CIWA Grapevine Newsletter - June 2015

Welcome to the Calgary Immigrant Women's Association's bi-monthly Grapevine Newsletter! 

CIWA is pleased to announce three brand new initiatives

Alternative Childcare for Immigrant Women is a 3 year collaborative project, funded by Status of Women Canada, which aims to enhance the economic prosperity of gainfully employed immigrant women by addressing barriers to advancement opportunities in the workplace. 

CIWA will bring together businesses, service providers, and gainfully employed women, to develop and pilot alternative childcare models that facilitate access to career advancement opportunities. Through the project, employers will also be engaged to provide additional supervision, training, and mentorship opportunities that support women's career progression.

Connecting Immigrant Women from Southern Alberta to Breast Health Education and Services is a two-year project funded by Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The objectives of the project are to provide breast health education, increase access to early diagnosis and potential treatment services and raise awareness of risk reduction and early detection of breast cancer for hard to reach immigrant women living in rural communities in southern Alberta including Brooks, High River, Okotoks and surrounding areas, including Taber and Vulcan.
 

Healthy Relationships Project is a two-year collaborative project between CIWA and the Calgary Sexual Health Centre funded by Human Rights Education and Multiculturalism Fund.  The project will provide culturally sensitive education for immigrant women and their families as well as youth pertaining to family planning, sexual health and creating healthy relationships through a series of workshops customized for each group of participants.

CIWA hosts film screening on forced marriages

On April 21^st, as part of National Victims of Crimes Awareness Week, CIWA hosted a documentary screening on forced marriages at the John Dutton Theatre in the Calgary Public Library. The event was funded by Justice Canada and was well attended by 400 men and women. The screening featured speeches from Iman Bukhari, the filmmaker, and other people involved with the project. The event aimed to raise awareness about forced marriage and its consequences.

Gerda R. Bloemraad Scholarship Fund Recipients

Sreelakshmi Nair and Yulia Kryuchenkova were the recipients of Gerda R. Bloemraad Education Scholarships at CIWA's AGM on June 16th. Gerda R. Bloemraad Education Scholarship aims to provide monetary assistance to CIWA clients or volunteers, who wish to further their education or commence a course at an accredited institution in a subject of their choice.

Sreelakshmi has been involved as a mentor in the Civic Engagement for Immigrant Women program.  From a very young age, Sree has aspired to become a doctor. This scholarship will aid her in her second year of studies at Mount Royal University, as she works towards her educational goal.

Yulia is currently completing the Links to Success: Skills Enhancement and Internships for Young Immigrant Mothers program. Yulia's educational goal is to become a Human Resources Manager and this scholarship will help her in achieving that.

University of Calgary Continuing Education Scholarship Recipients

From left to right: Luciane Lopes de Freitas - Recipient, Rasha Roshdy - Labour Market Bridging Program Coordinator, and Argenis Paniagua - Recipient

Argenis Paniagua and Luciane Lopes de Freitas were the recipients of the University of Calgary Contemporary Women's Scholarship Award. The awards were presented at University's Spring Convocation on June 17th. These scholarships aim to support the empowerment and education pursuits of women with financial need.

Argenis is a seasoned accounting and finance professional from Colombia and is a recent graduate of the Bridging the Gap for Foreign Trained Accountants program at CIWA. This scholarship will assist her to prepare for the job market and learn more about business in Canada as well as contribute to her professional development, confidence and empowerment. 
Luciane is a professional biologist from Brazil. She is currently participating in Labour Market Bridging for Volunteers: Interpretation and Translations Clinic at CIWA. Luciane is an ambitious young lady who is determined to pursue her career despite all the hardship she is facing alone in a new country and this scholarship will assist her in achieving her goals.

CIWA's AGM

Thank you to all who attended CIWA's Annual General Meeting. Our annual report is available here. At the event, a new Board of Directors of CIWA for 2015-2016 was announced.

Sarah J. King-D’Souza, Q.C. – Board Chair
Shairoze Damji – Board Vice Chair
Praneeta Kumar – Treasurer
Alice Lam – Secretary
Amal Umar - Past Chair
Dr. Tara Holmes – Director
Bin Wu – Director

Kiran Birdi - Director
Priya D'Souza CA, CPA - Director

Dr. Rose Kadri - Director

Tolulope Donald-Oloyede - Director

Ursula Ducatel - Director

Murli Dharan - Director

Anh Tran - Director 

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