 For many seniors, elder abuse is a difficult topic to discuss. Because most seniors who are affected by abuse often know and trust the person mistreating them, they may feel ashamed or embarrassed to tell anyone about it. In order to provide women with a safe and open environment to talk about elder abuse, Newcomer Women’s Services Toronto (NWST) launched ‘Sister 2 Sister: A Catalyst for Community-Led Elder Abuse Awareness’ with support from the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program (NHSP). After receiving numerous disclosures of elder abuse and noticing more cases being reported on the local news, the NWST created this leadership training program to teach women how to lead sharing circles and provide information about elder abuse to other seniors in the community.Althea Prince, shown here leading a workshop at Newcomer Women’s Services TorontoMaya Roy, a project coordinator for ‘Sister 2 Sister,’ said: “The leadership training was very much about creating an environment that made it safe to actuallydiscuss power imbalances for newcomer seniors, and to even name elder abuse as an issue. It’s a very painful topic for many of our members, so to even have that discussion as a community was the first step in breaking the taboo and silence around the issue.” Althea Prince has been involved with NWST as a volunteer, sharing circle facilitator, and participant of ‘Sister 2 Sister.’ “I wanted to find out more about the services for seniors in our community. I had read in the media about the abuse of some elders in our community, and was concerned and upset about it. I wanted to hear about the methods of prevention that were going to be discussed,” said Althea. The leadership training was popular, and Maya said that the demand for training among Mandarin-speaking seniors was even greater than expected. “We had 50 women at the first training and had so many Mandarin-speaking seniors who registered that we actually scheduled a second training in St. Jamestown and had almost 100 Mandarin-speaking seniors who came out.” “I liked that there was laughter and sharing. It was not morbid or gloomy, and the methods used were carefully thought out. I believe that we all became educated and we certainly came away with a lot of knowledge and confidence,” added Althea. Shortly after the project started, a group of leaders from ‘Sister 2 Sister’ received media attention for a policy conference they organized at Ryerson University. “We had community organizations and over 150 people learning and hearing seniors’ voices around the issue of elder abuse. The conference was even covered by CBC and City TV,” said Maya. The abuse experienced by older adults can be hidden or go undetected. It is important that seniors who are being abused have access to information, so that they can make informed decisions and be aware of the help available to them. Talking about elder abuse is one of the first steps towards prevention, and ‘Sister 2 Sister’ provided seniors with the opportunity to create their own space to talk about, deal with, and prevent elder abuse. The Government of Canada is taking action to increase awareness of this issue through its Elder Abuse Awareness Campaign. www.seniors.gc.ca/c.4nt.2nt3c.4l@.jsp?lang=eng&cid=161The NHSP is a federal grants and contributions program that supports projects led or inspired by seniors who make a difference in the lives of others and in their communities. The Elder Abuse Awareness objective of the NHSP helps not-for-profit organizations develop national or regional education and awareness activities to reduce elder abuse.
Resume Writing Clinics: Every Wednesday from 2:30pm to 4:30pm in the computer lab at 745. Each Clinic will be two hours long and Employment Staff will be on hand to support participants with writing, editing, updating and targeting their resumes. Interview Skills Workshop:
Date: March 21, 2012
Time: 10:30am - 3:00pm
Location: Pape/Danforth Library
Please bring your own lunch.Join us and gain valuable insight into the interview process. Learn about different types of interviews, how to prepare for an interview, the stages of an interview, common and illegal questions, etc. Also discover the amazing resources the Library has which will help you develop your interviewing skills!
Please call416-751-8886for more information or to register.
Canadian Workplace Culture Workshop:NEW is pleased to partner with the YMCA to offer a workshop on Canadian Workplace Culture.
Wondering what Canadian Workplace Culture is like?
Want to know more?
Join us and discover verbal and non-verbal communication in the workplace, work values and expectations, working relationships and dressing for success!!
Date: March 23, 2012
Time: 10:30am - 12:30pm
Location: 745 Danforth Ave, Suite 401
Please call416-751-8886 for more information or to register.
Employer PanelThis is not being promoted to everyone, EO staff are inviting clients they are working with to attend. March 23, 2012. 1:00 - 4:00pm.1:00pm
2:00pm: Employer Panel begins - Introductions and Discussion
3:00pm: Quick break
3:10pm: Networking
4:00pm: Close
 Are you concerned that your job is unstable or insecure?
Permanent work is harder to find. You are invited to share your experiences on this issue through PHOTOGRAPHS.
Be an important part of informing policies and services for your neighbourhood!
