Newcomers Community Forum + Cultural Program: Taking Action through the Arts!

Community forum: Refusing to Settle for Less:
Newcomer Policy Recommendations to Overcome Poverty; March 27, 2010
© Poster by Harold Ivan Padilla
Credit: mnlct.org

FORUM
REFUSING TO SETTLE FOR LESS:
Newcomer policy recommendations
to overcome poverty.

Working together to reduce
poverty and enhance
newcomer voices!

Date: Saturday March 27, 2010
9:30 am to 4:30 pm
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Followed by Cultural Program:
Taking Action through the Arts!

Location: The Mennonite New Life Centre
1774 Queen Street East, Toronto ON M4L 1G7
(Queen Street East and Kingston Road)
Getting here by TTC:
From Coxwell subway station; take bus # 22 south to Queen Street East.
On the Queen Street Streetcar #501, get off at the Lark Street stop.

Forum Goals:

• To reduce poverty and strengthen newcomer voices.
• To bring together newcomers, allies, service providers, employers and government to build shared solutions to newcomer employment challenges
• To share newcomer policy recommendations for improving access to fair and meaningful employment
• To discuss strategies for achieving full civic participation by newcomers to Ontario.

Followed by an evening program of music and artistic expression on themes of newcomer employment and civic participation.

Organized by:
Mennonite New Life Centre and Newcomer Advocacy Committees
For information and registration, contact Adriana Salazar at:
asalazar@mnlct.org / 416-699-4527 X 229 / www.mnlct.org
Advance registration required

Download the forum brochure, poster and registration form in pdf format or register on-line.

Toronto, December 2009
Dear Friends:
On behalf of the Mennonite New Life Centre and our Newcomer Advocacy Committee, we would like to invite you to participate in our community forum "Refusing to Settle for Less: Newcomer Policy Recommendations to Overcome Poverty". This forum will be held on Saturday March 27th, 2010 from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm in our meeting space at 1774 Queen Street East.

As you know, the Mennonite New Life Centre is a vibrant, multicultural settlement agency for newcomers, with a vision for a city and province where people from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds participate fully in the social, economic and political life of Toronto and Ontario.

During the forum, we hope to engage a wide variety of stakeholders in dialogue regarding newcomer employment challenges and policy proposals, and to identify new ways of working together so that newcomers might contribute their skills and their ideas to this country. To facilitate this dialogue and action planning, we are planning four roundtable discussions around the themes of access to employment and political voice for newcomers:

1. Employment Equity Legislation: a proposal to ensure equitable representation of diverse groups in the workplace.
2. Paid Internships: an employer incentive strategy.
3. Upcoming Municipal and Provincial Elections: opportunities and challenges for newcomer civic participation.
4. Community organizing experiences: learning from grassroots newcomer initiatives

Your participation is key to the success of this forum. We look forward to hearing your experiences, ideas and proposals for improving access to fair and meaningful employment for newcomers and building strong and inclusive communities where immigrants and refugees participate fully in civic life. We look forward to your participation in our March 27th 2010 Forum. Please mark this date in your calendar!

Regards,
MNLCT and Newcomer Advocacy Committee