SfC in the News

Feature Stories


Toronto Star honours the recipients of the
2008 New Pioneers Awards

Afshin Ebtekar (Skills for Change Graduate)
Before Afshin Ebtekar left his native Iran for a new life in Canada, his friends in Toronto gave him this stark warning: "Don't even dream about becoming an engineer here. Come and study to be a computer programmer." Continued
Bernardo Riveros (Entrepreneurship) Despite a university degree and six years of work experience in advertising and marketing in Colombia, Bernardo Riveros hit a brick wall trying to get back into his profession in Canada. Wherever the newcomer went, employers asked him for his Canadian experience. Continued
Helen Tewolde (Community Service) With her accountant dad driving a cab and mom doing shift work in a factory, a young Helen Tewolde took up the task of looking after her two smaller siblings after the family settled in Canada. Continued
Dr. Jianhong Wu (Science and Technology) One of the earlier generations of Chinese scientists scooped up by the West, Wu faced the biggest challenge of his life when he became a post-doctoral fellow at Memphis University in 1987 and was given a roomful of college students to teach – in English. Continued
Ellen Xi Yang (Youth) Raised in a privileged household, Ellen Xi Yang had a lot to adapt to when she moved into a rodent-infested basement apartment in Toronto with her engineer father and accountant mother from China. Continued
Sashar Zarif (Arts) At 13, Sashar Zarif began his lonesome journey, fleeing the Iranian revolution in the 1980s. Although he only finished Grade 8 and had stopped school for four years while stranded in Turkey as a stateless refugee, the young boy arrived Canada in 1988 smart enough to go straight into Grade 12. Continued

Skills for Change Celebrates 25 Years

by Olga Wendy Terry
 

On November 7, at the Sala Caboto' Learning Curves was pleased to attend the 25th anniversary celebration of Skills for Change.

Skills for Change provides learning and training for immigrants and refugees so they can participate in the workplace and in the wider community. It also promotes the positive contributions newcomers make to society.

Its programs and services include Employment Programs and Services, Occupation Specific Information Sessions, Language Training, Settlement Services for Newcomers and a Tech Skills Program (computer training). One of the newest programs, Career Transitions for International Medical Doctors, is designed to assist these professionals to make a transition into alternative employment in the non-regulated health sector. The program also aims to educate health sector employers about the transferable skills and expertise of international medical doctors.

Continued
 

Last updated 02/25/2008