with IPW Coordinator, prepare briefings on emerging issues and facilitate stakeholder involvement in addressing these issues.

 Supporting IPW project meetings, consultations and events with logistical support, including planning and coordinating meetings and events, drafting agendas, minute taking, booking space and other assistance as required;

　

 Designing and conducting surveys, quantitative and qualitative research and analysis on newcomer needs and services;

 Organizing and delivering community consultations, focus groups and other stakeholder groups;

 Developing and disseminating communication and outreach material as well as other promotional materials;

 Provide feedback to communities by publishing a quarterly newsletter on IPW strategy implementation.
Experience and Qualifications:
 Advanced degree in community development or non‐profit management



 Excellent organizational and project management skills

 Proven skills in developing and implementing media materials on sensitive public issues

 Keen understanding of diversity issues and experience of working in multicultural settings

 Ability to work with volunteers and representatives of the public and private sectors

 Proven track record of working with multiple stakeholders to ensure collaboration

 Effective communication and public speaking skills

 Bilingual–English/French is an asset; knowledge of other languages is strongly preferred.

This is a full time one year contract position with a strong possibility of continued employment contingent on continued funding. The hours will take place primarily during regular business hours but there may be substantial evening and weekend work required.

The salary range for this position is $50,000 - $60,000. Selected candidate must be legally entitled to work in Canada. Employment Equity is a factor in selection. Applicants are requested to indicate in their cover letter or resumé if they are from any of the following groups: women, Indigenous people, visible minorities and persons with a disability.
Please submit your resumé and accompanying cover letter no later than Wednesday May 11th, 2016 by 12:00 PM to:



Coordinator,

Immigration Partnership Winnipeg (IPW)

info@lipw.ca

We thank all who apply. Please be advised that only those selected for an interview will be contacted. Your cover letter, resumé and/or application must clearly indicate how you meet the qualifications.

Are recent immigrants demanding too much rights in their new countries that are making the locals tire of their demands.
   When we are welcome in another country as immigrant or refugees, we bring our cultures with us and practice it if we will but do we have the right to ask the Americans, British or Canadians to change the way they do things to accommodate our culture. What culture are we talking about anyway- is it the right to practice our religion? to speak our language in the workplace?  The right to eat the foods we are accustomed to or the right to live in peace? These rights are reasonable but at the same time we have to realize that there is a culture that is practiced in these countries by the majority that we must respect. 
   The Mayor of Maine sounds like a man who is frustrated and has lost his cool and says openly what many Americans, Canadians, British and Australians citizens might want to tell those immigrants who fight for rights which locals feel may be unreasonable.
    The local citizens of the western countries must be aware that the rights immigrants fight for are the rights that are promised in their policies and constitution.  They are human rights. If the constitution gives one certain rights it would be foolish not to expect those rights.
    Human rights however is not  apart of the culture in many of the nations recent immigrants come from and that is why they left in the first place.
    It is true that an immigrant to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Iran for example cannot go to those countries and operate against the norms of the religious beliefs of those countries. Expatriate must respect the culture in public and practice their own culture at home or in private clubs. Is this what some people expect immigrants to do?
Unlike in Western countries, those countries mentioned above, do not promise exclusive rights to newcomers, in fact you cannot even get citizenship in some of these countries but that does not mean we have to punish newcomers from such and other contries.
http://www.alternet.org/immigration/maine-mayor-loses-it-tells-immigrants-you-have-accept-our-culture?

Upcoming Conference on Changes to Refugee Claim Process

Recent changes to the refugee claim process have limited the options for many refugees who are making a claim from countries that have been officially designated as democratic. Many of the refugee claimants most affected by these changes are those who have a complex history of trauma, such as women fleeing domestic violence situations or LGBTQ individuals fleeing homophobic persecution, in addition to having experienced he trauma of war or civil unrest. The majority of claimants, regardless of the reason for their flight, do not have access to formal assessment services and are often among those most ill served by current frameworks for conducting trauma assessments. As a result, refugee lawyers are having to rely more and more on support letters written by front line social service workers to support their client’s refugee claims. These letters are extremely important to the claim process as frontline workers are often the most knowledgeable about their client’s histories and symptoms. However, few frontline workers receive any formal training in writing letters of support and therefore the process can be daunting. This workshop is designed to assist frontline workers in writing effective letters of support for their clients who are making a refugee claim.

There is a conference on this topic happening, I am not sure where but you might want to look into it.

Have your say please

Tom Denton a long time passionate activist for refugees and former executive director of the International Centre in Winnipeg Manitoba, and currently a part of the Refugee Hospitality House ministry, has responded to Minister Kenny's cuts to refugees health program in a letter to the  Winnipeg Free Press below.  The minister recently announced cuts to refugees health care. Many Manitobans have taken a stand against these cuts seen as discriminatory and divisive. To say that refugees should not get more health benefits than Canadians pits Canadians against refugees and does not encourage harmony.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/kenneys-refugee-claims-pander-to-prejudice-159837685.html

Please read this letter and say your piece, how do you think this would affect refugees in your community? Do you think the Minister's argument is fair? Is Mr. Denton, bi-partisan? What is the truth and what do refugees really deserve? Thanks for participating

Winnipeg's the most immigrant friendly city

Winnipeg sponsors more refugees than any other community in Canada. And according to recent research, African refugees are the newest and fastest growing groups of refugees.  There are more than 30,000 Africans living in Manitoba at the moment.
  While many refugees who come here are willing to get on with their lives, the problem of housing pose a serious hindrance to their settlement and integration.
   According to a recent study by Professor Tom Carter, University of Winnipeg, 91 per cent of refugees live below the poverty line in their first year and most have to live in transitional housing and social housing but they work hard to climb out of poverty and by the time they are three years  in the province the number drops to 53  percent who still live below the poverty line.
   The bottom line is there is a serious shortage of affordable housing and this needs to be fixed.