CEO update: Thank you, Dee Ann, for 15 remarkable years & Interim CEO announcement
October 3, 2023
RDN Updates
October 3, 2023
RDN Updates
We wanted to share the news of Dee Ann Benard’s departure from her position as Chief Executive Officer at RDN. We previously shared this news in our newsletter and more recently at our Annual General Meeting.
After almost fifteen years with RDN, Dee Ann has decided to embark on a new and exciting opportunity. Her last day in her role at RDN was September 30, 2023, prior to starting her new role as Director of the Botanical Gardens at the University of British Columbia.
Dee Ann’s journey with RDN has been marked by remarkable achievements, starting from its inception in 2009 up until today. Her visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to our organization’s mission have been truly exceptional. Throughout her tenure, Dee Ann has exemplified the values of integrity, dedication, and innovation that have guided RDN in its work, and her strategic vision and tireless endeavours have shaped the organization. Her presence will be greatly missed.
Please join us in extending our best wishes to Dee Ann as she embraces this new chapter in her life. We wish her all the success in her future endeavours!
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Lisa Belanger as Interim CEO, effective October 1, 2023, as we work towards filling this role. Lisa is our Director of Operations and has been with RDN for nearly 6 years. Her in-depth knowledge of RDN’s programs and team ensures the organization will continue to run smoothly. We’d like to congratulate Lisa on the interim appointment and extend our appreciation for all that she brings to RDN as she takes on this new role.
Sincerely,
Kevin Shufflebotham, RDN Board Chair
More about Lisa Belanger
As Director of Operations, Lisa helps manage the RDN team in delivering its projects, capacity-building work, events, and more for rural communities. She develops processes and strategies for effective community-focused operations, organizational growth, financial resilience, and continued progress toward RDN’s goals. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta, focusing on Strategic Management and Operations with a minor in Business Economics and Law. Lisa has completed various additional training including Finance for Non-Finance Leaders, Project Management courses, Facilitation Skills, and Communication Strategies. Since 2017, she’s grown her skillset with RDN and strives to ensure that our team has what it needs to consistently and effectively deliver its work and continue to learn.
In her free time, she enjoys being out in the wilderness while hiking, rock climbing, dirt biking, snowboarding, or any other form of adventure. She’s thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail from the border of Mexico to Canada over 4.5 months and completed a 100-mile ultramarathon. In 2022 she was elected to join the Board of Directors of the Great Divide Trail Association to contribute her skillset and passion to their work.
Whether working on issues that affect rural Canada or pushing her limits in the outdoors, Lisa brings a high level of organization, energy and skill to everything she does.
The Rural Development Network’s Rural Roots program has thrived in its second year, leaving a lasting impact on rural communities across Canada. With a focus on empowering post-secondary students and rural employers, the program has achieved impressive milestones and overcome challenges through creativity and collaboration. In this blog, we explore the highlights from the past year such as our achievements, the lessons we’ve learned, and our plans for the future.
Building off a successful pilot initiative, Rural Roots’ second year was one of tremendous growth and impact. According to Daniela Seiferling, Rural Roots’ Program Manager, “It was a year of learning, improving, and thinking of how we could better deliver the program and make this a sustainable initiative.” Targets included facilitating 1,000 Work Integrated Learning (WIL) placements across Canada, engaging 2,000 employers, and hosting a year-end showcase.
“By incorporating valuable feedback from stakeholders, the program successfully expanded its outreach and matched an additional 250 students compared to Year 1. We also expanded the number of post-secondary institutions (PSIs) and programs we were working with to increase the breadth of opportunities we were offering students,” says Daniela, reflecting on the substantial growth in placements and opportunities.
Daniela Seiferling, Rural Roots’ Program Manager
Rural Roots closely monitored our program data to identify trends around career pathways and in-demand skills. The demand for WIL placements among students was diverse, but some roles proved to be particularly sought after. Non-profit branding, graphic design, marketing, and communications were consistently in high demand from both employers and students. Additionally, students displayed a keen interest in data analysis, business consulting, and supporting social enterprises, indicating their desire to contribute research expertise to small businesses and support sustainable economic development.
By implementing targeted communication campaigns, launching a new matching platform, and creating a WIL microsite, Rural Roots made significant strides in connecting with employers, students, and PSIs, both organically and through established networks. Notably, the program witnessed a surge in engagement from Indigenous-led organizations, economic development entities, and innovation hubs, underscoring the program’s ability to resonate with a diverse range of stakeholders.
“This program can help employers and organizations, like Alberta HUB, maintain operations and assist in developing a strategy to meet our mandates,” says Bob Bezpalko, the Executive Director of Alberta HUB, who has engaged over 20 students through the Rural Roots program.
