The Skills for Change Annual General Meeting took place on Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 791 St. Clair Avenue West, Toronto, from 6 to 8 pm.
2011-2012 Annual Report
2011-2012 Financial Statements
Tribute to Catherine Kenwell, Board Chair
Catherine Kenwell has an extensive history of supporting and recognizing newcomers through Skills for Change, a Toronto-based agency that provides settlement services and employment-focused learning and training opportunities for immigrants and refugees. In the early 1990s, Catherine recognized the need to build bridges for newcomers to find employment. As the then Marketing Manager at CGA Ontario, Catherine responded to this growing need by establishing a partnership with Skills for Change and developed learning opportunities where newcomers could obtain their accounting certifications. Through the STIC program, Catherine provided personalized counselling support to newcomers through the oftentimes complicated process of obtaining Canadian certification.
Helping newcomers successfully integrate into Canadian society and recognizing their extraordinary contributions and achievements is at the core of Catherine’s volunteer efforts. Catherine was the key organizational champion in forming a sponsor partnership between CGA Ontario and Skills for Change’s New Pioneers Awards. Today, and due in large part to Catherine’s extraordinary efforts, the Awards are celebrating 20 years of recognizing the significant contributions made by newcomers in Canada. Because of Catherine’s continued involvement in building relationships, CGA Ontario is a key corporate partner, engaged in raising the profile of international finance professionals, supporting credentialing and professional advancement.
Catherine has provided outstanding leadership to the immigrant employment and settlement sector. We have had the privilege of having Catherine as a volunteer board member since 2007 and as our elected board chair since 2009. Catherine has demonstrated a high calibre of organizational leadership in the areas of strategic direction, policy formulation, and board and organizational governance with a great degree of integrity. Catherine’s vision as a leader has always been to ensure that the agency remains relevant to the needs of the community it serves. The result of her leadership is demonstrated in the agency’s accomplishments in its service to nearly 25,000 newcomers find meaningful work and ultimately to make Canada their new home.
Art of the Possible
One of the year's most signifcant highlights was a move into social technology and social media at Skills for Change. We were inspired and encouraged by Anil Patel and the Framework Foundation, and were delighted that Amanda Grainger, Timeraiser at Framework, took us on an exploration of the art of possible. Amanda highlighted some of the newest technology approaches for non-profit organizations as they relate to improving information sharing and transparency in the sector. Framework has built a strong technology motto that defines how they work internally and with external stakeholders: "Create Information Once - Distribute it Widely - and Access it in Multiple Places". For Framework, sharing information by default IS the new normal. Amanda shared Framework's experience with of low cost, highly scalable web tools.
Connect with Amanda: Linkedin | twitter
