OCSS’ Immigrant and Employment Services teams supported migrant workers affected by provincial floods, newcomers looking for employment for the first time in Canada, employers struggling to fill vacancies, and refugees restarting their lives in Canada after escaping violence, war or persecution. Immigrant Services saw higher levels of clients compared to the previous two years. Employment Services has worked hard to provide efficient and effective services to job seekers and employers, moving closer to pre-pandemic levels of service and providing financial supports to clients and employers. A low-light of the year came in December when we made the difficult decision to close OCSS’ Growing Together Daycare for young parents, which had operated for over 35 years, caring for more than 1,500 children over the years. We are determined to re-establish a new daycare for young parents and other community parents in the future. Thanks to the Women of Options and their supporters, the Women of Options: Affordable Housing campaign was a great success, reaching our goal of raising $1.5 million towards 100 units of affordable housing and two full floors of service space. The building is well underway with completion anticipated for the fall of 2023. We continue to dedicate ourselves to learning more about housing with the intention of future development to address the dire need for affordable housing. There were a number of changes to the Board of Directors this year. We thank Ken Holmberg for his 35 years of dedicated, active service
and wish Ken all the best in his well-deserved retirement. We also thank Kirsty Davis for her contributions during her 3 year term. In November, we welcomed Directors, Devinder Sekhon and Sheryl Pringle. To the Executive Team, we welcomed Neil Arao to the role of Deputy Executive Director, Homelessness, Housing and Mental Health Services and Diana Delgado as Deputy Executive Director, Employment and Immigrant Services. Neil and Diana each bring a wealth of experience and passion for the work that they do. Thank you to our direct service staff for your continued care and valuable work supporting the people who come to OCSS for help. Thank you to our Board who has hung in through almost two years of virtual meetings; your expertise, wisdom and support are so important. To our Executive Team and Managers, thank you for supporting our many staff and for your leadership through ever- changing circumstances. We are grateful for the ongoing support of our government and other funders, as well as our community non-profit and other partners, through these difficult times. It has been wonderful to finally see so many of you in person again!
7
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs