February 2018 – March 2019
This pilot project was a partnership between United Way of Bruce Grey and Welcoming Communities Grey Bruce, and was funded by the Government of Ontario with support from the Community Foundation Grey Bruce and Power Workers Union. It developed, implemented and evaluated a rural service delivery model, which would enhance the capacity of communities and service providers to support the social and economic integration of refugees and vulnerable newcomers where conventional settlement program is not available.
The project has created the following resources:
Newcomer Information Bruce Grey
This website is an online “one stop shopping” venue, where a newcomer will find up-to-date information about services in their area such as a description of the service, where to access it, contact person etc. It can be searched in over 20 different languages which are “mother tongues” spoken in Grey and Bruce County according to the Statistics Canada 2016 Census report and the ESL/ELD survey of the Bluewater District School Board in Spring 2018.
Making Rural Communities Home
Making Grey Bruce Home developed, implemented and evaluated a rural service delivery model to enhance the capacity of communities and service providers. This settlement service toolkit is a culmination of the project which contains effective tools to support newcomers’ integration in rural communities.
Service Provider Training Manual
Making Grey Bruce Home has delivered 8 workshops and provided training for 183 individuals from 40 organizations and agencies on how to work with newcomers in rural communities where conventional settlement services are not available. This training manual was developed from the content of those workshops, and also reflects the feedback and comments from the attendees.
Volunteer Mentor Training Manual
Grey Bruce Home adapted the Good Neighbours Network Toolkit, written by the Good Neighbours Network in 2016, into this training manual that focuses on supporting refugees and vulnerable newcomers. It was tested in two training workshops in Grey Bruce, and revised based on feedback from the workshop participants.