Settlement Services

For over 30 years, in a culturally and linguistically safe environment, MOSAIC Settlement Services has assisted immigrants and refugees face and overcome the social, cultural and economic barriers presented by their arrival in a new country. In addition to providing settlement and adjustment services, we help newcomers integrate into the economic and social life of the community at large.

Our services are available in 16 languages: Arabic, Cantonese, English, Dari, French, Korean, Kurdish, Lingala, Mandarin, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Somali, Swahili, Vietnamese and Ukrainian.

• Information and Support Services
• Community Outreach
• Community Assistance Program (CAP)
• Para-Legal Advocacy Project
• Peer Lending Program
• Research and Development Unit
• Separated Children Intervention and Orientation Network (Scion Project)
• Community Volunteer Program

Information and Support Services are provided to newcomers within the Lower Mainland through a partnership between the municipalities of Vancouver, Burnaby and New Westminster.

The Community Assistance Program (CAP) helps immigrants and refugees on income assistance become more self-sufficient, enjoy a better quality of life and increase their opportunities for employment through advocacy, support, life skills, pre-employment skills and volunteer-placement training.

Community Outreach Programs aid three ethno-cultural minority communities – Afghan, Vietnamese and Arabic/Kurdish – as well as refugees and people without status. Services include a B.C. Multilingual Legal Information Web site in seven languages and the SCION Project, which focuses on separated children and human trafficking.

The Para-Legal Advocacy Program and Front Line Advocacy Workers’ Coordination Project provide low-income newcomers with legal representation, summary advice and referrals, as well as offer community service providers external and internal consultation in a range of legal areas including poverty and immigration law. The advocate provides public legal education, encourage law reform and network with poverty-law workers outside MOSAIC.

Through referrals by MOSAIC staff, volunteer centres and community organizations, as well as client-initiated contact, the Kindness Club Host Program matches established community members with newcomers to provide friendship, support and orientation.

In partnership with Vancity, MOSAIC Settlement Services offers a Peer Lending Program to low-income earners and newly arrived immigrants who cannot get a traditional loan from a financial institution. By organizing and uniting these individuals in groups, they may attain capital with which to start their own home-based businesses.

Our Research and Development Unit, partnering with academic institutions and funders, conducts community-based studies that provide justification for policy change and service enhancement. Examples: A study on the Profile of Absolute and Relative Homelessness Among Immigrants, Refugees, and Refugee Claimants in the Greater Vancouver Regional District and a study on Promoting Wellness: An Action Research to Strengthen and Sustain Welcoming Communities for Immigrants and Refugees in British Columbia.

To promote and sustain community integration, we provide culturally sensitive information/consultation to government and non-government organizations. We also educate community service providers – social workers, employment-assistance workers, health-care providers and school personnel, etc. – on cultural competence through facilitation, linkage and case-management activities.

Our staff advocates for change and reform locally, provincially and nationally. We participate in roundtables and forums regarding policy development and the implementation of best practices. Examples include:

Local Service Area

Provincial

Pan-Canadian

MOSAIC
1720 Grant St., 2^nd Floor • Vancouver, B.C. V5L 2Y7
Tel.: (604) 254-9626 • Fax: (604) 254-3932
E-mail: mosaic@mosaicbc.com

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