Earlier this Summer I learned that the New Brunswick Multicultural Council (NBMC) had been doing some innovative coordinating work with member agencies after everyone pivoted to remote work. I was curious about their work with member agencies to develop policies and tools and share best practices. In this conversation Abby David shares how NBMC worked together as a provincial sector and what the fruits of that work have been.
This afternoon I participated in a World Education Services (WES)-sponsored Twitter chat, with the hashtag #ImmigrantsThrive. I thought I’d share my answers to their questions, along with some resources others shared that I found interesting and useful.
Welcome to episode 20 of the Technology in Human Services Podcast. Be data driven. Make your decisions based on data. We’ve all heard the platitudes. And data is something that the immigrant and refugee-serving sector has huge amounts of, and does very little with. In 2017, the Toronto East Quadrant Local Immigration Partnership started looking into changing that.
This is a recording and notes from presentations at an immigrant and refugee-serving sector-only virtual event on June 16, 2020. I was honored to moderate the panel. The panelists focused on technological adaptations made to settlement service delivery due to COVID-19, share promising practices and challenges, as well as other outcomes from the sector discussion.
It’s never been more important to share how we’re doing. Share successes, new models of service delivery, but also the struggle. I’ve been enjoying seeing how immigrant and refugee-serving agencies have been successfully pivoting to online services. I’ve been enjoying even more how some are sharing their experiences. There is so much to learn from each other.
Two reports came out within the past week which I have had the pleasure of being part of. They’re both about the now and future of the immigrant and refugee-serving sector. I hope you find some time to read them.
You likely have seen some news about a new app to help people experiencing homelessness in Toronto find and access services – Chalmers Bot. It’s a great story. I decided to dive in and try it out. Here’s my assessment, along with a screen-cast of me using Chalmers. I think you should try it out.
From his life experiences, Dhairya Dand has distilled some lessons about disruption. I think he offers the ingredients for a positive disruption and innovation mindset.
I think we can learn from his approach in the immigrant and refugee-serving sector.
Much of the current writing on AI is about how AI will replace some human functions, but just as much on how important humans will remain (and perhaps more so) in the future. Current writing also emphasizes the importance of the choices we make now about AI, innovation and technology. It’s not all quite as out of our control as the tech bros might want you to believe.
I’m excited. Are you excited? If you’re interested in staying up to date about the latest research about newcomers, you should be. I recently discovered that IRCC has an email list where you can get up to date research information directly from the IRCC Knowledge Management – Research and Evaluation department. Apparently this list has Read more about IRCC’s Research at a Glance – OMG, OMG, you have to subscribe[…]