By Ariela Friedmann, Marketing and Communications, Senior Manager
As 2023 draws to an end, it’s a great time to look back at the year and reflect on some of the major achievements that marked how MOSAIC is helping immigrants and refugees.
Employment in focus
One of our biggest efforts has been helping clients land a job – with skills-commensurate employment. We directly impacted the lives of over 1,000 individuals through our many employment programs. Other highlights included:
- New legislation passed into law November 8 to make it easier for internationally trained skilled people to work in B.C., in 29 in-demand sectors. The professions include engineers, social workers, veterinarians, paramedics, early childhood educators, teachers, biologists, land surveyors, architects and more. MOSAIC had a key role in the consultation process.
- MOSAIC submitted a pre-budget series of five recommendations to the federal government primarily focused to help remove barriers to employment in the 2023 federal budget.
- The 13th annual Immigrant Professional Conference in October saw 200 professional immigrants attend a full-day conference on the Immigrant Advantage. An amazing keynote speaker and a variety of industry panelists shared their experiences and learnings.
- Our 2022-2023 Annual Report, released in September, highlights all of MOSAIC’s efforts helping individuals in their employment journey.
- Nothing surpassed the record turnout of 3,400 at MOSAIC’s 11th annual Job Fair in May. The event hosted over 70 employers from various industries looking to hire.
Racial equity and anti-racism education
Putting a focus on equality and anti-racism continued throughout the year, especially with diversity and inclusion training workshops through the MOSAIC Centre for Diversity.
Highlights over the year included:
- MOSAIC released a letter to the Minister of Education and Child Care calling for B.C. to mandate anti-racism education in schools. The letter, and its associated calls for action, were in response to increased incidents of racism post pandemic as well as the B.C. government’s launch of its Anti-Racism Action Plan, released in January 2023. New legislation was recently announced.
- We also launched the ‘I Will, You Will, We Will’ project to help healthcare organizations better prepare workers with racial equity, diversity and inclusion training. With funding by the Hudson’s Bay Foundation, the project works toward reducing systemic barriers for healthcare workers belonging to culturally diverse backgrounds who are either employed or aspiring to work in the healthcare sector.
- SCOPE, our Social and Civic Opportunities: Pathways to Equity program was renewed thanks to our community partner, Vancity; it helps racialized immigrants and newcomers engage with their community in meaningful ways through initiatives such as boards and committees. The program promotes and creates equal community engagement opportunities for racialized immigrants.
Expanding our services to help clients
We grew in so many ways, and continued to expand and offer new and diverse services, including housing:
- MOSAIC’s Metro Vancouver Refugee Readiness Team created and launched in August a unique housing resource for refugees that helps with housing and other resources.
- With the aim of supporting newcomer survivors of sexualized violence in B.C., MOSAIC’s Emergency Sexual Assault (ESA) Crisis Line launched as a pilot project in April.
- MOSAIC opened a new multi-purpose service centre in March at Highgate Village Mall in Burnaby. The location provides a wide range of services — from supporting vulnerable youth and families, digital literacy training, support for seniors and connecting them to the community to combat social isolation, to employment training and upskilling programs.
Awards and distinctions
Our work in the community includes providing scholarships to refugees to help further their education. We also aim to achieve high standards of service, and in return, we are recognized as a settlement leader.
Some highlights over the year included:
- We were named as a finalist at the Surrey Business Excellence Award in the category of Not-For-Profit of the Year at the Surrey Board of Trade’s 25th annual Business Excellence Awards night in November.
- MOSAIC was nominated for the Diverse & Inclusive Champion Award at the October Untapped Awards event hosted by the Open Door Group. The nomination was for MOSAIC’s diverse and inclusive approach to its work in social enterprise.
- Our service delivery was recognized in July by CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) providing a fifth consecutive reaccreditation for our service standards and commitment to improving the lives of our clients.
- We handed out more than $40,000 in scholarships at our annual MOSAIC Awards, held in June, and we honoured 14 individuals and organizations.
It’s impossible to list every new program, new service or achievement over the year, so we encourage you to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram; or sign up to receive our six-times-a-year enewsletter – simply go our website (www.mosaicbc.org) home page and scroll to the bottom to sign up. That way, you can stay on top of all the news from MOSAIC.
As 2023 comes to an end, we continue to focus our work helping refugees and immigrants settle. Our heartfelt thanks to all our volunteers, staff, donors and partners in making this year a success. Here’s to another successful year.
On behalf of all at MOSAIC, we wish you and yours Happy Holidays!
