Greetings CultureLink Community,
With winter ending and spring fast approaching, we would like you to take the time to  enjoy the latest edition of our newsletter and share it with your friends.
Warm Season Greetings, 
The CultureLink Settlement and Community Services Staff Team
CultureLink Helps Syrians Transition to Employment

The experience of transitioning to life in Canada is different for every newcomer, but all newcomers need support and time to become accustomed to their new communities and adapt to a whole new life in Canada.

CultureLink provides innovative programs which enable Syrians adapt to their new life based on their needs, skills, and job preferences.

Two prime examples are the Hospitality Language Training project and the Mothercraft childcare training project.

The Hospitality Language Training Project started in October 2017 in partnership with the Hospitality Workers Training Centre. It has run in three cohorts and was developed to help Syrian newcomers build their language and occupational skills and knowledge in the areas of food preparation, food safety and sanitation, guest services and customer relations, banquet and restaurant services. Already, 30 participants have participated in the program which has enabled them to improve their language skills, gain critical Canadian workplace cultural knowledge and job search techniques.  For more info click here 
Family Storytelling Festival
During the Family Day long weekend, CultureLink along with the Toronto Public Library hosted our first ever Family Storytelling Festival at Lillian H. Smith Library.

Approximately 160 participated over the two days, including some families that attended both days. The festival featured eight professional storytellers telling stories from around the world, plus library storytellers. Each storyteller had their unique style of enticing the audience with words, song and even musical instruments. Some storytellers were also "telepresenced" to an audience at Malvern Library! In addition, the event included Passages Canada's roaming storytellers and New Canadian Life listening stations, highlighting stories from "How I Came to Canada." The Reading Line and Toronto Public Library kindly donated raffle prizes.

We would like to acknowledge the support of the Government of Ontario, for funding the festival. This event was a partnership between CultureLink Settlement and Community Services, the Toronto Public Library, Passages Canada and the Reading Line. Overall it was a success and we hope to have a second Family Storytelling Festival next year.
 
Recap of Recent Events!
Last February 9th at the beginning of the new semester, the SWIS team at St Mary's Catholic Academy with his Settlement Worker  Ronald Rojas delivered a full day Newcomer Orientation for all those secondary students new to school, with a variety of socio-emotional activities and delivering information session with an amazing team of Peer Leaders, students who have come before and were trained at Culturelink Summer programs, now they share experiences and wisdoms on how this new beginning may be more doable and infuse hope for the future.
Many thanks to  St Mary's Admin team, CWYs, ESL teachers and Guidance for making this possible for the students.



Thank you to our donors!
We would like to recognize the great support of
the Canadian Down & Feather Company Inc. for providing with household goods to support our families during the winter. Your support is greatly appreciated.  




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