Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

This study looked at an online employment program for newcomer youth run by an immigrant-serving organization. The program combined digital marketing training with an internship to help participants build skills and improve their chances of finding work. Using surveys and staff interviews, the study found that the program increased participants’ skills, confidence, and employability. Staff also said the online format made the program more accessible, but some challenges remained, such as digital literacy and technology issues. Overall, the program had a positive impact, while showing that strong digital access and better participant engagement are important for success.

This article introduces the Community Steered Research (CSR) model developed through the TIES Centre for Immigrant Research, highlighting community-led approaches to knowledge production, cognitive justice, and evidence-based research in the immigrant settlement sector.

This study examines the challenges literacy instructors face in supporting adult English learners with low education, limited English, and low digital literacy. Using a participatory approach, the researchers worked with educators to co-design and test a teacher toolkit that helps instructors use technology and hybrid teaching more effectively.

As part of BENCH, This study aims to investigate the barriers faced by newcomers in Canada in accessing mental health and crisis intervention services, focusing on immigrant and racialized communities. It explores service models that integrate newcomer support organizations with mental health services to address these challenges.

Part of Environmental Scan and Systems Mapping of Services for Newcomers in Calgary study. The integration of immigrants into Canadian society is critical for addressing labor shortages and fostering economic growth, particularly in cities like Calgary where immigrant populations are rapidly increasing. This study conducted an environmental scan of Calgary's immigrant-serving sector, revealing a core-periphery model where a small number of organizations dominate service provision, highlighting both strengths and untapped potential for collaboration and resource access within the sector.

This study shows that ideas about sustainability are often shaped by Western views, while the knowledge of historically marginalized people is overlooked. Based on interviews with Syrian and Sudanese farming families in Calgary, it highlights how their lived knowledge and relationship with the environment can support broader and more diverse visions of sustainability.

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This article summary is part of the Environmental Scan and Systems Mapping of Services for Newcomers in Calgary study. It shows that Calgary’s newcomer-serving sector has a core-periphery structure, where the Big 8 settlement organizations deliver most services and hold more influence.

It also highlights that smaller organizations, ethnic-based groups, schools, health groups, and informal networks are important but underused. The text calls for more holistic and collaborative service planning, especially in areas like mental health, health, translation, and interpretation.

This study, part of Calgary Newcomers Collaborative (CNC), shows that COVID-19 affected racialized immigrant communities in especially unequal ways. Based on data from Calgary, it found that the pandemic disrupted immigrants’ employment, education, and health partly because it also weakened their social connections, especially their links to public services.

As part of The Remote and Online Services for Professional Immigrants (ROSPI), the study maps settlement and job integration barriers for immigrant professionals in Canada including recredentialing and licensing hurdles, foreign qualification recognition issues, discriminatory hiring and skill discounting, plus cultural and language adjustments. Using a mixed methods design with a survey and interviews, the team built and tested a digital tool called The Seeker that uses a wiki style format with general content and country and profession specific guidance. A pilot focused on Filipino nurses, Indian IT professionals, and Ukrainian teachers, and the results open new lines of research and practice on digital supports for intersectional needs in settlement and employment.