The following links will take you to descriptions of each of RIWC’s core programs, services and initiatives. Although they are listed as separate services, RIWC follows an integrated model of service where each of its service and program components overlap. For example, although job search workshops are listed under Settlement and Integration Programs, they can be accessed by clients in other programs as well.
Settlement and Integration Programs
Violence Against Women and Children Program
Language Training
- Language Instruction for
Newcomers to Canada (LINC)
- Enhanced Language Training
(ELT) for Internationally Trained
Teachers
Youth Empowerment Action!
Community Economic Development
Pre Employment Development Program
Volunteer Program
Policy Initiatives
Settlement and Integration Programs
Through the Newcomer Settlement Program (NSP) and the Immigrant
Settlement and Adaptation Program (ISAP), RIWC offers settlement
support that addresses the psycho-social needs and systemic barriers
that affect the lives of immigrant and refugee women and their
families during the settlement process.
ISAP Services include: needs assessment, referrals to community
services, information & orientation sessions, solution-focused
counselling, community service bridging and employment services.
Newcomers eligible for ISAP services are:
NSP Settlement services include: assessment, referral,
information/orientation, general settlement assistance and
employment services.
Newcomers eligible for NSP Services are:
For information please call 416-465-6021 or email
riwc@bellnet.ca
Violence Against Women and Children
The Violence Against Women and Children (VAW) program assists women
and children victimized by violence by providing the emotional and
practical support needed to lead a life free of abuse. The objective
of the program is to increase the safety of South Asian and Chinese
speaking women and their children who are fleeing violent
relationships and ensure that their lives are not further
endangered.
Clients who are eligible for VAW services include all women who
identify themselves or identified as having been physically,
sexually or emotionally abused by her partner or significant other.
Services offered through the VAW program include:
For information please call 416-465-6021 or email
riwc@bellnet.ca
Language Training
RIWC believes in learning as empowerment. Because education is a
liberating process, we encourage our clients to analyze the reality
of their circumstances, become more aware of the constraints on
their lives, build on their existing skills and experience as
adults, and take action to transform their lives. This approach is
incorporated into both our language and training programs.
Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC)
The LINC program at RIWC provides basic language training from
levels literacy and levels 1 to 7 (beginner to advanced) including
computer based language training, transportation support and on-site
child minding.
Newcomers eligible for LINC are:
Eligible newcomers must first contact YMCA A-LINC to set up an
appointment for an English assessment test before registering in
LINC classes at RIWC. To make an appointment, please contact the
YMCA assessment centre at 416-925-5462.
Enhanced Language Training (ELT) for Internationally Trained
Teachers (ITTs)
Launched in 2004, the Enhanced Language Training Program for
Internationally Trained Teachers provided higher level language
training integrated with RIWC’s core settlement services. The
classes cover Canadian Language Benchmarks 6 through 9. Incorporated
into the language training is a settlement/orientation component,
employment preparation and focused, sector specific information
sessions. The program addresses skill and language building,
individual and systemic barriers as well as policy change by
engaging the teachers themselves in the process of change using a
participatory methodology creating an empowering and transformative
experience.
Milestones achieved include: Established a multi-organizational
Advisory Committee to discuss the certification and employment
barriers faced by Internationally Trained Teachers; Completed an
environmental scan of all bridging programs for ITT’s; Developed an
education sector specific CLB assessment tool; developed a 520 page
curricula for Internationally Trained Teachers.
Newcomers eligible for ELT programs are:
For information about our language training programs please contact
us at 416-465-6021 or email
riwc@bellnet.ca
Pre Employment Development (PED)
The Pre Employment Development program is a 9-week course that
offers basic skills training and pre employment counseling for
Ontario Works clients to assist them in accessing other programs,
social support or employment.
Services offered through the PED program include:
Clients eligible for PED courses are:
Unemployed newcomers who are Ontario Works participants.