Bob Bezpalko, the Executive Director of Alberta HUB
Rural Roots’ second year underwent a varying set of challenges, including economic downturns and impacts from provincial election(s). However, the program demonstrated resilience by adapting and innovating to overcome these hurdles and support employers with building their internal capacity to recruit and engage students.
Daniela explains, “We helped employers pivot from traditional WIL to innovative WIL (e.g., course-based projects) and scale their expectations or deliverables accordingly. We also supported employers with little to no HR capacity with screening applications and interviewing potential candidates.”
Daniela Seiferling, Rural Roots’ Program Manager
Our efforts to support employers throughout the WIL process have fostered strong bonds between Rural Roots and between rural communities. As Daniela Seiferling emphasizes, “Our team does a lot of pre-work with employers. We’re meeting with organizations to understand where they have current gaps in capacity and helping them frame their project in a way that meets their needs, both financially and capacity-wise, to ensure they have achievable outcomes.”
Our support has helped address an increased demand for WIL and has also fostered new connections and new opportunities in rural communities.
“Because of RDN [and the support of the Rural Roots team] we have been able to reach out to other post-secondary institutions with this common connection so working with RDN has been a catalyst for opportunities,” says Medicine Hat College.
Medicine Hat College
As Rural Roots continues to grow, we plan to develop more resources supporting PSIs in delivering WIL opportunities. We will also aim to advocate for rural and remote employers and institutions at provincial and national levels, fostering unique partnerships, innovative programs, and collaborative funding.
Through Rural Roots’ unwavering commitment to excellence and meaningful impact, the program has garnered increasing recognition within the work-integrated learning space. “More people are aware of the program and want to partner or work with us on various projects,” Daniela remarks, highlighting the program’s rising prominence as a key player in the WIL landscape.
The program’s reputation as a trusted partner for post-secondary institutions and rural and remote employers earned accolades from larger organizations interested in the WIL landscape.
“[RDN provides] access to rural networks, [giving] our students access to see what’s going on in rural and smaller communities that need help,” says MacEwan University.
MacEwan University
As more people learn about the program and what it has to offer, the Rural Roots team now has employers actively reaching out to them to explore collaboration opportunities. This organic growth stands as a testament to the program’s profound impact and evolving influence within the educational and rural development sectors.
And Rural Roots wouldn’t be a rising star without the funding and support from one of its partners, the Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER). Through collaborative efforts and regular meetings, BHER and Rural Roots have worked together to achieve shared goals and objectives, while BHER has also championed the program, connecting it with new partners and supporting its expansion.
Daniela says “BHER’s commitment to promoting WIL and creating opportunities for students has enabled Rural Roots to adapt and grow its program, addressing challenges and staying ahead of emerging trends.”
Daniela Seiferling, Rural Roots’ Program Manager
With this growing recognition comes growing responsibilities and expectations from stakeholders. The program is currently working on a project that identifies best practices and approaches around WIL in rural and remote spaces. The research will inform the creation of a white paper and toolkit that will aim to build capacity for its smaller PSI partners who are looking to Rural Roots for innovative solutions. By providing support to our PSI partners, we hope to further strengthen existing partnerships, attract new partners, and strengthen the WIL ecosystem in Canada.
Heading into its third year, Rural Roots aspires to scale its existing program by:
With Daniela Seiferling’s guidance, a committed WIL team, and BHER’s support, Rural Roots is set to continue its journey of providing transformative experiences for students, rural and small-scale employers, and PSIs across Canada.
RDNs Rural Roots program allows students to gain much-needed experience to transition to their future careers and allows employers to boost their capacity while generating projects that have tangible results. Through meaningful engagement in our program, we aim to raise awareness of the benefits of working, living, and supporting rural communities.
The Qalipu First Nation is trying to improve its housing strategy by getting more information from the people who need it most.
Members of the Qalipu Nation have been travelling across western Newfoundland with the Rural Development Network, a non-profit organization from Alberta that aims to support and amplify voices in Canada’s Indigenous communities.
Qalipu is one of six First Nations the network is partnering with to create what it’s calling the First Nation Housing Data Collection Tool, which health and wellness director Mitch Blanchard says will help them better understand where programs and resources should be developed.
“We want to make sure that we have the voices of our community members heard … and make sure that programs and services, you know, is targeting and meeting the community’s needs,” Blanchard said Tuesday. “This is their voices, their stories, which is a different approach from other researches that we’ve done in the past.”
Taylor Sparklingeyes, the data collection project manager, said initial responses have gone over quite well. More than 50 people have already shared their stories, she said, with affordability and a connection to cultural lands emerging as themes.
