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On May 21, Skills
for Change hosted a unique gathering of 23 Executive Directors and
Senior Management representatives from Ontario and across the country. For more
information about the policy paper, the Conference and to link with
the Newcomer Labour Market Partnership, please contact Peggy
Edwards by telephone at 416 658-3101 or at
edwards@skillsforchange.org. |
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 Over
85 volunteers and staff gathered at Skills for Change on May 12th, for
our Volunteer Appreciation Night. During the 2002 – 2003 fiscal year, volunteers donated more than 6,500 hours to the agency in board governance, program delivery and administrative support. Executive Director, Peggy Edwards, acknowledged the important role of volunteers pat SfC and extended her appreciation on behalf of the agency. Joy Seth, past Board of Directors member and Chair and long-time volunteer, was specially recognized for her many contributions and longtime support for the agency. Volunteers Dora Rabinovich and Susan Bertoldi spoke on the personal rewards that they experienced by donating their time to the Dufferin Mall Employment Resource Centre and the New Pioneers Awards. SfC salutes all of our more than 400 volunteers and invites members from the community to become involved. If you are looking for a volunteer experience, contact us at sfc@skillsforchange.org.  |
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Hillcrest Village Business Improvement
Association, the City of Toronto Economic Development Office and Skills for
Change invite professional and amateur artists to make your mark on St.
Clair. Artists, young and old, are invited to submit original artwork that highlights the historical, cultural, and business assets of Hillcrest's diverse neighbourhood.  Skills
for Change has donated outside wall space for the mural.Full contest rules and regulations, entry forms and contest flyers can be downloaded here. The Make Your Mark On St. Clair mural design contest is open to all residents of the GTA. Contest closes June 15, 2004. |
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Are you an Internationally-Trained Engineer
who is interested to acquire the skills necessary to conduct an effective
job search in the Engineering sector? The ESL/Work Search for Internationally Trained Engineers course will teach you the English language skills necessary to conduct an effective job search in the engineering sector. This program is intended for Internationally Trained Engineers who are either unemployed or are working in non-engineering occupations and would like to find work as engineers or engineering technicians or technologists.
There will be a facility fee of $40. |
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Are you a teacher trained outside
Canada? Find out how you can qualify to teach in Ontario.
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JVS Toronto’s
2nd annual Strictly Business Awards Luncheon held on May 19th at the
Fairmount Royal York Hotel was a resounding success. The event
celebrated success in the workplace and show cased the partnership
between JVS Toronto and leaders in the business community and
government. Ata Moeini, of Gold Line Telemanagement Incorporated, was honoured with the Employer of the Year award. An immigrant to Canada, he is now one of Canada’s largest producers and distributors of calling cards. Mr. Moeini has provided many job opportunities to JVS Toronto/Skills for Change EAS (Employment Assistance Services) clients. |
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Engineering, Accounting, Health Care, and IT graduates of SfC’s Sector
Terminology, Information and Counseling (STIC) gathered at SfC on May 26th for an evening of renewing old acquaintances and
networking. In addition to an hour of informal networking, food and refreshments, participants heard from SfC staff members about additional resources available to them for finding employment. Participants then met in groups by occupation for more focused networking. David Hughes, Business Development and Administration Manager, welcomed the clients back and urged them to take advantage of opportunities provided by a SfC membership. Trisha Grace, STIC Employment Counsellor, reviewed the STIC Follow Up Networking (FUN) program and invited graduates to participate. Other presentations were made by Sathya Gnaniah, STIC Employment Outreach Specialist and Elga Nikolova, ONIP Online Coordinator. Watch SfC E-News for further SfC Grad Network events. |
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Industrial Electricians finish the