Eligible newcomers must first contact their Ontario Works case
worker to set up an appointment and obtain a referral form before
registering in the PED course at RIWC. Please call (416) 465 – 6021
for upcoming start dates.
Youth Empowerment Action!
Youth Employment Action (YEA), the Muslim youth project, is the
RIWC’s focused response to the effects of the 9/11 crisis on young
Muslims. The compelling voices of our clients and other community
groups made us aware of the increasing marginalization of the Muslim
community and the especially adverse effect on the identities of
young Muslim women. The YEA program aims to identify Young Muslim
men and women and support them in creating the necessary tools to
express their ideas and concerns and find effective strategies to
resolve their issues.
The youth program has become an effective platform for outreaching
to other agencies and groups. We have developed leadership
development training modules for young women to learn skills to
articulate their needs from their unique vantage point and to teach
youth how to find ways to constructively respond to community
concerns. By providing youth with the tools to identify and meet
their communities' needs, YEA has given us the unique opportunity to
reduce the negative impact of marginalization. YEA is a youth
program vital to the community that needs to ensure that these girls
are not falling through the cracks, spaces overlooked in gaps to
essential services.
Projects of the YEA! program include:
Community Economic Development (CED)
RIWC’s Community Economic Development (CED) initiatives promote
economic self-sufficiency by building upon the assets and existing
skills of community women and youth. Through these initiatives,
marginalized women and youth can gain practical work experience and
learn to translate their existing skills into marketable assets in
the labour market.
The Global Pantry was initiated in the fall of 1995. Through this
initiative immigrant women apply their skills in food preparation,
budgeting, and marketing in a food catering enterprise.
The Riverdale Natural Health Practice is a complementary health CED
model aiming to provide an environment where immigrant women, their
families and the broader community will have access to appropriate,
affordable and culturally relevant health care services such as
acupuncture, ayurveda, homeopathy, massage, naturopathy and shiatsu.
RIWC’s ‘ITTs in School’ is an innovative project that aims to
provide internationally trained eachers with Canadian work
experience, a step toward permanent employment in education and
related careers. At the same time it will assist immigrant children
integrate into the Canadian school system. This project was formally
launched in March 2007 and has been piloted through 6 TDSB schools
in the East Toronto area.
Other CED initiatives that RIWC have incubated in the past include:
• Copy Chai (1996)
• Complementary Medicine (1996)
• Community Economic Development Resource Directory (1998)
• Raj Palta (1999)
For more information regarding Community Economic Development
projects, please call (416) 465-6021 or email
riwc@bellnet.ca.
Volunteer Program
The majority of our volunteers are newcomers to Canada who feel that
RIWC can provide them with a sense of community as well as with the
opportunity to enhance their employability skills. Through their
placement in our agency, our volunteers and placement students gain
experience, opportunities and training in the following areas:
• Cross cultural training and Canadian labor market experience
• Reception, assessment and referral
• Research and administrative skills
• Community outreach and networking opportunities
• Counselling and advocacy skills
• Greater understanding of the dynamics and role of a community based organization
In addition to our newcomer volunteers, RIWC is a destination for
many students from local colleges and universities to do placements
in the areas of wife assault counselling, community outreach and
settlement work.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer at RIWC, please click
on the link below to download the Volunteer/Student Placement
application form. Please submit a completed application form along
with a copy of your resume by mail, email or fax.
Volunteer Form -
Word
Policy Initiatives
RIWC is committed to promoting racial and gender equality at the
policy level. Our current policy initiatives are focused in the
following areas:
Feminist Alliance for International Action
- FAFIA
As a member of FAFIA, an umbrella organization comprised of women’s
organizations, RIWC is involved in lobbying for policy initiatives
at levels from the international to the local. Participation with
FAFIA adds a wealth of domestic and international knowledge and
experience for RIWC to integrate into its programs and services and
strengthens our commitment to combating violence against women and
seeking women’s equality.