“”It’s definitely very different perspectives from the different communities so far that we’ve engaged with. It’s very interesting to hear what different struggles they have in different locations across Newfoundland,” she said”It’s definitely very different perspectives from the different communities so far that we’ve engaged with. It’s very interesting to hear what different struggles they have in different locations across Newfoundland,” she said. “There’s really nowhere for members to go connect and be one with nature, which you know, that in itself is a form of homelessness. That loss of connection to our culture and our traditional ways of living.”
Taylor Sparklingeyes
Sparklingeyes said the goal of the data tool is for gather grassroots information that can be handed off to First Nations like the Qalipu to give them the power to make their own decisions on policy and programs. “There are so many different forms of homelessness that First Nations people experience that are often overlooked by, you know, these Western constructs of how the Canadian government defines homelessness,” she said.
“Really understanding it from a culturally appropriate lens will amplify and provide accurate data around … how some of our people are living.”
The final session wrapped up in Stephenville on Tuesday, and data collection in other regions will continue in the fall.
The war in Ukraine has resulted in the largest human displacement crisis in the world today, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). To date, there are an estimated 5.9 million internally displaced people in Ukraine, nearly 8 million refugees from Ukraine have been recorded in neighbouring countries and across Europe, and approximately 17.6 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance this year (UNHCR).
To help Ukrainian nationals and their family members find safety in Canada, the federal government launched the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program in March 2022, which is an accelerated temporary residence pathway for Ukrainians fleeing war. As of the end of May 2023, there were 157,885 individuals who arrived in the country under CUAET (Government of Canada), and 31,000 Ukrainians have registered with Alberta Health across 194 communities (Ukrainians in Alberta).
Recognizing that communities outside the seven major city centers in Alberta have limited resources, capacity and knowledge regarding the needs of Ukrainian evacuees, the Rural Development Network (RDN), together with Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative (MCHB) and Action for Healthy Communities (AHC), applied for funding from the Alberta Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies (AAISA) to address this need. The successful proposal’s, Increasing Community Understanding of Ukrainian Evacuees, goal was to build the capacity of rural communities to better support Ukrainian evacuees through the delivery of a virtual workshop series.
There were four workshops delivered in a span of four months – from February to May 2023. Each workshop was delivered virtually twice per month. Below is a summary of each workshop and what was covered.
In the first workshop, we discussed the extent and scope of the Ukrainian refugee crisis, the long-term impact the conflict has had on Ukrainians; federal and provincial government supports available for evacuees, and we provided a working understanding of the CUAET program. The session was led by Lori Shortreed, Consultant for MCHB.
“Thank you for putting together the series, always good to have more information to better serve clients.”
The second workshop, also led by Lori, focused on models of healthy integration and settlement of evacuees through social inclusion such as cultural brokering and contextual layers model, a framework for learning more about individuals and families who have come to Canada. Part of the discussion was looking at the protective and risk factors during the pre-migration and migration stages of the evacuees. At the end of the sessions, two cultural brokers from MCHB shared how they effectively support the settlement of Ukrainian newcomers.
“I learned new approaches and ideas for connecting our Ukrainian clients with the community in meaningful ways and better leveraging the support systems in our community more.”
In this workshop, Karin Linschoten, Training and Outreach Coordinator with the MCHB gave a thought-provoking discussion on the internal experience of someone fleeing war and the impact on behaviour and perception, how trauma develops, symptoms of trauma in adults and children, how to better communicate with and support trauma survivors, and strategies in supporting survivors in rural communities.
“I really enjoyed this workshop, it was easy to understand and helped me understand more about the brain’s function in trauma and then the practical elements of how to support someone. I will certainly use this in my work with clients.”
The last workshop was led by Lisa de Gara, Rural Small Centres Manager with the AHC. Points of discussion were:
“I have gotten so much information that I thought I knew but did not…and my best takeaway is the resources that I can provide to the Ukrainian clients to help them thrive in Canada.”
Our workshop series attracted a total of 143 individuals, with 85 attending at least one workshop. The project reached 23 communities across Alberta that included Banff, Brooks, Consort, Devon, Drumheller, Innisfail, Provost, Wainwright, and many more! Other Canadian provinces such as Manitoba, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Nova Scotia were also represented by attendees. For those who attended these workshops, their places of work were typically in settlement organizations, learning centres, multicultural councils, public libraries, private colleges, different forms of governments, school divisions, legal clinics and other non-profits.
Overall, participants expressed their appreciation for the workshops prepared which have been helpful in understanding the Ukrainian evacuees’ experiences, needs and challenges to better support them in their communities. Our participants’ feedback is a testament that the delivery of the workshop series achieved its goal – building the capacity of all interested and affected parties to better understand the pre- and post-settlement realities of evacuees, a further understanding of the CUAET program, and cultural and trauma-informed education to successfully support the integration and settlement of Ukrainian evacuees across Alberta.
