Improving the lives of immigrant women in Central Alberta was the topic of a meeting with various community leaders in Olds on Sept. 13.
The meeting, hosted by the Central Alberta Immigrant Women's Association, brought together officials with the town, Olds College and the Community Lifestyles Committee of the Olds Institute For Community and Regional Development. The Women's Economic Security Project is a three-year project aimed at helping raise immigrant women's economic prospects in Central Alberta. The project is a partnership between the association and the sociology department at Red Deer College.
“The first year, we had a bunch of focus groups with immigrant women and men and individual interviews to find out what are the barriers to economic security for immigrant women,” said Jim Taylor, a consultant with the project.
Focus groups were also held with employers to find out what barriers they have to hiring immigrant women. Four barriers were identified: language barriers, not recognizing credentials, job acquisition barriers and employer provisions such as English as a second language training.
The first year of the project was the research phase. This year the project is visiting Olds, Red Deer, Ponoka, Sylvan Lake, Innisfail and Lacombe to develop community plans to help immigrant women, while the third year, which will begin in April, will focus on implementing strategies developed from the community consultations. A session similar to the one in Olds has already been held in Red Deer, while another will be held in Lacombe later this year.
“The best scenario is that we will develop strategies for addressing all of these issues so that as we implement them in the third year we are having a real tangible impact on helping immigrant women become more financially secure,” Taylor said.
Tabitha Juliet Phiri, program coordinator for the women's economic security project, said developing plans at the community level to address the barriers faced by immigrant women are key parts of the process.
“When we did interviews with focus groups and employers, they shared their views on what they considered as barriers and so now the (communities are) coming up with plans on how to close those gaps,” she said.
Mayor Judy Dahl said she will talk to the institute's community lifestyles committee and the Central Alberta Economic Partnership to see if progress can be made locally on overcoming the barriers identified.
“Those are the areas that we're going to work together to try and work with CAIWA to fulfill their final recommendations,” she said.
