Settlement and Education Partnership in Waterloo Region (SEPWR at Schools) is an innovative program designed to assist newcomer students and their families to adjust to Canadian society and Ontario schools by providing initial settlement services.

Office location:

St. Francis School

154 Gatewood Road

Kitchener, ON N2M 4E4

Tel: (519) 742-8220

Fax: (519) 742-2415

E-mail: pkarem@cicswis.ca, cell-phone # (519) 501-3977

The program fulfills a critical role in the integration of immigrants and refugees into Canadian society by partnering education and settlement services. A YMCA Cross-Cultural and Community Services team of newcomer settlement workers in partnership with the Waterloo Region District School Board and Waterloo Catholic District School Board is dedicated to build bridges to link newcomers with the school and the community by:

• Providing access to settlement services, community resources and schools
• Assisting the school staff to identify the needs of newcomer students
• Providing cultural interpretation to schools and to families
• Closing the gap between newcomer families and the schools
• Facilitating settlement support groups for newcomer families
• Providing referral services to newcomer families
• Advocating on client's behalf when appropriate
• Providing interpretation and limited translation to - minimize the impact of cultural barriers
• Enabling newcomer families to get involved in the education system

SEPWR Services

• Information and orientation sessions: housing, health, education, employment, taxation, welfare and benefits, business, citizenship, recreation, immigration, public transportation, etc.
• Referrals to community resources: government services, education, language training, medicine, job search, foreign trained professionals, OHIP, SIN, and others
• Facilitation of access to services and resources where there are barriers posed by language, culture and race
• Linking newcomer families to resources and support services within the school system
• Interpretation and limited translation
• Workshops on settlement-related areas such as education, health, parenting, employment, youth issues, etc.

All services are free and confidential

Who is eligible to take part in this program?
Newcomers to Canada with first-year settlement needs:

• Landed immigrants
• Refugee Claimants/ Conventional Refugees
• Ministerial Permit Holders
• Citizens

SEPWR Workers
The settlement workers are employees of YMCA Cross- Cultural and Community Services and they are based in elementary and secondary schools. The settlement workers normally perform their duties during school hours by meeting with the newcomer students and their families at the schools.

In addition to English, these workers also offer settlement services in their own heritage languages. For specific language needs, please contact the following numbers to make an appointment:

• Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian: (519) 501-3984, bdjeric@cicswis.ca
• Mandarin, Cantonese: (519) 501-3982, hliu@cicswis.ca
• Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu: (519) 501-3979, cgosain@cicswis.ca
• Arabic: (519) 501-3985, asaid@cicswis.ca
• Farsi, Dari: (519) 501-3983, azalmay@cicswis.ca
• Amahric: (519) 501-3981, tkassa@cicswis.ca
• Spanish: (519) 501-6058, ljacinto@cicswis.ca

If we don’t speak your language we will bring in interpreter to provide you settlement service.

View partner schools

Établissement et Éducation Dans la Région de Waterloo

(«SEPWR»)

Nous contribuons à construire les ponts qui unissent les nouveaux venus avec les écoles et la communauté.

Le programme innovant de «SEPWR» aide les étudiants nouveaux venus et leurs familles dans leurs besoins de base en leur prodiguant l’accès aux services d’établissement et de ressources communautaires. Les étudiants et leurs familles ont à leur disposition dans un mème lieu les références complêtes des différents services de la communauté.

Le programme est élaboré en association avec le Conseil Scolaire du District de la Région de Waterloo et le Conseil Scolaire du District Catholique de Waterloo à Kitchener, Waterloo et Cambridge.

Les Services:

•  Information et accès aux ressources scolaires et communautaires; orientation, interprétation et traduction limitée.

•  Ateliers en groupes pour les parents et les étudiants expliquant le système d’éducation et concernant les problèmes des familles et des jeunes.

•  Ateliers culturels permettant au personnel de l’école et aux familles désignées de connaître les attentes des immigrés et à réduire l’écart entre les cultures.

Updated in August 2008