The project has been an incredible success thanks to the powerful partnership between RDN, MCHB and AHC. This collaboration truly exemplifies the importance of working together across different sectors. RDN’s expertise in rurality, MCHB’s expertise in community development, and AHC’s expertise in providing settlement services have synergized perfectly, allowing us to develop the workshop series through multiple lenses. Here are quotes that our partner organizations shared:
“As a professional working in rural settlement, I know that the needs of immigrants in small communities are frequently overlooked. When those immigrants are in crisis and a constantly changing environment, as was true for the Ukrainian arrivals through CUAET, the work becomes even more challenging! I was very thankful that RDN stepped up to the plate to offer coordination of workshops to teach about the new arrivals and how we can support them effectively in communities throughout Alberta and Canada at large.” – Lisa de Gara, Manager, Small Centres, Action for Healthy Communities.
“The Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative Ltd. are grateful for the opportunity to partner with the RDN and Action for Healthy Communities in this innovative project to engage with and bolster rural community efforts to support Ukrainian evacuees arriving in their communities. In this unprecedented situation, projects such as this help us all to collaborate in creating holistic approaches to settlement – and beyond – that truly meet evacuee and other newcomer needs and in doing so lay the ground for socially inclusive communities across Canada. Thank you!” – Lori Shortreed, Consultant for MCHB.
Again, we’d like to thank our funders – AAISA and the Government of Alberta as its funding partner, our partner organizations – MCHB and AHC, and all participants who took the time to attend the workshop series!
For more information on this project, please reach out to Elaine Flores at elainef@ruraldevelopment.ca.
In early June, the Honourable Gudie Hutchings, federal Minister of Rural Economic Development, organized and co-chaired a meeting on rural economic development, attended by federal, provincial, and territorial ministers, Indigenous leaders, and rural economic development experts. Delegates spent two days discussing how to improve rural and remote economic development policy and programming, with the goal to catalyze action to advance a path forward for rural economic development priorities in Canada on shared areas of importance.
The Rural Development Network’s CEO, Dee Ann Benard, participated in a panel designed to explore the key drivers for rural revitalization and economic opportunity from a community perspective, including identifying ways to seize economic growth through a variety of economic drivers such as tourism, infrastructure, housing, and supporting small to medium-sized enterprises.
Rural revitalization can be supported by: Improving data collection, supporting more holistic approaches to community development, building capacity, ensuring that there is municipal funding for implementation (not just planning), and allowing more flexibility and longer timelines to achieve goals.
A highlight of the FPT meeting was Minister Hutchings’ launch of the redesigned website, which will “guide rural Canadians to the programs, services and resources most relevant to them.”
Photo information: June 2, 2023, in Rocky Harbour, N.L. Hon. Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development (4th from the right), Dee Ann Benard, CEO of the Rural Development Network (2nd from the right), and Indigenous leaders, rural experts, and other Ministers.
As the cost of living and inflation rise in Canada, rural, remote, and Indigenous communities are often overlooked. Facing unique challenges especially in the areas of affordable housing and homelessness, communities are looking for solutions and opportunities for improvement. There is also a need to engage with rural areas across the country, as rural homelessness tends to be more hidden and organizations have limited capacity to respond to these issues.
To support organizations and communities with tackling these complex challenges, the Rural Development Network and the Rural Ontario Institute are hosting the Canadian Rural and Remote Housing and Homelessness Symposium (CRRHHS) this June 6-8. This conference is an important opportunity to not only gain valuable insights from industry leaders, but also to network with peers and continue those conversations.
Here are three ways the Symposium can support your organization and community with affordable housing and homelessness:
The CRRHHS provides an opportunity to connect with folks across Canada and engage in the rural perspective, providing thought-provoking dialogue and connections that will last far beyond the Symposium.
I can say with absolute certainty that it is the strategic partnerships we made at that conference, the advice of those already funded, the resources that continued to be provided post-conference, and the ongoing conversations after we returned home, that are the reasons we are fully funded today.
Glenn Alexander, Vice-President of the Southwest Youth Emergency Shelter, Inc.
There will be networking opportunities and a virtual exhibit hall for you to make lasting connections. When you attend the networking sessions, you will be speed matched with like-minded individuals to share and learn from each other, while the virtual exhibit hall allows you to experience more from our presenters and sponsors.
At this year’s symposium, you can hear and participate in and gain expertise from 50+ engaging, concurrent sessions that will dive into topics such as: Coordinated access, addressing the housing crisis, ending and preventing rural homelessness, affordable housing strategies and action plans, Indigenous reconciliation, rural youth homelessness, and much more.