course circuit at Skills for Change On May 6, graduation celebrations were held at Skills for Change for 17 Industrial Electricians in Phase I of the Bridge to Success for Trades project funded by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Since February 9th, these participants have been spending evenings and Saturdays learning new skills and updating those acquired in their home countries to become certified here in Canada and work in their field. Many individuals worked full-time throughout the course, as well as, studying for up to 25 hours per week; we commend your dedication and success. At the time of publication, almost all of the participants have written the Certificate of Qualifications Exam for Industrial Electricians and we are still awaiting the final results. Watch for the outcomes next month! Congratulations to all Graduates! Construction and Maintenance Electricians Wired and on Their Way Twenty-one internationally trained Construction & Maintenance Electricians are at Skills for Change for Phase II of the Bridge to Success for Trades project that started on May 17, 2004. These tradesmen have between 5 to 20 years experience as electricians in their home countries and are ready to fill the huge gap in the Canadian Labour Market for Tradespeople. We will keep you informed on their progress. Trades Team Introduction SfC is proud of the group of staff working on the Bridge to Success for Trades. The team is as follows: Gener Pagkanlungan – Coordinator Arshia Rafaat – Facilitator/Counsellor Ron Wareing – Employer Outreach Specialist These individuals are working diligently to make this project a huge success for all participants and for Skills for Change. Please watch for their photos and profiles next month. |
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 Portfolio
Development - the first online course for service providers at
ONIP.online – is now a reality. In five weeks participants will go through a guided, hands-on process of creating, or coaching a client to create a professional portfolio. The interest was high and there is already a waiting list for the next course. We are happy to announce our second Portfolio Development Course for Service Providers - an e-learning event with ONIP.online - June 21 – July 26. For more information go to our Calendar of Online Events” to download the course flyer and course outline. With additional questions, or to sign up for the course - Contact Elga Nikolova, 416 658-3101, ext. 294, or e-mail coordinator@onip.ca. Learning Professional Terminology with ONIP.online Do you know that you can help your clients with engineering, accounting, teaching or health care background to learn more professional terminology simply by referring them to ONIP.online? Advise the client to go to www.onip.ca, choose their professional field (i.e. accounting) from the home page, and peruse the links under “Sector-specific Terminology”. Most links provide access to self-study language exercises with answer keys. You can also pull out the exercises and use them for a group networking session or an ESL café. Volunteer contributions at ONIP.online Do you know that:
Interested in joining our team? |
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Now accepting
nominations for the
2005 New Pioneers Awards.
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To register, call 416 658-3101
ext. 218, or, |
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n Employment Assistance Services (EAS) EAS welcomes Nicola Parker to the team. Nicola currently volunteers her time 2 days a-week assisting with administrative and reception duties. Nicola hopes that her hands-on experience gained at Skills for Change and JVS Toronto’s EAS program will provide her with career options. n Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) Field Trips On May 7th, a field trip was taken to the Redpath Sugar Museum where students were given a presentation and tour of the facilities. They were able to ask many questions about the sugar production facilities and of the historical importance of that area of the city of Toronto. Another field trip was taken to the various exhibits that made up the Contact: Photography Exhibit. Students were taken to the Distillery District where they were given a tour of the facilities and of the various photography exhibits created by local photographers. Special Events On May 18th, the LINC classes had a very successful Breakfast and Bake Sale in order to raise funds for field trips. Students were involved in bringing various dishes, setting up and taking down the tables, and in serving the customers. This activity provided good lessons in dealing with the public and in speaking English. On the same day we had a visit from our project officer, Desiree Griffith, from CIC and Kelly O’Gorman. Desiree stayed the day and was part of our Bake Sale. She visited the various classrooms and participated in a physical fitness presentation given by one of the LINC 5 students. She asked many questions and the students were able to converse with her. New Session The LINC classes will resume with a new session starting on Monday, June 21, 2004 and continuing through to August 13, 2004. Students are still being accepted in all the levels, LINC 3, LINC 4, LINC 4-5 (Pronunciation and Conversation), and LINC 5. Eligibility or Prerequisite: Landed Immigrant or Convention Refugee and Language Assessment by YMCA, A-LINC. Registration: Please call the receptionist at Skills for Change at 416 658-3101, ext. 0. Or, if you need a language assessment, please call YMCA at 416 925-5462 to make an appointment for assessment. |
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6C 1B8 A United Way member agency Skills for Change is a registered non-profit organization Charitable registration #121471858RR0001 |
