Burlington Inclusivity Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

Meeting #:
Date:
Time:
-
Location:
3800 Constable Henshaw Blvd. (Halton Regional Police Services)

1.
Members Present:
 

Doug Martin (Chair), Rana Al Semaani (Vice Chair), Maroun Naser, Kumkum Bhandari (BPL), Jenna Bye, Jim Young (BSAC), Ron Baliko (BAAC), Carrie Overholt.

2.
Member Regrets:
 

Mumba Litana, Kate Dunn, Girish Parekh, Heba Lamloum, Brent Hughes (Halton Police)

3.
Others Present:
 

Councillor Angelo Bentivegna, Lisa Palermo (Clerk)

4.
Declarations of Interest:
 

None.

5.
Approval of Minutes:
 

6.
Delegation(s):
 

6.1
Hanadi Almasri, Director of Social Innovations and Enterprises, HMC Connections (9:30 a.m.)
 

Hanadi provided the committee with an overview of the vast services provided by HMC Connections (previously Halton Multicultural Council).

HMC provides services in 45 languages and have identified the top 10 languages in Burlington.

HMC collects a variety of statistics around languages, immigrants, newcomers, etc.

HMC provides a number of programs.  Examples include:

  • Settlement services
  • Workshops in a number of areas (English, parenting, youth leader development, etc.)
  • Employment support
  • Youth settlement in partnership with the school boards
  • Translation and interpretation
  • Cultural competency training

HMC organizes community events:

  • multiculturism day, new years around the world, children's car seat clinic and job fairs.

6.2
Vivian Dobb, Our Community Cares programs and services, Reach Out Centre for Kids (ROCK) (10:00 a.m.)
 

Vivian provided the committee with an overview of the services offered by the Our Community Cares Program.  The locations for the programs are the Burloak Community Centre and Warwick/Surrey Community Centre.  The centres offer:

  • child, adult, family, peer support
  • recreation programs
  • computer access
  • career networking
  • parenting support
  • food support program
  • after school care
  • youth skills programs and college prep, etc.

Community Cares works with the Food For Life Program and Halton Fresh Food Box, Food Bank, Rotary, United Way, etc.

The programs are fully used by the community.

7.
Regular Items:
 

7.1
Newcomer subcommittee update
 

The subcommittee will arrange to meet before the October meeting to discuss information received from HMC Connections.

7.2
Poverty subcommittee update
This item has attachments. 

1.BIAC poverty subcommittee Vision and Workplan.pdf

The subcommittee met over the summer and created a summary for discussion, however there was no time. The discussion was deferred to October.

8.
Other Business:
 

Members briefly discussed a concern regarding community awareness.  Is the community aware of all the services, programs, organizations and supports available to them.  The committee requested that a representative from the Halton Community Database/Burlington Information Services attend the next meeting to provide members with information. 

9.
Adjournment: 11:05 a.m.
 

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