Building community connections during pandemic restrictions can be challenging, this two-hour webinar will take time to learn about some successful projects undertaken by LIP/RIF providers and share promising practices. Discover key strategies for finding innovative ways to reach out to local communities and hear about the practices, challenges, and opportunities faced when doing equity-related research projects in communities.
In this AMSSA webinar, you will:
Speakers
Mariam Bilgrami, Manager Surrey LIP, is a Pakistani-Canadian and has been a settler on the stolen lands of the Tswayletooth, Stolo, Kaykwit, Stz’uminus and Musqueam nations since 2015. With over 20 years of experience in social work and international and community development, she has worked in the BC settlement sector with immigrants, newcomers and refugees for several years and, most recently, facilitated the development of the “Surrey First Peoples Guide for Newcomers”. She is also a certified Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Practitioner and consultant specializing in Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive Systems change.
Florentien Verhage is the coordinator of the Greater Victoria Local Immigration Partnership (GVLIP) at the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria (ICA). Originally from the Netherlands, she arrived in Victoria three years ago and is excited to work with community partners to create an equitable future in which everyone thrives. Recently, the GVLIP published a report on racism in the Capital Region. A study on legal needs for immigrants in the area was published with Justice Canada. In her previous career she was an associate professor of Philosophy and Gender Studies in Lexington, Virginia.