OCISO Newcomer News - July 2020 

Message from Karyn Steer,
Interim Executive Director

Dear friends,

We would like to recognize all of our employees for their hard work and dedication over the past months. Through their dedicated approach to supporting clients, we were able to overcome the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19 and continue to support clients remotely.

In recent months, as our economy gradually reopened, we have developed a plan to reopen our offices. This plan puts the safety of our staff, volunteers and clients at the forefront.

The safety of our community is our paramount concern, and our goal is to safely reopen our offices and begin delivering our programs and services in person. We will keep you informed as we finalize more details of this plan in the coming months.

In this issue of the newsletter, we share the stories of two exceptional volunteers – Richard Tobin, who recently received the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers and Kelly Hayes-Crook, who helps newcomers in our Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program to practice their English. We are also delighted to share with you the story of an OCISO mentee who has found a job in his field and news about YOCISO’s Wrestling with Champions and E-Learning Initiative.

We hope that you and your family and friends have an enjoyable summer.

Best regards,

Karyn Steer
Interim Executive Director, OCISO

OCISO Mentor Receives Sovereign’s Medal
for Volunteers

Richard Tobin, an OCISO mentor, recently was awarded the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers. 

Volunteer Helps Newcomers to Learn English

Kelly Hayes-Crook has been volunteering with OCISO for the last nine months. As a retired high school teacher who had taught English as a Second Language (ESL) students, volunteering at OCISO’s Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) school was the perfect fit for her.

Mentee Profile:  Daniel Azike

When Daniel Azike arrived in Ottawa in March 2019 from Nigeria, someone gave him a great bit of advice – to take advantage of settlement services.

YOCISO’s E-Learning Initiative (Homework Club)

YOCISO’s e-learning initiative was launched in March 2020 as a pilot project. E-learning had been identified as a need because of school closures due to COVID-19.

Wrestling with Champions Receives Funding from
Ontario Trillium Foundation

We are pleased to announce that OCISO has received $265,700 in funding over three years from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) for our Wrestling with Champions program. 

Future editions of OCISO Newcomer News

If you have suggestions for news items or stories that might be highlighted in future editions of this newsletter, please contact Suzanne Charest at scharest@ociso.org.

Thanks for making newcomers to Ottawa feel welcome!