building welcoming and inclusive neighbourhoods (bwin) best practices in action paula carr and...
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Building Welcoming and Inclusive Neighbourhoods (BWIN)
Best Practices in Action
Paula Carr and Koyali Burman
presenting on behalf of the
BWIN Consortium of Neighbourhood Houses
BWIN - Infrastructure
Pilot project conception and initiation: the Consortium of Neighbourhood Houses
Sponsor: Immigrant Integration Branch of the Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development
Funder: Government of Canada
BWIN - Vision
Innovative approach exploring the leadership role of Lower Mainland Neighbourhood Houses in building local community capacity to: Be welcoming to all Address racism and social exclusion in
creative and responsive ways
BWIN – Research
Research shows that with integration immigrants and others experience:
Improved health and wellbeing Safer communities Welcome through employment Personal/social networks Community cohesion Neighbourhood activities
BWIN - Goals
Expand the role of Neighbourhood Houses in building community capacity
Engage the host community, newcomers, immigrants and other socially excluded groups about creating a welcoming community
Build capacity at all levels – individual family/peer, organization, institution and business – in an integrated way
BWIN - Goals
Identify meaningful ways to promote dialogue about exclusion and racism
Support learning about barriers to inclusion and changes needed to address them
Evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot project delivery model
BWIN - Activities
Community outreach and mapping Volunteerism and leadership Community Gatherings and
Cultural Inclusion Organizational Capacity Building Collaborative Planning
BWIN – Participant Data
From over 30 countries, every continent
Canadian citizens and/or living here for three-plus years
Female to Male 3:1 19-54 years largest group; under 19
second largest
BWIN - Experiences
Participant involvement part of a process
Contact with BWIN or Neighbourhood House led to deeper involvement
BWIN perceived as part of the Neighbourhood House
BWIN - Experiences
Themes in participants perceptions: BWIN / Neighbourhood House is
accessible and approachable BWIN staff and other participants
recognize them as a whole person and for their skills
BWIN offers opportunities to learn about Canadian culture and other cultures
BWIN offers an opportunity to give back
Dialogue
Dialogue Circle- A Promising Practice for Building Welcoming & Inclusive Neighbourhoods
Introduction to Dialogue Circles
Circle provides a welcoming and safe platform for newcomers and long-time residents living in the neighbourhood to make connections, share their life experiences and build an inclusive community
To stimulate awareness of community issues among residents and build local leadership capacity to foster change
Introduction to Dialogue Circle
Dialogue Circles are conducted at various locations such as Neighbourhood Houses, Libraries, Family Places, Schools, Community Centres, BC Housing etc
How and where Dialogue Circles are conducted?
Various Dialogue Circles are Conducted
South Asian Women’s group Seniors’ group
Spanish Speaking groupKaren speaking refugee group from Burma-Thailand border
Various Dialogue Circle are Conducted
Youth led Dialogue Circle
Various Dialogue Circles are conducted
A success story to share…
Moberly Elementary School
Short-Term Outcomes Intermediate Outcomes Long-Term Outcome
Newcomers and immigrants feel acknowledged and invited to be part of the community
Volunteers learn form each other and play a leadership role in supporting newcomers and immigrants and promoting cultural inclusion
Community members have a clear direction of building an inclusive communities
The community has a greater awareness of the neighbourhood as Home to many
Staff understand what inclusive practices are an dhow to implement in their work
Our Neighbourhood welcomes newcomers and immigrants in all aspects of neighbourhood life
Our organization reflects the cultural fabric of our neighbourhood in participation, leadership, policies and direction
Neighbourhood residents play an active role in fostering welcoming environment, policies and institutions
Immigrants and newcomers play a leadership role in all aspects of our community
British Columbia neighbourhood welcomes immigrants and newcomers and provide full opportunities for engagement in all aspects of community and civil society
BWIN - Outcomes
Participants’ perceptions of the BWIN project
to evaluators have been highly positive – they
report feeling welcomed and included:
Practical and useful information Training and opportunities Relationships and connections Engages recent and long term immigrants Recognizes skills and sees whole person
BWIN - Outcomes
Develops initiatives based on needs and desires.
Fosters citizenship and promotes increased civic engagement for participants and their children.
Gained cross cultural communications skills and enhanced their knowledge about Canadian, as well as other, diverse cultures and customs
Increased self-confidence
BWIN - Outcomes
Evaluator Found BWIN: Promotes Neighbourhood Houses as a
resource for immigrant and newcomers Could present Neighbourhood Houses as
a focal point for integration into Canadian society
Major strength is its Community-focused, community development nature
Serves as an integrating focus for neighbourhood houses’ programs
BWIN - Challenges
Related to participation Language barriers Child care Winter weather Time commitment
Related to Neighbourhood Houses’ organization Staff workload demands Limited space
BWIN - Challenges
Funders’ requirements and evaluationOutcome timeline out of sync with
the nature of community development
Evaluation process time-consuming
Quantitative information at odds with BWIN goals
BWIN - Recommendations
At least two more years of funding and sustainability planning
“Promising” practices compilation Communications Focus on social exclusion, racism Focus on men, more recent newcomers Translation and interpretation services
Implications for Policy Invest in neighbourhood capacity building Recognize and support grassroots social capital and
community development i.e. community dialogue Invest in community leadership development Design public spaces to facilitate interaction and
meeting places Support integrated approaches- programs, community
development and resources Defining newcomers in neighbourhoods and
communities- within Canada and outside Canada Encourage and resource appreciative and positive
approaches to address difficult issue like racism Resource community building tools Recognize the impacts some policies have on other
policies
BWIN - Conclusions
Community development requires time and resources. Especially true for community development involving multi-lingual, multi-cultural communities
Community building and outreach with newcomers aiming to address serious challenges is complex and time-consuming
A full Dialogue Circle Documentary to be released and Toolkit will include more information
For further information contact:Koyali Burman at 604-324-6212(ext 136)[email protected]
Building Welcoming and Inclusive Neighbourhood Initiatives
For more information contact: Natalie Taylor at 604-875-9111(ext 106)[email protected]
Thank you to WelcomeBC for making the Welcoming & Inclusive Neighbourhoods initiative possible