Many thanks to AMSSA in British Columbia for having me present this workshop to settlement and language workers across the province. I’m definitely not a marketing expert. But, like making technology, or any service choices, it all comes down to being strategic and knowing/understanding your client.
In this video I’m looking at the future of immigrant/refugee settlement work, but really human service more broadly. I hope you find it interesting. I would love to hear what you think! Comment below, or connect on social.
When it comes to I&R, one of the sites you should be using frequently, and as a power user, is your local 211 site. But, 211 sites are not always the most user friendly. You might find search results a bit confusing, or are unsure how to start, etc. We created a screen cast walking course participants through the 211Ontario site.
At a workshop last year, I asked a group of participants to break into groups and identify the top four things settlement workers need to know, top four skills that they must possess, and the top four work-related attitudes and behaviours in the era of digital service delivery. Interestingly, there wasn’t much overlap between groups. This suggests the richness of human service work, as well as its complexity.
I recently presented at a workshop focused on innovative outreach approaches and thought I’d share my presentation here. My piece of the morning looked at how technology can help with that outreach.
In this episode, I spoke with Marc-André Séguin, an immigration lawyer with the firm Exeo, in Montreal. Earlier this year, Marc-André launched the first immigration chatbot in Canada. Immigration Virtual Assistant, or IVA, is a Facebook Messenger-based chatbot.
I asked Madison what it’s like to shift from a predominantly in-person service culture to an online-only service. She provides a refreshingly candid overview of some of the challenges they faced.
This is a new tool to help you create a quick proposal for a new service idea. The Nonprofit Service Canvas is a quick and easy, but comprehensive, way to capture your project idea. It’s useful for both front line workers and organization managers/leaders.
Strategy, strategy, strategy. That’s what you’ll hear when you read any good social media or technology in human service article. It’s an essential piece of getting started, doing it well, learning from your forays into technology use, and refining your approach.
In March of this year, PeaceGeeks was one of the winners of the Google Impact Challenge. They took home $750,000 to bring their “Services Advisor” mobile app/system to Canada (previously used in Jordan with UNHCR) focused on connecting newcomers to Canada with services, including service tracking, etc.