Extensions to projects dedicated to empowering racialized newcomer women

The Government of Canada is committed to the full and equal participation of all women and girls, which is essential to Canada’s economic growth and prosperity. That’s why Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is making it easier for racialized newcomer women to find a job by providing the support and services they need to succeed.

As part of the Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot, IRCC provided support for 21 projects dedicated to improving access to employment and career advancement for racialized newcomer women. Now, the government is providing $2.1 million to extend support for 11 of those projects to continue helping newcomer women as they settle in Canada:

Access Community Capital Fund (Toronto): The Pathways to Prosperities project helps clients launch small businesses in Canada through the Women’s Business Accelerator program. The project supports racialized newcomer women facing economic barriers through employment services, personal coaching, business workshops, affordable loans and support services.

Canadian Muslim Women’s Institute (Winnipeg): The Newcomer Women Employment Training Program is comprised of four 6-week training modules on professional sewing, cooking, child care and cleaning. The modules enhance client skills, increase employability and include English for Employment programming. The program includes employer engagement to support client connectivity to the job market.

Conseil pour le développement de l’alphabétisme et des compétences des adultes du Nouveau-Brunswick (Moncton): The Conseil offers activities that support racialized newcomer women who wish to integrate into the New Brunswick labour market. It provides one-on-one mentoring and workshops to racialized newcomer women to develop their literacy, digital and other basic skills related to adapting to the province’s New Brunswick labour market.

MetroWorks (Halifax): The Deep Roots project delivers an intensive job search/job readiness project for racialized newcomer women, engaging participants in job readiness training, employment-related workshops, and job counselling. The women take part in work placements at Common Roots Urban Farms and other social enterprises to develop their skills and abilities in a Canadian work context. Those who are employment-ready have the opportunity to move to a placement with a community-based employer.

Kitchener-Waterloo Young Women’s Christian Association (Kitchener): In Her Shoes is an online entrepreneurship and employment training project. It focuses on helping racialized newcomer women build online businesses while also providing participants with work experience.

New Circles Community Services (Toronto): A New Gateway to Employment is a project that reduces barriers for racialized newcomer women and helps them develop the skills needed to integrate into the Canadian labour market.

Newcomer Kitchen (Toronto): The Willing to Work project introduces racialized newcomer women to the social and economic aspects of living in Canadian society by imparting entrepreneurial education to newcomer women in the GTA.

Syrian Canadian Foundation (Etobicoke): The project creates business and networking opportunities for racialized women with an assessment of skills, language training and a start-up fund. As the clients and their business grow, they will be a source of employment and income for more racialized women.

Umoja Operation Compassion Society (Surrey): The Newcomer Digital Connect project provides direct services to identify and break down multiple employment barriers through activities that will build and increase the employability for racialized newcomer women. Participants attend a 12-week program to build confidence, improve soft skills, and develop or enhance basic computer skills applicable to the office, to enter the Canadian labour market.

Women’s Economic Council (Burnaby): Her Own Boss! is a national project that explores self-employment as a viable option for racialized newcomer women. It aims to better understand how business, co-operative and social enterprise development services can be improved by collaborating with community partners to make systemic changes so that racialized newcomer women can access and acquire basic business knowledge and digital literacy skills.

Young Women’s Christian Association (Vancouver): The Tech Connect for Newcomer Women project assists racialized newcomer women who are internationally trained professionals with IT backgrounds with securing jobs that are commensurate with their skills, education and experience. Participants develop a deep understanding of the tech sector in Canada and its unique workplace culture.