Canadian Research Institute for the
Advancement of Women - CRIAW
CRIAW is a research institute which provides tools to facilitate
organizations taking action to advance social justice and equality
for all women. RIWC has been working with CRIAW to promote an
intersectional analysis of women’s equality.
Status of Women Canada
In working collaboration with Status of Women Canada, RIWC has
participated in external committees and consultations on their
Gender Equality Strategy to ensure the collection of gender
disaggregated data at the Municipal level.
National Network for the Environment and
Women’s Health
The National Network on Environment and Women’s Health is a Centre
of Excellence committed to producing knowledge of the social,
economic and physical environments that effect women’s health in
order to facilitate policy change that will improve the lives of all
Canadian women.
RIWC worked with NNEWH to prepare a paper on racialised and
immigrant women in cities.
Toronto Women’s City Alliance – TWCA
Toronto Women’s City Alliance has been committed to organizing to
end the growing silence and invisibility of girls' and women's
voices and issues on the political agenda in the city of Toronto.
RIWC was a part of the steering committee involved in bringing
gender equality issues to the attention of the city government.
World Urban Forum – WUF
In partnership with Women and Cities International, RIWC
participated in a panel discussion on governance and gender
mainstreaming to identify tools, strategies and action by diverse
women’s groups in integrating a women’s equality agenda within the
city of Toronto.
Health, Equity and Diversity Conference
In collaboration with 25 organizations across the city of Toronto,
RIWC participated by presenting a paper on the elimination of the
three-month waiting time for heath cards for immigrants as well as
facilitating group sessions by our Board members.
Barriers to access for foreign-trained
teachers
In 2005, an advisory committee comprising representatives from a
number of stakeholders in the education sector and several
internationally trained teachers was formed. This committee worked
collaboratively to identify and overcome systemic barriers to access
the public education system for internationally trained
professionals. A report was generated and distributed both
regionally and nationally to bring to light the barriers encountered
by internationally trained teachers in the labour market.
International Women & Health Meeting (IWHM)
RIWC co-chaired (and was a trustee of) the 9th International Women
and Health Meeting (IWHM) at York University that brought together
450 participants from 62 countries. RIWC actively worked with global
and national coalitions to develop a women’s health agenda based on
equity and social justice from the ground up.
Following the success of the 9th IWHM, RIWC was invited to be a
member of the international advisory committee for the 10th IWHM.
RIWC initiated a process for a Canada-wide rapid electronic needs
assessment of diverse Canadian women’s health priorities and their
involvement in women’s health campaigns and networks nationally and
internationally.
Beijing + 10
In March 2005, RIWC was selected as part of the NGO delegation to
participate in the review of the implementation of the Beijing
Platform for Action and the outcome documents of the 23rd special
session of the General Assembly (BFA) entitled “Women 2000 Gender
Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century.” The
meeting provided international NGOs with a forum to review the
implementation of the BFA and identify challenges and
forward-looking strategies for the advancement and empowerment of
women and girls.
A Tribute to Grassroots Organizing
In 2005, RIWC also worked with the Canadian Research Institute for
the Advancement of Women to put together a publication as a tribute
in recognition and celebration of the efforts of grassroots women
organizers who attended the 9th International Women and Health
Meeting and who continue to work in the areas of gender equality and
health around the world. The book was published in English, French
and Spanish and has been distributed to community groups locally,
nationally and internationally.
Canadian Committee on UN reform
As part of the Canadian Committee on UN reform whose objective was
to inform and engage women’s groups and equality-seeking
organizations in Canada and internationally to create new gender
architecture at the United Nations, RIWC supported the call by
Stephen Lewis and women’s groups from around the world to establish
a fully resourced women’s agency at the UN that will gender
mainstream and introduce gender budgeting in all UN programs and
departments, both in the operation and policy arenas.
Please also see ‘Research and Resources’ section for more
information regarding resources and reports developed through our
past policy and research efforts.