Is your volunteer program successfully welcoming and integrating new Canadians?
According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, between 240,000 and 260,000 new immigrants will arrive in Canada in 2011. Our country continues to be a major recipient of new immigrants worldwide and there are many settlement programs to assist in the transition to life here. Throughout our history we have been a major player and example in changing the shape of social, economic and cultural mosaics in many sectors, including residential communities, education and the workforce.
Many organizations are focused on providing support and services to newcomers to assist in the development of skills and experience to assist in transition. Another major stepping stone to bridge the gap between cultures is volunteering.
As administrators of volunteers, we have many success stories to share about volunteer placements with new Canadians. I have worked with many newcomers who have skills and experience that are incredibly useful and have seen how volunteering to build skills and experience has been a jumping off point for employment and community engagement.
The benefits of integrating new Canadians in your volunteer program are numerous.
Newcomers can:
- Bring in world perspectives to an organization, knowing other ways to do things.
- Provide a solid bank of skills and many years of experience.
- Teach us about diversity and allow us to capture their knowledge and blend it into our own foundations.
- Provide services in translation and interpretation.
- Challenge us to diversify our programs and services.
- Provide meaningful experiences based on their past employment and volunteering.
- Offer high-level skills through their professional standings.
- Provide a comfort and connection to clients and consumers who have similar backgrounds and experiences; they can both share and learn from each other and help build communities.
We have an opportunity to learn so much from volunteers who come to us with fresh perspectives and a willingness to learn and share, but we need to be able to prepare ourselves and our organizations to embrace newcomers to our organizations. We also need to understand that these relationships have two sides, with hopefully each party gaining new and worthwhile experiences.
Developing a strategy to engage newcomer volunteers will be key to the success of longevity and mutual learning and service. At an organizational level this means we need to:
- Adapt our structures and programs to be inclusive.
- Respond to the needs of the diversity of newcomer volunteering.
- Educate and train our staff and volunteers on diversity.
- Get buy-in from all levels of the organization.
- Challenge our staff to the benefits and skills that newcomers can bring to the organization.
- Examine cultural differences that influence our decisions.
- Break down communication barriers (eg, newsletters that are easily translated).
- Reflect on current practices and provide accommodations for diversity.
- Understand that gaining Canadian experience is a top priority.
- Understand that cultural diversity can help in the development of new programs and services including integration, education and training into our core practices.
Keep in mind there are various areas of our programs that we should be looking at and adapting with a different lens.
Breaking it all down, you will want to consider, for example:
Brochures and recruitment materials — do they include information that could attract newcomers to your organization?
Application forms — ideally they will allow for information gathering about skills, languages, education and experience
Interview processes — have they been created in a way that allows newcomers to feel comfortable, with an opportunity to share their experiences and their expectations? Group orientations may pose as a barrier to engagement for such potential volunteers, for example.
Reference checks — they may need to be adapted to allow for a variety of acceptable references. In some cases there are simply no references available. Have you looked at adapting your screening process to accommodate such scenarios?
Staff and volunteers — have they ever received training and orientation to provide them with skills to support newcomers, especially those who require language assistance?
Our challenge is to create an environment of inclusiveness that reflects our communities, our participants, clients and volunteers and this may require us to find creative ways to shift our standard programs to engage newcomers and their families.
Like with any idea for program development idea, it all starts with brainstorming seeds that you throw out there. Involve your staff: inviting participation from other members of your organization is a great first step to engage your volunteers and engage your clients. Be sure to review your resources and where you need to shift your thinking, and adapt any necessary forms and barriers (screening, training, orientation) so that you are not screening out but screening in. Don?t forget to share ideas at your network meetings and association groups. Look at other organizations that are engaging newcomer volunteers and share successes.
The landscape of volunteerism is changing faster than we can keep up with, and it is our responsibility to help bridge gaps and build strong, inclusive volunteer programs. Review your volunteer program with a view to incorporate more opportunities for diversity from the steady flow of new Canadians. This will enhance your capacity to use volunteers and offer meaningful experiences for those who are eager to adapt and contribute to their new home.
Lori Gotlieb is the Manager of Community Engagement for The Arthritis Society, Toronto Region and the founder of Lori Gotlieb Consulting. Lori is an internationally published author and workshop facilitator. Lori can be reached at lori.gotlieb@rogers.com.