We believe the 2023 CRRHHS will help communities successfully share best practices and innovative responses to housing and homelessness and will leave attendees feeling equipped and empowered to take what they have learned to respond to homelessness and the housing crisis in their own communities
Ellen Sinclair, Executive Director of the Rural Ontario Institute
Our keynote speakers this year will help you gain a deeper understanding of the issues that could be impacting your community through their powerful and inspiring stories of resilience, allowing you to grow your knowledge on what resources are available/needed for your community.
Our keynote speakers will be engaging and impactful and bring new perspectives
Dee Ann Benard, CEO of the Rural Development Network
One of our keynote speakers, Joe Roberts – the Skid Row CEO, will share how he maximized his second chance in life to create extraordinary business success after overcoming homelessness and drug addiction. Part of Joe’s success story includes how he triumphantly pushed a shopping cart a staggering 9,064 kilometers across Canada in the name of youth homelessness prevention. This very act birthed a national awareness campaign called The Push for Change, inspiring fellow Canadians to create ripple effects of transformation in the lives of at-risk youth throughout the country.
Watch Joe Robert’s personal invitation to this year’s CRRHHS.
View the full Symposium schedule and register today!
We have a jam-packed program available on our website so you can create your own custom agenda for the conference. Check out the full program!
Register today on the CRRHHS website. Can’t make it June 6-8? No problem! You can still register until June 5 to access all recordings and presentations until August 5, 2023.
Emily Plihal – Local Journalism, Initiative Reporter
Out of the Cold Shelter in Peace River is facing temporary closure if they cannot secure funds to help them keep their services available through summer.
Located at 1010 – 100 Avenue in Peace River at the Sagitawa Friendship Society, the shelter provides a place for people in need to find refuge from outside elements and some warm food to nourish them. Unfortunately, they need to find extra funding or else the program will have to be halted until winter.
“The shelter was created to fill a gap in our community as there was no shelter for our vulnerable population,” explains Sagitawa Friendship Society executive director Marissa Geldart.
“Peace River is the hub of Northern Alberta, and we see many transient people from neighbouring communities, as well as our chronically homeless population that are local to our community. We are also two hours from the closest shelter located in Grande Prairie, over the past three years the shelter has become an essential service in our community,” she adds.
Geldart says that from April 1, 2022, to March 31 of this year, Out of the Cold Shelter had 239 clients access the shelter with 3,560 service visits. She notes this calculates to 9.78 clients per night.
Some of the concerns with the potential closure of the shelter is there will be nowhere for people to escape the excruciating heat of summer, they won’t be able to access safe housing to get off the streets, and they will have to struggle to find ways to access food, water, and shelter.
Geldart and Sagitawa Friendship Society president Krista Park-Stepaniuk say they were fortunate to receive funding through the federal government and the Rural Development Network to keep the shelter open year-round during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In November 2022, we received funding from the Alberta government and the Rural Development Network to operate the Out of the Cold Shelter for the winter months,” Geldart says, noting those funds have now lapsed, and the shelter is seeking assistance to keep its doors open through summer.
“As outlined in the Action Plan for Homelessness from the Alberta government, funding was provided for winter emergency response rather than year-round funding.”
The shelter is now asking for public donations to try to keep its doors open to help individuals year-round. Initially, they thought they would have to close the shelter on May 1 of this year. Geldart says a very generous donation from Lisa Jebb and Craig McNaughton allowed them to stay open longer than they were anticipating.
“At the shelter we provide a safe place to sleep, two meals a day (breakfast and dinner) and laundry services,” she says.
“Clients also have access to Outreach Services and through our other programming we can provide a wrap-around approach to ensure that clients are receiving the best possible care and support. The goal of the shelter and Outreach Services is to permanently house clients.”
The services provided are vital, individuals who require help with temporary housing, mental health assistance access, or assistance to find rehabilitation services can go to the shelter and provide direction.
Unfortunately, as outlined in the Action Plan for Homelessness from the Alberta government, funding was only provided for winter emergency response, not for year-round funding.
“We are still needing more funding to allow us to stay open for the duration of the summer,” says Geldart.
“Currently, we are seeking donations to allow us to stay open. If the shelter was to close, there would be a number of displaced individuals having to sleep rough or in other unsafe conditions. Peace River is home to the majority of our shelter clients, and they choose to stay in our community rather than going to a shelter in a larger urban area.”
At a recent Peace River town hall meeting, homelessness was one of the biggest concerns addressed by individuals.
The shelter helps reduce the number of people on the street at night, which helps reduce crime associated with desperation to attain basic necessities. It also reduces the number of calls police must attend to, because there are fewer people being put in dangerous situations because they have a safe place to sleep.
