Laura Mannix is the Director of Community Development at DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society. I spoke with Laura to talk about her work bringing social innovation culture into her organization, as well as how DIVERSECity has been able to pivot remotely. We talk about what all of that has meant for the kind of community work that they do and how it relates to newcomer and community engagement as well.
Welcome to episode 19 of the Technology in Human Services podcast. In this episode, I chat with Victoria Esses.
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.
So often we don’t focus on the helpers. I think it’s important to do that now and always. Immigrant and refugee-serving organizations have suddenly started working and serving clients remotely. So we quickly created a sector survey to check in with workers and leadership during this time of everyone suddenly moving to remote/digital work.
Pathways to Prosperity Canada recently launched an IRCC-funded project “to design, implement, and evaluate a process for identifying and sharing promising practices in settlement and integration with an empirical basis for their effectiveness. Over a two-year period, P2P will produce 25 videos and accompanying briefs on promising practices in the immigrant settlement and integration sector, targeting a range of service areas and client groups.”
The common thread in my work has become obvious. Working with immigrant and refugee-serving sector organizations. While some of my ideas and writing, and approaches, have tried to be broadly focused (like the Nonprofit Services Canvas), the reality is that I am working and implementing with immigrant and refugee-serving organizations. And that’s where this year is looking to focus as well.