Together Project is honoured to receive a Vital Ideas and Leadership grant from the Toronto Foundation. Our Refugee Social Capital Accelerator initiative will allow us to deepen the impact of our Welcome Group model through further social capital research, building off of the Toronto Foundation’s Toronto Social Capital Study 2018. As well, we will develop and formalize relevant curriculum for volunteer training, and strengthen our evaluation and reporting mechanisms.

Together Project’s Welcome Group Program has been selected as a “Promising Practice” by the Pathways to Prosperity Project. To learn more about the program, download the Welcome Group brief and see the video interview with Together Project’s co-directors here.

The Welcome Group Program gives volunteers the chance to participate in their community, to give back, and to learn more about different cultures and newcomer communities. We were able to achieve multiple goals with the family members. For example, we found the desired high school for one family member and we helped the father get a job at a top-tier grocery story by preparing him for the interview and for the training orientations. I would encourage everyone who is thinking about volunteering with Together Project to go ahead and make a difference in newcomers’ lives, and, at the same time, bring fun and fulfillment into their own lives. #TogetherHello (Photo: Ardean Peters)

How do we build more welcoming communities? How do we support newcomer efforts to create social connections, acquire social capital and find meaningful work in Canada? Together Project Co-Directors Anna Hill and Andrew Lusztyk speak with Sally Fazal of Social Impact Advisors about how community volunteers can support refugee integration. Click here to listen to the full podcast. 

Offering friendship to new immigrants is rewarding. It feels good to be helpful and make friends with people that are from a different culture. I just want to continue to be friends with these newcomers and help when I can. The Together Project is such a great outlet for this. #TogetherHello

I have always loved volunteering and I often seek volunteer opportunities wherever I go. When I moved to Toronto in the summer of 2017, I was looking for oppurtunities where I could be most useful and when I found that Together Project often services Syrian refugees, I knew that I could offer translation and interpretation since I’m fluent in both English and Arabic. Also, as a newcomer myself, I thought that my personal experience may, in some way, be relatable and in some way, it was. #TogetherHello

I started volunteering in many places and one of them was Together Project because it’s about connecting you with the newcomer or refugee. You can talk to the newcomer and be with them. Most of the time we enjoy activities together, eat together, and talk about our experiences. I thought that if I volunteered at places like that, it would be helpful for the newcomer but at the same time helpful for me because I would learn from the newcomer and Canadians as well. #TogetherHello (Photo: Hani Al- Moulia)

I think that Together Project offers the gift of friendship and that’s a pretty amazing gift. Everybody needs friends, everyone needs to be honoured and cherished. That’s what friendship is— it’s a group of people celebrating you for who you are. #TogetherHello (Photo: Derek Shapton)

Inspiring words from UNHCR’s Representative in Canada, Mr. Jean-Nicolas Beuze, at our Together Project event, “Ready to make a difference in the life of refugees? Equally ready to change your own life by welcoming refugees? Get involved with Together Project. We can all make a difference and get engaged!”

Thank you to the Al-Khouly Family, and their Welcome Group volunteers, Alix, Jullian, Lisa, Andy, and John, for sharing stories of their match with CBC News, Toronto, on New Years Day.