Site Highlights

YREACH Report April-June 2016 Number of clients

registered: 464

There were 131 new

clients registered in this

quarter.

● Examples of Group

Settlement Support

Sessions:

- Weekly Informal

Conversation Groups: 6

-Cooking Classes: 2

- Social and Recreational

Activities : Female Only

swim , weekly sports &

activities, Family Friday

Fun night, Bowling, Potluck

● School Settlement: 25 different schools - 4 Newcomer's Club Community Collaborations - Community Partners: 149 - Welcoming Communities

Initiatives/events: 9

- Referrals: 137

Awareness Raising Presentations: 35 (presentations and work-shops at the schools and community)

Kentville ● A YREACH funding announcement

happened on May 16th with Minister Diab announcing

that the YMCA has received increased funding from the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration

to support newcomers in the Kentville area.

A new family received a donated bike at the announcement.

● In collaboration with Acadia University in Wolfville, YREACH has been working with local refugee sponsorship groups to provide afternoon activities for children, youth and their families during the months of July and August. ● YREACH booth was set up at the New Arrivals Welcome Day in Ross Creek Centre for Arts. Community connections with local community groups were made for help with summer language class activities.

Bridgewater

● 8 different awareness raising and infor-

mation session were delivered in Bridge-

water area to build capacity of community

members to be more welcoming and inclu-

sive. Presentations included:

Cultural diversity such as Ramadan, Hindi

language and Asian Heritage month work-

shop; Immigrant youth barriers to school

representatives and sharing best practices

to support the newcomer students in the schools;

Trauma discussion with South Shore Guidance Counselors.

● “Unity day” was celebrated at Bluenose Academy on June 6th.

YEACH collaborated with the school to deliver the program for this

day. Event activities included: Cultural scavenger hunt, flag demon-

stration, student interviews, and a unity chain with Mayor form

Lunenburg.

● Organized Multicultural Festival in collaboration with South

Shore Multicultural Association on June 26th in Liverpool. About

10,00 people attended, enjoying food, craft vendors and cultural

performances.

Amherst

● Well attended Multicultural Potluck on June 28th involving community members, stakeholders and newcomer clients.

● Examples of settlement this quarter

include: ●Continued support of students

from Syria to become more familiar with

school and surrounding community ,

provide academic and socialization sup-

port, and made referrals to summer pro-

grams and swimming

●Supported new clients to access the TIE

program and encouraged them to join

YREACH weekly Talking circles.

●Connected clients to the Chamber of

Commerce to open the business

●Supported Syrian family in Parrsboro

by attending an open house event with

them to meet and greet the community,

as well as providing support for the

sponsorship group in the form of re-

sources and communication with SAH.

O UT CO ME

H I GH LI G HT S

Two new sites

The YREACH program has

expanded to include two

new sites in Kentville and

Port Hawkesbury, which

makes 9 Y REACH locations

across Nova Scotia. There

are lots of opportunities

for collaboration and

partnerships in these two

new locations and they are

very excited to have the

YREACH program in their

own community.

The funding will enhance

YREACH to deliver

community based,

in-person settlement

services as part of our

province wide network.

Truro

Sydney

●A total of 26 different people at-tended the Coffee and Conversa-tion Groups on Wednesdays. Top-ics include: Cape Breton Culture/tradition, idioms, Discovering NS by using maps and Doers & Dreamers Guide, pathway to immigration, tour of local YMCA and learn about

different programs etc.

●Provided a wide range of settle-

ment services:

Supported a client with driving

test

Supported a client to get to know the Sydney streets and

provided hands-on assistance

Referred several clients to

employment services

Supported clients to locate

more suitable housing options.

●Regular settlement services at the local French school helped immigrant youth to better adjust to school and interact with more

confidence with other students

●Funding announcement was made by Minister Samson on

June 4th at the Civic Centre. Great turnout with about 40 people includ-

ing clients attending!

●33 clients have been identified in Port Hawkesbury and in the shoul-der communities including Port hood, Cleveland, Petit-de-Grant, St.

Peter's etc

●Made a great connection with community organizations and agencies and have start-ed working on projects for the summer, such as

Welcome BBQ.

●Multicultural Festival on

June 15th, in partnership

with Digby County Welcom-

ing committee and Multicul-

tural Club at DRHS was a

huge success with 200 peo-

ple attending.

●Started monthly female

only swim at the Fundy

YMCA.

●Regular Friday Conversation Group with a variety of topics ●Monthly cooking classes at the Yarmouth YMCA were of-fered this quarter. Participants

had a chance to cook a Nigerian dish and share together . ●Multiple presentations to Yarmouth High School about culture, diversity and immigration in their social studies class. ●Supported clients do the presentation on their countries

●Tour of lighthouse was orga-nized.

Y R E A C H R E P O R T

A P R I L - J U N E 2 0 1 6

Port Hawkesbury

Yarmouth ●Organized/involved various com-

munity events: Walk with Refugee

Day, Lan-

guage Fair

and Asian

Heritage

Month at the

library, Ramadan potluck etc.

Fundy

●In partnership with Multicultural

Association of Pictou County,

Multicultural Market was held with

a goal of giving newcomer wom-

en an opportunity to develop busi-

ness as well as English skills

along with increasing confidence.

●Provided practical assistance to

immigrant children/youth and their

families in 5 different school sites.

Newcomer’s Club was organized

in NGA every Tuesday to in-

crease students’ conversation

skills, integration and build more

confidence.

●Supported NSCC beginner Eng-

lish classes twice a week with

logistics and recruitment .

Pictou

●Supported a couple of clients

who are in crisis situation and

referred them to income assis-

tance, Career Works NS, Food

banks and the shelter. Continu-

ous follow ups have been made.

●Participants in the “Color Me

Mocha” conversation group make

new friends, share resources and

information with each other about

community in a relaxing and safe

environment.

●Hosted the Cosmic bowling

event on June 18th—it was one

of the Syrian clients’ first bowling

experience! !●Supported new-

comer stu-

dent’s

needs in 6

different

schools.

●Supported local sponsor

group trying to secure

funding for EAL classes to

continue in Digby/

Annapolis area during the

summer.