Your participation is completely voluntary and confidentail
If you:
- are between 25 and 64 years old
- have lived in North St. James Town, Cabbage Town-South St.James Town, Regent Park, or Moss Park for 1 year or more
Please contact us to see if you qualify to participate in this exciting initiative.
Training and compensation for public transportation will be provided.
Because we value your input, we would like to offer you $50 for your participation.
If interested in participating, please contact: Ann De Shalit, Project Coordinator
416-972-1010 X 239
adeshali@ryerson.ca
 Get Hired Bootcamp: An Intensive 4 day course with childcare
Date: March 5-8, 2012
Time: 10am - 3pm
- effective job searches
- savvy networking
- smart interviews
- winning resumes
- your professional image
Free childcare with reading and math fun for kids (please register your child)
Call 416-751-8886 to register for your spot!
 Do you have skills? Want to make change? Fight Like A Girl Youth Activist Training Camp….
March 12th – 16th and April 6th – 9th
Get the training you need to become a youth organizer!
A 2-week paid job ($11/hr) where you learn about: anti-racism, gender violence, wen-do women’s self-defense! Learn how to work with media, make a campaign and have your voices heard!
Open to Girls: 12-29
Send your resume to:march_break_job@newcomerwomen.orgby MARCH 7th 2012
Organized by Newcomer Women’s Services Toronto & The Public
www.newcomerwomen.org
thepublicstudio.ca
Funded by Province of Ontario
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I Fight Like a Girl Poem I fight like a girl who refuses to be a victim.
I fight like a girl who is tired of being
IGNORED + HUMORED + BEATEN + RAPED.
I fight like a girl who’s sick
of not being taken seriously.
I fight like a girl who’s been pushed too far.
I fight like a girl who OFFERS + DEMANDS RESPECT.
I fight like a girl who has a lifetime of
ANGER + STRENGTH + PRIDE pent up in her girly body.
I fight like a girl who doesn’t believe in FEAR + SUBMISSION.
I fight like a girl who knows that
THIS BODY + THIS MIND are mine.
I fight like a girl who knows that
YOU ONLY HAVE AS MUCH POWER AS I GRANT YOU.
I fight like a girl who will never
allow you to take more than I offer.
I fight like a girl who FIGHTS BACK.
So next time you think you can distract yourself
from your insecurities by victimizing a girl,
THINK AGAIN. She may be ME and
I FIGHT LIKE A GIRL.
 Two-for-One: Interview Workshops
Date: January 18, 2012: 10:30am to 4:00pm. Please bring your own lunch.
Interview Skills - join and gain valuable insight into the interview process. Learn about different types of interviews, how to prepare for an interview, the stages of an interview, common and illegal questions in an interview and how to develop effective answers to interview questions.
Interview Makeover Workshop - join Nicole Toma (Independent Beauty Consultant) and learn about overall image impact for the professional woman, skin care, applying professional make up and the latest trends!
Location: 745 Danforth, Suite 401
Space is limited so registration is required Register by calling 416-751-8886
 Newcomer Womens Services is pleased to be able to offer a Food Handler Certificate workshop here at NEW! There will be a day long training followed by an exam. When the ladies pass the exam they become a certified food handler! Please note that because there is a written exam, this workshop is being offered to clients with CLB 5/6 or higher.
Food Handler Certification Workshop at Newcomer Women's Services Toronto
Date: January 5, 2012; 9:30am to 4:30pm with a break for lunch (participants to bring their own lunch)
Location: 745 Danforth, Suite 401
Space is limited so registration required
Register by calling 416-751-8886
www.newcomerwomen.org
Newcomer Women's Services Toronto (NEW) is a nonprofit settlement organization that assists newcomer women to develop the language, employment- related skills and cultural understanding they need for their successful integration into Canadian society.
 TANNIS TOOHEY/TORONTO STAR Nicholas KeungImmigration Reporter
http://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/immigration/article/967460--toronto-writing-workshop-gives-immigrant-women-a-voice#article
In Althea Prince’s class, students – immigrant women of all ages – are told to check the daily hustle and bustle of their new lives at the door.
This is a refuge where they are encouraged to pause and think, and most important, find a voice they don’t usually have in their newly adopted homeland, said Prince, the writer-in-residence at Newcomer Women’s Services Toronto.
Prince’s job is to motivate immigrant women to build self-esteem and confidence by voicing their feelings and thoughts through the written word in the six-week writing workshop launched in February.
“It is important for them to find their voice within,” said Prince, a published novelist and Ryerson University sociology professor. “Immigrants’ confidence is shaken when moving to a new place. The voice within the writing helps them feel acknowledged.”
