Windsor organization helps immigrants

By-Abass Wali

Over the past three decades, immigrant women have been able to adapt better to live in Canada with the aid of a local organization Windsor Women Working with Immigrant Women.

The organization has been serving the Windsor-Essex County community, as a non-profit charitable organization for the last 33 years and now serves both women and men.

“Our programs are designed to address and meet the needs within the community as they serve to help our clients achieve their goals,” said Philippine Ishak director of the programs.

The Windsor Women Working with Immigrant Women organization offers different programs for men and women. The Information and Orientation department is the gateway to services at 5W, conducting needs assessment and connecting clients with resources in the community, based on their needs.

“The Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program provides English language classes to improve literacy and communication for all clients with lower level language skills,” said LINC teacher Latifa Irshad, “The Employment Services Centre (ESC) assists men and women in their search for employment.”

Ishak said the organization is funded by the federal and provincial governments and also through grants from other organizations such as, the Canadian Council for Refugees and Girls Action Foundation.

“Students of the language program progress at their individual pace but overall we report great success with the students in advancing to higher levels and acquiring the language,” said the literacy teacher, Margaret Holic. “We have had very many success stories and one example is a client who began classes here in a literacy class and attained a LINC level four in a few years. She went on to take a culinary class and get certification. This client now successfully runs a café and restaurant in downtown Windsor.”

However the Investing in Women’s Futures program is the only program funded for women only. The classes are not segregated and females and males attend together.

Windsor Women Working with Immigrant Women has outgrown its space in the 500 block of Ouellette Avenue and will open a new location by the end of March.