Forum Programme October 30 th , 2013 Memorial Community Hall, NYCC

1. FAITH & WELCOMING COMMUNITIES Forum Programme October 30th, 2013 Memorial Community Hall, NYCC

2. Agenda 9:00-9:30 Registration & refreshments 9:30-10:00 Welcome 10:00-10:30 Poster presentations 10:30-11:15 Break-out session I. 11:15-12:00 Break-out session II. 12:00-1:00 Lunch, Music & Networking Activity 1:00-2:00 Feedback & Next Steps 2:00-2:30 Wrap-up & Evaluation

3. Poster Presentations Arts: Philip Ackerman Since graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Philip Ackerman has worked extensively as an adult education instructor in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Canada. More recently, Philip has graduated from the Social Service Program at Seneca College, specializing in working with Immigrants and Refugees. For the past few years, Philip has been committed to settlement work, assisting with workshops for the Canadian Council for Refugees, volunteering in various agencies throughout the sector, and working on several projects. Currently, Philip is working in Research and Resource Development at the FCJ Refugee Centre, which involves fundraising and helping out with various programs including the Youth Network. Project Summary: The FCJ Refugee Centre Youth Network is a uniquely diverse group of immigrant, refugee and precarious migrant youth that meet weekly to discuss issues affecting them, lend support and strategize possible responses. A core element of this group is arts-based programming. This serves as an effective way for a group that spans multiple identities to find commonalities while communicating difficult experiences. The group has been involved in multiple arts projects, including a mural project for precarious migrant youth, a short documentary on access to education, two short plays on anti-oppression, and various musical and spoken word performances.

4. Poster Presentations continued Food Security: The Rev. Helena-Rose Houldcroft The Rev. Helena-Rose Houldcroft is an Anglican Priest working in an outreach ministry in Flemingdon Park and area. Prior to coming to Toronto she served in Southern Saskatchewan for 25 years. Helena also has a degree in Nursing and has worked extensively on issues of sexuality and Aboriginal and First Nations issues. Helena has a passion for community based projects that build relationships and respects people’s ability to empower their own lives and provide direction for their own community. Project Summary: Flemingdon Park Ministry is a community based ministry since the early 60’s. When the Food Bank was in peril of closing a second time an historic collaboration occurred with four diverse Muslim organizations and two Christian, including FPM. In order to move beyond the Food Bank a pilot project around building local resident capacity to access healthy food began with the Health Unit, the City of Toronto and FPM. That resulted in a three year Trillium Grant for the Food Access Project and joining the Health Unit and FPM was the Community Food Bank and Daily Bread Food Bank.

5. Poster Presentations continued Employment – Irene Vaksman Irene Vaksman – ISTEM (Immigrant Settlement, Training, Employment, Mentoring) Manager JVS Toronto. Irene has a background in Education and HR with a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Management and many years of experience in adult education, ESL training and recruitment. Irene oversees Newcomer Employment Services at the JVS North location that include programs such as Job Search Workshop and Enhanced Language Training for Internationally Trained Professionals in different occupational fields. In addition, Irene plays an active role in Newcomer Youth Integration initiatives, mentoring and community development work. Project Summary: JVS Toronto and Jewish Russian Community Centre of Ontario established a formal partnership 3 years ago aimed at assisting JRCC members with employment needs. While JRCC offers a wide range of services and programs addressing religious, educational and Jewish traditional life cycle aspects of the Russian Jewish Community in Toronto and throughout Ontario, the new collaboration with JVS allowed bringing the services to a new more comprehensive level, thus enhancing reciprocal referrals. Through the JVS Toronto’s Jewish Community Employment Program – EMET employment - the following employment-related services are offered to JRCC members: employability assessments, resume and interview preparation and support, labour market access and matching to positions through the EMET database, Second Career assessments and consultations, employment counselling and job development. In addition, through this partnership project, eligible JRCC members gain access and can benefit from a variety of employment-related programs and services offered by JVS, such as Employment Ontario services, Career Exploration programs, Youth Employment to name just a few. Based on Memorandum of Understanding developed by the two organizations, a JVS – EMET staff person meets with JRCC members interested in employment support on the JRCC premises every week. JRCC promotes the partnership to its members and schedules appointments when necessary. Open communication is maintained between the two organizations and feedback from the clients is received and taken into consideration.

6. Poster Presentations continued Mental Health: Michael AbdurRashid Taylor Michael AbdurRashid Taylor has worked as a Mental Health Professional and Organizational Development Leader for 15 years. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto - Rotman School of Management’s Leadership Development Program and he holds a Master of Theological Studies degree from the University of Toronto and he is Executive Director of Islamic Chaplaincy Services Canada. Michael has multiple certifications and training in Crisis Intervention and Counselling, Anger Management Facilitation, Restorative Justice, Alternatives to Violence training, and Mental Health and Addictions. He is currently Secretary of the Canadian Council of Imams and his consultant work engage individuals and groups around Diversity, Religious Accommodation, Counselling and Healing Approaches. michael@rashidtaylor.com Project Summary: The objectives of the educational project was to: a) map delineation between spirituality & religion and their significance in mental health care; b) help participants to identify strengths related to spirituality; c) focus on the Ontario Common Assessment of Need (OCAN) as a tool to engage clients and service providers on issues of spirituality. Michael was approached by an agency that realized the need to help its staff understand the role of spirituality and religion in their work and with clients. As a result of the project implementation, frontline staff became more familiar with the above stated issues, especially when religion became a focus of clients’ mental health presentation. They became more comfortable with raising issues of Spirituality and Religion with clients. The myths that religious people do not “believe in” mental illness and that religion is anti-psychiatry were dispelled.

7. Poster Presentations continued Cultural Exchange: Daniela Boeri Daniela Boeri is a Spanish speaking settlement worker at Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office (TNO). She joined the TNO team this past summer 2013, after completing her Master of Social Work from Wilfrid Laurier University. In addition to serving newcomers and refugees with settlement needs at TNO, Daniela has joined the Interfaith Dialogue Group to engage with and increase awareness of people of various faiths, religions, and culture. Daniela has 10 years of cumulative professional experience gained locally and internationally within social service, community, educational, and high-profile NGO environments. Project Summary: This initiative started as a small group of most Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office staff. The main objective was to create opportunities for cultural and religious exchange among staff, and increase awareness about own faith and cultural background. Later, the group invited faith-based organizations to join the “inter-faith dialogue”. With the help of 15 placement students from University of Toronto, the group developed a database of local faith organizations and conducted a survey of 98 faith-based groups to better understand community issues from the faith perspective. Since then, the group meets regularly to learn about various religions, cultures and traditions, to exchange information about activities and events in various communities and to celebrate religious holidays together in the form of seasonal festivals (spring and fall).