The unique program is the brainchild of Newcomer Women’s executive director Maya Roy, who spotted the need to help immigrant women connect with each other and find time for creative pursuits.
Many newcomer women are sponsored to Canada by their spouses and often feel isolated by the overwhelming migration experience, said Roy.
When Roy first brought up the idea of the writing workshops last year, she was met with ridicule from immigrant women themselves, who doubted their ability in both writing and English.
But a four-week pilot was so well-received that it motivated participants to share their personal stories – and beloved recipes – in a soon-to-be-published cookbook, Listening to Ourselves: Stories About Life, to be launched at the Pape Ave. public library April 4.
Thanks to a $7,500 Ontario Arts Council grant, the writing workshops are now a regular program and have a six-week waiting list.
In a recent session, participants started with a group meditation before their “creative visualization” routine.
“Imagine what it feels like with rain on your face,” Prince said to the dozen participants in a crowded back room at Newcomer Women’s Danforth Ave. office. “Think about it and make some notes about it. Remember not to erase anything. Keep the pen moving.”
The women – all from different parts of the world – quickly scribbled on note pads and loose paper.
Participants are asked to tell stories based on objects they find in the classroom, such as flowers, baby dolls and bookends, or sometimes about strangers they see on a streetcar. Students sometimes jot down their thoughts in their mother tongue before translating them into English.
“I found a baby doll and it reminds me of the doll that I got during wartime in Turkey in 1974,” said Havva Gizmen, a school lunch supervisor, who settled in Toronto with her family from Cyprus a decade ago.
“It was such a treasure that I kept it in the original box. It reminds me of my childhood memories with my parents and my brother. It is nice to share my stories with the class.”
Some women said they have found “therapeutic value” in writing.
“So many things are happening around you and the world. You feel something is not right but nobody is going to hear you,” said Sumati Bhala, a university lecturer from India, who joined her husband in Toronto in October.
“But when you pen down your thoughts, it is out of you, out of your system.”
WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM PRiSMs: Life Writing of Women’s VoicesNEW is pleased to have renowned novelist and sociologist Dr. Althea Prince as our writer-in-residence for 2011. Dr. Prince will run writer’s workshops for women to engage in literary life writing through workshops, writing circles and one-to-one feedback. Women will have a supportive place to create original stories, poems, essays and plays. This program is generously funded by the Ontario Arts Council. Writing circles take place on Tuesday afternoons & Saturday mornings – for more information please contact Molly at (416) 469-0196 or molly@newcomerwomen.org Childcare is offered. “This is the first time anyone has ever asked my opinion. I feel comfortable in speaking up and get mindful feedback on my writing and ideas.” - S.H., emerging writer and survivor of domestic violence Award winning author, Dr. Althea Prince was born in Antigua, the Caribbean, and has resided in Canada since the nineteen-sixties. She is a professor of sociology, teaching first at York University, and the University of Toronto. She now teaches at The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University. During the years 2002 to 2005, Dr. Prince was Managing Editor of the publishing company, Canadian Scholars’ Press & Women’s Press. Her awards include The Children’s Book Centre ‘Choice’ Award for "How the Star Fish Got to the Sea". In 2007, she received the Antigua and Barbuda International Writers’ Festival First Annual Award for Literary Excellence. Dr. Prince’s latest work is entitled, The Politics of Black Women’s Hair (Insomniac Press. Toronto, 2009). Her other publications include: a novel, Loving This Man; a short story collection, Ladies of the Night; and Being Black a collection of essays. Why Have A Writer-in-Residence in a Women’s Settlement Agency?The newcomer women participants at NEW are as diverse as their countries of origin. These women have left their vibrant and dynamic spaces for artistic expression back home surrounded by community, commonalities of shared culture, music, food and languages. This project will give community members to work with an accomplished writer in reclaiming their voices through the written word. Migration and the stress of settlement leave these talented women with little time for creative and artistic pursuits. The responsibilities of childcare, living in public housing and survival jobs take over their lives. Moreover, many women are sponsored by husbands and upon their arrival in Canada are stunned to find themselves isolated, voiceless and perceived as submissive beings. This experience of settlement makes newcomer women especially vulnerable to violence, poverty and discrimination. The intergenerational aspect of our programming results in mothers, daughters and grandmothers using the arts to communicate across the common ‘culture clash’ between recently arrived newcomers and their Canadian-born children. Through our writing workshops they dialogue and explore the themes of migration, diaspora, identity and family. “I was really bored in the beginning when my mom kept bringing me here. But really - I love it now. And, after hearing everyone’s stories I know there is nothing we cannot overcome.”- Sudeshna, 13-year-old workshop participant
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