“In the fall of 2019, the Town of Peace River requested assistance from the AHS Environmental Public Health Inspector to advise on a small tent town that had been formed in the downtown area,” explains Park-Stepaniuk.
“The inspector formed a committee comprised of the executive directors of the Sagitawa Friendship Society and the Peace River Regional Women’s Shelter, the RCMP community liaison, and representatives of the Icare and Servants Heart Initiative. Most of the residents of the tent town were men and the only shelter open to men was 200 km away.”
Park-Stepaniuk says the committee realized the need and knew that transitional and accessible housing would be best, but the quickest way to help these people was to try to open a wet mat program, allowing men and women a safe place to sleep in cold months.
“While they could enter while under the influence, they would not be able to consume any intoxicants on site,” says Park-Stepaniuk, noting that they opened Jan. 13, 2020, during a -54C windchill evening in donated space with a dedicated group of volunteers.
“Both the Holy Family Catholic School Board and the Peace River United Church kindly donated the use of their space. The community members supported the shelter with many financial, material, and in-kind donations.”
Park-Stepaniuk says the shelter was run by volunteers until the global pandemic was declared, when a grant from the County of Northern lights allowed for the hiring of the first few staff.
“The committee had discussed future plans and determined a larger non-profit would have to form with stable funding for shelter space or another established non-profit could take over the control of the program,” Park-Step- aniuk explains.
“The Sagitawa Friendship Society board of directors, who have been working to support those in need in our community for over 60 years, voted to do just that. They have successfully obtained funding allowing it to run every night since they have opened using grants from the provincial and federal funding.”
Now the shelter requires assistance from the pubic. If individuals are interested in donating to the program to help keep the shelter open through summer, please phone Geldart at (780) 624-2443.
“Shelters provide an essential service to a vulnerable population,” says Geldart.
“The clients rely on the shelter to have their basic needs met and to have a safe place to sleep. Sleeping rough is never a safe option and having shelters in rural communities closing in the summer means that clients are either having to sleep rough or in other unsafe options.”
Canada’s immigration doors have been opened in recent years allowing newcomers to migrate into the country as students, permanent residents, or other approved immigration paths as one way to address a skilled labour shortage. However, some newcomers find the integration and transition into the Canadian workforce difficult or complex due to several factors such as the absence of Canadian work experience and lack of knowledge of Canadian work culture, among others.
Renzo Calienes is a newcomer. Hailing from Peru, Renzo came to Canada as a student to pursue a Master’s in Business Administration at Vancouver’s University Canada West. When he approached the end of his studies, Renzo was eager to build his resume with Canadian work experience before he graduated as he believed this would increase his chances of employment.
To support Renzo, his university’s career centre introduced him to the Rural Development Network’s Rural Roots initiative – a work-integrated learning (WIL) program that allows post-secondary students to gain practical work experience alongside their classroom study. When an employer is matched with a student, this is known as a WIL placement.
In this blog, Renzo highlights how Rural Roots helped him gain Canadian work experience to enhance his resume and how Rural Roots can do the same for other newcomers.
For newcomers like Renzo, Rural Roots offers the opportunity to safely test the waters of the Canadian workforce. Renzo was matched with the Rural Development Network’s Shelter Pulse project. He worked as a Research Intern, conducting research, analyzing data, and writing reports on gender issues and violence against women.
I pursued a work placement opportunity to gain practical experience and apply what I had learned in school to a real-world setting
Renzo Calienes
The internship introduced Renzo to the realities of a formal work setting in Canada. He developed workplace skills and experience in Canada’s work culture. To secure the position, Renzo received guidance on how to prepare his resume to improve his chances of being invited for interviews by Canadian recruiters. Essentially, he learned how to ‘Canadianize his resume’. He also went through a formal recruitment process that will help him prepare for future recruitment processes.
Renzo argues that his WIL placement offered an experiential insight into the Canadian workforce, making him “feel better prepared for future work opportunities.”
WIL placements can help newcomers explore career paths they haven’t considered or had the opportunity to experience. Renzo worked in the non-profit sector for the first time through his WIL internship while his previous work experiences have been in entrepreneurship, consulting, sales, and customer service in his home country.
In the beginning, I felt overwhelmed and doubted whether I could succeed. However, I was able to overcome challenges and succeed in this new environment. This experience has taught me the importance of pushing myself out of my comfort zone and being open to new opportunities, even if they seem daunting at first
Renzo Calienes
As an intern, Renzo helped develop and implement projects, such as creating new policies or procedures and communicating the results to stakeholders of the Shelter Pulse Initiative. “I had a few “AHA!” moments [working with Shelter Pulse] when I realized the real-world impact of my work and how it could contribute to improving the lives of women and marginalized groups,” he adds.
