The YMCA of Owen Sound Grey Bruce is celebrating the third anniversary of Settlement & Language Services.
To date, they have helped more than 650 clients across Grey and Bruce Counties.
Program Coordinator Suneet Kukreja explains that the program helps newcomers with learning English, finding housing and employment, and helping them navigate the community.
“Moving to a new country is always hard. When individuals move from different countries to make Canada their home, first of all, the issue that arises is a language barrier. So we do offer free language classes through our program, which are offered afternoons and evenings, and they’re totally remote because we do understand that transportation is a barrier for most of the folks.”
She says that finding housing isn’t quite so easy, because of a lack of available units.
“It is a barrier and it is not a small barrier. I would say it’s a huge barrier to find housing,” she says, adding, “We did have three families wishing to move here last year, but could not because we couldn’t find housing [for them] because it was a big family unit.”
In order to help newcomers get settled in Canada, and settled locally, Kukreja says that they rely heavily on their network of partners.
Sponsors with room to spare help them find housing if there are potential renters who will be looking for a place to stay.
She says that the Grey Bruce Settlement & Language Services program is starting a new project focused on workplace language support, explaining that “It is unique because not a whole lot of settlement agencies have it. Language is a barrier, and sometimes an individual may have a skillset, but an employer may be hesitant to hire them because of health and safety-related issues.”
The scope of the new project is to provide on-site shadowing and support to help, with translation and interpretation in the individual’s language, which she says is a feather in their cap.
Next year, they’re hoping to add to their pre-arrival services, as well as more language classes available.
Kukreja says that they’re also always looking for volunteers, “Especially since we have 85 seats, and they’re all full. We do look for volunteers all of the time because sometimes we do have a lot of youth in schools, who need one-on-one.”
They currently have eight volunteers working actively in different schools and for adult services to support English as a Second Language, or to support Spanish translations.
They are hoping to find volunteers who can help with language skills.
Anyone who is willing to help with ESL lessons can contact the Settlement & Language Services program by contacting her through the YMCA at 519-371-9222.
The program is funded by Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and operated by the YMCA of Owen Sound Grey Bruce, in partnership with Welcoming Communities Grey Bruce.