Update on the Local Immigration Partnership

The impetus for the Guelph Wellington Local Immigration Partnership  (GW-LIP) came out of the community.  The LIP is a community-led initiative which relies on the engagement and support of stakeholders and community partners. The City of Guelph is one of many partners and has played an administrative role in securing funding through Citizenship and Immigration to support the first phase to develop a settlement strategy and now the implementation phase.

The objective of the GW-LIP is that immigrants are more able to find employment that matches skills and experience, will gain English language skills needed, can access needed programs and services, and are included and integrated in their communities.

This is the right thing to do for immigrants.  It is also the smart thing to do for communities.

The vision of the GW-LIP is to creating “a caring, equitable community where everyone thrives”.

There are now 8 action teams:

• english language training
• newcomer/employer networking
• promoting diversity
• employment support programs
• employment opportunities information
• community information portal
• supporting language interpretation
• welcome centre and host programs

Membership has expanded to over 80 active community partners and volunteers.  Community partners are representatives from service providers, businesses, cultural association, the public sector newcomers and other communities.

The GW-LIP is also engaging the community to develop indicators to measure the success of the initiative and exploring  how to sustain the initiative beyond the current federal funding.

The key messages here are that:

• achieving the objectives is not the responsibility of a single sector
• we are fortunate to have partners from across four pillars of society – private business, government, civil society and individual
• it makes no sense to compete with each other or work in silos but rather we should work together to avoid duplication and fill gaps in service

You can learn more about the GW-LIP on March 19 when they hold a free workshop from 9 am t 1 pm at The Delta Hotel (50 Stone Road West).  To register: www.guelphwellingtonlip.ca by March 12.   There will also be an open house on March 24, 12-2 pm, in the Galleria, City of Guelph, 1 Carden Street.