SWIS News and Notes
SWIS News and Notes is the newsletter of the Settlement Workers in Schools program, a partnership of the Settlement Sector, School Boards and Citizenship and Immigration Canada. This newsletter promotes communication between the steering/operations committees of the eight SWIS projects and shares information about newcomer students and their families.
Eight SWIS Projects Serve Newcomer Families
Community Agencies, School Boards and Citizenship and Immigration Canada have established eight Settlement Worker in Schools (SWIS) programs in six communities in Ontario. Overall, 13 community agencies and 15 school boards are involved in SWIS.
Although each program has adopted a unique name, all the programs connect newcomers to the community resources that will help them settle as soon as possible after they arrive in Canada. The SWIS workers systematically meet with newly arrived families to offer them information about the school and community and refer them to specific services. The SWIS program is an entry point for recently arrived newcomers to the broad range of settlement services that are offered by community agencies.
Community / Name of Project / Settlement Agency / Schools Boards / No. ofWorkers / Coordinator
Hamilton / Settlement Workers in Schools Hamilton
SWISH / Settlement and Integration Services Organization / Hamilton Wentworth District School Board
Hamilton Wentworth Catholic District School Board / 5.5 / Souhaila Dihaini
905 667 7494
Kitchener Waterloo / Settlement and Education Partnerships in Waterloo Region SEPWR / Kitchener Waterloo YMCA / Waterloo Region District School Board
Waterloo Catholic District School Board / 4.5 / Jasminka Klacar
519 742 8220
Ottawa / Multicultural Liaison Officers MLO / Ottawa Carleton Immigrant Services Organization / Ottawa Carleton District School Board / 7.5 / Wali Farah
613 725 0202 x 310
Ottawa French / Agents de Liaison Multiculturelle / Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization / Conseil des ecole publiques de l’est de l’Ontario, Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien. / 2 / Marysa Bermingam
613 725 0202 x 314
Peel / Multicultural Settlement and Educational Partnership
MSEP / Inter-Cultural Neighbourhood Social Services / Peel District School Board / Dufferin – Peel Catholic District School Board / 16 / Kiril Yordanov
905 273 4884 x 211
Toronto / Settlement Workers in Schools – SEPT / In Toronto, seven agencies provide the SWIS service through seven clusters. They are; Catholic Cross Cultural Services (1), Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office (2), Centre for Information and Community Services (CICS, 3), Culturelink (4), North York Community House (5), Jewish Family and Child Services (7), Rexdale Womens Centre (8) / Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board / 43 Public
4.2
Separate / The City-wide Coordinator is Ali Lui, 416 322 4950
The Cluster Coordinators are; Cluster 1: Huma Nauman 416 757 9969 x 207,
Cluster 2; Ahmed Hussain 416 421 3054,
Cluster 3: Mei Tin Lee 416 292 7505 x119
Cluster 5: Jorge Barajona 416 588 6288 x 225,
Cluster 6: Bilroy Powell 416 784 0920,
Cluster 7: Larissa Selivanov 905 882 2331 x 230,
Cluster 8 Faduma Mohamad 416 745 4522
Toronto French / Centre francophone de Toronto / Conseil scolaire de district du Centre-Sud-Ouest, Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud / 1 / Dada Gasirabo
416 203 1220 x 242
York Region / Settlement and Education Partnership in York Region SEPYR / Catholic Community Services of York Region / York Region District School Board, York Catholic District School Board / 7.2 / Helen Li 905 731 8281
SWIS News and Notes
Peter Dorfman, Provincial Coordinator, Settlement Workers in Schools program, 416 534 7319, fax 416 534 1464,