Seeing the outcome of his research in real-time combined with his newly gained work experience in the non-profit sector, Renzo is now open to exploring career opportunities in the nonprofit sector, especially roles that will help him support women and other marginalized groups.
Through Rural Roots, newcomers can identify new industries and explore potential career opportunities where they can learn to transfer their existing skills to not only gain employment in Canada but also identify the type of work and industry they’d like to pursue after graduation.
WIL placements help post-secondary students build their resumes or portfolio before they graduate, which is very important for newcomers seeking employment. It can help newcomers improve the quality of their resumes by enhancing their existing work experience or help them develop new skills, allowing them to effectively compete for skilled jobs and improve their quality of life.
From this experience, I learned the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and how to effectively communicate research findings to stakeholders. It helped me build my research, analytical, and technical skills, provided me with valuable experience for my resume and portfolio, and opened up new opportunities for future work
Renzo Calienes
Renzo’s favourite part of working with the Shelter Pulse team was how he was able to develop a range of soft and hard skills while contributing to the project’s mission to build capacity for rural women’s shelters across Canada. These new skills have greatly improved Renzo’s competitiveness in the employment space.
Renzo also developed a professional network that can provide mentorship and testify to his skills, potential, and professional character for future employment referrals – a powerful and much-needed asset for newcomers.
It was also a great opportunity to work with passionate and knowledgeable professionals who were committed to making a difference. Looking back, I am proud of my achievements and the skills I developed during my time with the Rural Development Network such as adaptability, resilience, and dedication to learning
Renzo Calienes
The Rural Roots initiative invites newcomers in post-secondary institutions like universities, colleges, and trade schools to take full advantage of the benefits of its work-integrated learning program and work placements.
Work-integrated learning is a great way for newcomers or international students to learn about the Canadian workplace. It’s a low-risk way for you to discover new skills, build relationships, or add valuable experience to your resume as a way to enhance your future job applications
Daniela Seiferling, RDN’s Program Manager for WIL
Renzo Calienes is a highly qualified and value-driven business leader with over 15 years of business management experience in entrepreneurship, consulting, sales, and customer service in his home country, Peru. He holds a Master’s in Strategic Business Administration from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and an International Certificate in Digital Transformation from MIT. He recently completed his second MBA from University Canada West (Vancouver, BC).
Renzo possesses strong leadership, talent management, strategic planning, and change management skills. He is self-motivated, proactive, and detail-oriented. He has a track record of managing diverse teams ranging from 5 to 60+ people. Renzo is known for his ability to adapt to new technology trends and update his strategies accordingly. He has garnered numerous affiliations, awards, and recognition for achieving top rankings, annual goals, customer loyalty, and growing customer bases.
Businesses across sectors worldwide are currently facing crucial challenges such as accelerating digital transformation, sustainability, global economic downturn, and rising client expectations. But, at the heart of these challenges, is stiff competition for a talented workforce as companies need more resources to build capacity and meet their business goals.
So how can organizations build sustainable capacity? The Rural Development Network (RDN) endorses work-integrated learning (WIL) as an effective solution to this rising problem. RDN uses WIL to address capacity for small initiatives, including engaging five post-secondary students for a policy audit as part of our Shelter Pulse Project.
Here are three ways WIL helped build the project team’s capacity:
WIL students come to employers to gain industry experience but they also have something to offer organizations, specifically fresh ideas and perspectives. Being young, post-secondary students generally bring a different point of view and newly developed critical-thinking skills. Students also tend to be more knowledgeable of recent technology, tools, or trends that support efficient project execution. As a result, students often foster productivity and innovation in the workplace.
“The WIL students brought new frames of reference to the project. They also brought their own knowledge from lived experience or their past work and study experiences, which further enriched the project and policy audit,” says Daniela Seiferling, RDN’s Program Manager for WIL.
It is important to engage students in the workforce to build up their experience, and skills, and gain exposure to a professional environment. We have seen students that are more keen, capable, and knowledgeable than we give them credit for. The WIL students displayed excellent research, analytical, and critical thinking skills, posing challenging questions that displayed a deeper understanding of the project. These new perspectives helped Shelter Pulse review policies and improved the quality of its outcome.
When engaging five WIL students, RDN broke down the policy audit project into smaller pieces. This allowed the team to concurrently have multiple steps of the project being worked on at the same time while focusing on longer-term sustainability and strategy.
The WIL students helped fill the capacity gap in the Shelter Pulse team, allowing for the effective distribution of tasks. The students had to audit over 15 policy manuals, perform a gap analysis, and create benchmarks for meeting certain policy criteria, and a policy guide.
By deconstructing the complex project and having WIL students work on smaller parts, RDN was able to successfully complete the project on schedule.
