The Welcome Group Program creates newcomer social connections, supports newcomer integration priorities, and helps build more welcoming communities in Canada.
Thanks for your interest in volunteering with Together Project!
At Together Project, Welcome Group volunteers provide refugee newcomers with six months of social and integration support.
We match our volunteers with refugee newcomers based on shared interests, newcomer needs, and volunteers’ experience and skills.
We’re currently seeking Welcome Group volunteers to provide social support for refugee newcomers in Toronto, Mississauga, and Ottawa.
There are three ways to start volunteering with Together Project: as a Welcome Group of 3-5 people, as an individual to be placed into a Welcome Group, and as a Cultural Ambassador.
Together Project’s Welcome Group Program matches groups of 3-5 people with recently-arrived refugees. We train our Welcome Group volunteers and provide resources for them to effectively support refugee newcomers.
The fastest way to get started is to form a Welcome Group with coworkers, friends, or family members.
We believe that groups of volunteers can help newcomers develop social connections as they integrate into their new communities.
Each Welcome Group will designate one Team Lead to liaise with Together Project staff. The Welcome Group Lead also helps the group organize their interactions with the newcomer family.
We suggest forming a group with friends, family, coworkers, or members of your community. It’s important that your group have an open and honest line of communication with one another in order to delineate roles and responsibilities and to play to your strengths as individuals and as a team.
To join or form a new Welcome Group, click here to fill out our volunteer registration form. If you do not have a full Welcome Group of 3-5 volunteers, we will endeavour to introduce you to other volunteers to form a group.
Once we receive your volunteer registration form, we will schedule a call to onboard you or your group. We will ask you to review our Letter of Understanding, apply for a vulnerable sector check, and to attend an online volunteer orientation session.
You will be asked to sign a Letter of Understanding (LOU) that outlines the expectations and conduct for Welcome Group volunteers.
Together Project will match your group with a newcomer family, taking into consideration the size of the family and their location and unique needs. We make our matches based on shared interests, newcomer needs, volunteer experience, skills, and more.
Together Project staff and volunteers will arrange for an online introduction to your matched family. At this first meeting, we ensure that everyone has the same expectations. We will provide guidance for communication, arrange for a language interpreter, and provide other support as necessary.
Here are some common areas of support: practicing conversational English skills; navigating services like healthcare; finding extracurricular activities for youth, and socializing and learning about Canada.
We will check in on your Welcome Group and newcomer family on a regular basis to see how you are progressing.
In our monthly Volunteer Resources Newsletter, you will receive information about upcoming community events and newcomer skills development programs that you may want to share with the newcomers with whom you are matched.
We will also invite Welcome Groups and newcomers to share their experience to inform our research efforts.
For more information about how to get started, please contact ahmed@togetherproject.ca.
We recommend that every month, volunteers dedicate 3-4 hours to their match. Your individual time commitment is flexible, as the responsibility is shared among group members. Welcome Group members can divide activities according to their availability and interests.
We recommend a weekly one-hour interaction between Welcome Groups and newcomer families. These interactions can take place online or in-person, when possible.
We are currently matching Welcome Groups with refugee newcomer families in Toronto, Mississauga, and Ottawa. Here are three ways to start volunteering with Together Project:
If you would like to sign up to volunteer, please use this form. You can expect to hear from a Together Project staff member within 1-2 weeks.
If you speak and write in another language, such as Arabic, Farsi, French, Dari, Kurdish, Pashto, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, or Tigrinya, you can register to be a Cultural Ambassador to provide linguistic and cultural interpretation between refugee newcomers and Welcome Groups. You can volunteer to be both a Cultural Ambassador and a member of a Welcome Group. To sign up, please use this form.
When you sign up as an individual volunteer, we can connect you with other volunteers to form a Welcome Group. Please bear in mind that this does take more time as we carefully select volunteers based on skills and newcomer priorities.
We are currently delivering our Welcome Group Program in Toronto, Mississauga, and Ottawa.
We believe that groups of volunteers can help newcomers develop social connections as they integrate into their new communities.
Each Welcome Group will designate one Team Lead to liaise with Together Project staff. The Welcome Group Lead also helps the group organize their interactions with the newcomer family.
We suggest forming a group with friends, family, coworkers, or members of your community. It’s important that your group have an open and honest line of communication with one another in order to delineate roles and responsibilities and to play to your strengths as individuals and as a team.
To join or form a new Welcome Group, click here to fill out our volunteer registration form. If you do not have a full Welcome Group of 3-5 volunteers, we will endeavour to introduce you to other volunteers to form a group.
Once we receive your volunteer registration form, we will schedule a call to onboard you or your group. We will ask you to review our Letter of Understanding, apply for a vulnerable sector check, and to attend an online volunteer orientation session.
You will be asked to sign a Letter of Understanding (LOU) that outlines the expectations and conduct for Welcome Group volunteers.
Together Project will match your group with a newcomer family, taking into consideration the size of the family and their location and unique needs. We make our matches based on shared interests, newcomer needs, volunteer experience, skills, and more.
Together Project staff and volunteers will arrange for an online introduction to your matched family. At this first meeting, we ensure that everyone has the same expectations. We will provide guidance for communication, arrange for a language interpreter, and provide other support as necessary.
Here are some common areas of support: practicing conversational English skills; navigating services like healthcare; finding extracurricular activities for youth, and socializing and learning about Canada.
We will check in on your Welcome Group and newcomer family on a regular basis to see how you are progressing.
In our monthly Volunteer Resources Newsletter, you will receive information about upcoming community events and newcomer skills development programs that you may want to share with the newcomers with whom you are matched.
We will also invite Welcome Groups and newcomers to share their experience to inform our research efforts.
For more information about how to get started, please contact ahmed@togetherproject.ca.
We recommend that every month, volunteers dedicate 3-4 hours to their match. Your individual time commitment is flexible, as the responsibility is shared among group members. Welcome Group members can divide activities according to their availability and interests.
We recommend a weekly one-hour interaction between Welcome Groups and newcomer families. These interactions can take place online or in-person, when possible.
We are currently matching Welcome Groups with refugee newcomer families in Toronto, Mississauga, and Ottawa. Here are three ways to start volunteering with Together Project:
If you would like to sign up to volunteer, please use this form. You can expect to hear from a Together Project staff member within 1-2 weeks.
If you speak and write in another language, such as Arabic, Farsi, French, Dari, Kurdish, Pashto, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, or Tigrinya, you can register to be a Cultural Ambassador to provide linguistic and cultural interpretation between refugee newcomers and Welcome Groups. You can volunteer to be both a Cultural Ambassador and a member of a Welcome Group. To sign up, please use this form.
Matches involving low English language levels are assigned a volunteer interpreter called a Cultural Ambassador to help bridge the linguistic and cultural gap between the newcomers and their Welcome Group.
Cultural Ambassadors are assigned a maximum of three matches each, and are expected to translate via WhatsApp on a daily basis and be available for in-person interpretation at least once a month for matches that are occasionally meeting in person.
Together Project matches “Welcome Groups” of 3-5 volunteers with refugee newcomer families to build social connections and to support their integration into their new communities. Common areas of assistance include learning and practicing English, neighbourhood orientation, and navigating settlement services. Cultural Ambassadors are assigned to matches that require interpretation.
Cultural Ambassadors are assigned to matches with low English language levels for online and occasional in-person interpretation between Welcome Groups and newcomers.
Cultural Ambassadors will need to fluently write, read and speak in both English and another language, such as Arabic, Dari, Farsi, French, Pashto, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tigrinya, and more.
Cultural Ambassadors are assigned a maximum of three matches, and are expected to translate via WhatsApp on a daily basis and be available for in-person interpretation at least once a month, or as necessary.
1. How did Together Project get started?
Founded in 2016, Together Project started in Toronto in response to the large number of newcomer arrivals from Syria. Today, Together Project matches volunteers with refugee newcomers from over 25 different countries for social and integration support. Together Project is a charitable initiative on the MakeWay shared platform.
2. I’ve never helped a refugee or newcomer before. How will I know what to do?
Even if you don’t have relevant experience, we train all volunteers to understand the typical challenges newcomers face, and how they can help overcome them. Volunteers will have ongoing support and guidance from Together Project staff over the course of their match to answer any questions they may have.
3. What if I don’t speak the same language as the refugees I’m matched with?
We always make sure that at least one member of your Welcome Group can speak the same language as the newcomers you’re matched with.
4. Why does a Welcome Group need 3-5 members? Can I volunteer on my own?
The benefit of volunteering as part of a Welcome Group is that you can share responsibilities and work together to address a wider range of challenges. This means that our matches have the potential for a much greater impact by allowing your group to help a family overcome a wider range of challenges than you might as an individual. If you would like to volunteer on your own, we will introduce you to other friendly volunteers to form a Welcome Group.
5. How long is the time commitment and how often do we meet?
The length of a Welcome Group match is six months, after which we encourage volunteers and newcomers to stay in touch informally. Sometimes, matches are extended if there is a need. We do ask for a minimum commitment of at least three months from our volunteers, simply because we are working with households with complex needs and we want to ensure we’re doing our best to provide them with meaningful social support.
During your match, the typical commitment of volunteers is around 3-4 hours a month, and we encourage regular interactions to build your group’s relationship with the newcomers you are matched with.
6. What if I don’t connect with the refugees I’m matched with?
There are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to building social connections. It doesn’t always happen easily, and that’s okay! You can often still make a difference in someone’s life without necessarily growing very close. That’s why we always encourage volunteers to first focus on practical ways to help out– language practice, accessing services, tutoring youth– as a way to start building those connections. We want our volunteers to have a fulfilling experience, and we’re always prepared to help you address any challenges that might come up during your match.
7. Can I donate my used things to the family I’m matched with, or fundraise for big ticket items they might need?
One of the main goals of the Welcome Group Program is to empower newcomers and build their self-sufficiency. For that reason, it’s much more effective for volunteers to advise newcomers where to shop affordably and how to access donated goods and services on their own, rather than simply provide these things themselves. We strongly discourage financial and material support because we want newcomers to feel more independent through this experience.
8. I know a newcomer who might want to sign up for this program. How can they register?
Please encourage them to connect with their settlement counselor or caseworker to ask them to be referred to the Welcome Group Program. We work with our community partners to identify and refer clients who are interested in receiving volunteer social support.
If the newcomer you know isn’t sure how to sign up, ask them to email us at hello@togetherproject.ca and we can help them learn more.
9. I’m excited to volunteer! How can I get started?
Please click here to sign up!