“We were able to build our capacity and meet key foundational goals of the project in a timely fashion,” adds Daniela.
Businesses with limited resources often struggle with capacity due to the cost of recruitment. Work-integrated learning is a cost-effective method for recruiting and training new employees. WIL provides additional capacity for organizations with limited budgets and smaller teams.
It only took two weeks for the Shelter Pulse team to be matched with five post-secondary students that could support their project. RDN’s Rural Roots program supported the initiative with developing a job description outline, liaising with the partner post-secondary institutions, and finding the right talent to meet their needs.
Overall, Shelter Pulse credits engaging WIL students to the success and enrichment of its policy audit.
Rural Roots is a Work-Integrated Learning Program that matches businesses with student talent.
“Rural Roots provides low-risk placements to build capacity for employers and students across Canada. Engage a student in practical experience while meeting your business objectives,” says Daniela.
Shelter Pulse is a project partnership between the Rural Development Network (RDN) and the Mountain Rose Centre (MRC) to develop a centralized online database of feminist, trauma-informed policies for rural women’s shelters across Canada.
The database will be a free, easy-to-use, up-to-date resource to resolve these issues. Pooling resources to create a consistent framework for policy development and service delivery will also save time and money for shelters, eliminate duplication of work, and create a standard for all rural Canadian shelters.
The project is funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada’s Feminist Response and Recovery Fund.
Innovation is simply the understanding and knowledge that there is an efficient way of doing something – achieving a set task or goal. However, arriving at an innovative idea requires creative thinking, stepping outside the box, and oftentimes teamwork or partnership. But how can employers make sure they stay innovative?
Bob Bezpalko, the Executive Director of Alberta HUB has engaged over 20 students through the Rural Roots Initiative of the Rural Development Network.
He shares his insight on how work-integrated learning (WIL) supports innovative business solutions.
Work-integrated learning allows employers to outsource various aspects of a complex project. For instance, Bob’s organization had plans to establish a distribution location in Vegreville. However, the business needed an in-depth analysis of the viability of Vegreville as a suitable distribution centre to make informed decisions.
Through the WIL program, Bob outsourced this task to skilled post-secondary students in Canada. This gave Bob and other employees of Alberta HUB the capacity and time to focus on more complex aspects of the distribution project. Bob saw the value in working with students by leveraging their knowledge and skills.
“I believe WIL facilitates innovation. Our project required thinking outside the box and seeing the world as it is today, and defining trends that will change how business is done,” says Bob. He described his WIL experience as “very rewarding and successful.”
Engaging WIL students increases the capacity for success of any project. For innovation to thrive, employers must have a clear understanding of the complexity of their business challenges and provide student talent with the flexibility and space to bring innovative ideas forward. .
While working with Bob, WIL students creatively undertook an analysis of the relative industry, transportation and logistical opportunities, geographic and socioeconomic factors, and provided an extensive report that delivered the required outcomes.
“Our organization focuses on increasing wealth in our region which provides opportunities for our communities to grow. WIL provided the necessary capacity to gather information and formulate recommendations on best ways to proceed thus increasing the opportunity for success,” Bob explains.
These WIL students had research capabilities, skilled in marketing and human resource management to name a few. From his experience, Bob notes that while WIL students bring quality skill sets to any project, it is the responsibility of employers to provide all important information for a successful project.
Working with post-secondary students can help businesses develop strategies to meet their mandates. To achieve this, Bob says it is important for employers to “define the problem they are trying to solve” so students fully understand the expected deliverables.
“The students were very professional and showed great interest in executing the project. The result was an excellent report that detailed the required information and recommendations for the next steps in the short and long term.,” adds Bob.
Working with RDN’s WIL initiative also provided Bob with an insight into the future of Canada’s workforce. He urges more organizations to tap into the unlimited human resources WIL offers. “This program can help employers and organizations like Alberta HUB maintain operations and assist in developing a strategy to meet our mandates,” says Bob.
Post-secondary students across Canada are searching for opportunities to use their acquired skills in real-life situations to enhance their portfolios and resumes. Businesses have a chance to benefit from this pool of innovative and creative talent to meet their needs.
“[Rural Roots] program assists in developing a partnership with post-secondary institutions allowing the opportunity to address current and future labour needs,” Bob concludes.
Bob Bezpalko is the Executive Director of Alberta HUB. He began his career towards Economic Development in radio where he developed his communication and marketing skills. This gave Bob the opportunity to understand that the most important skill needed to communicate is “listening”.
Over the years he has gained extensive experience in project management, marketing, and strategic planning. He has a sincere passion for working with people in a team environment.
In his position as a regional economic development professional, Bob has had the opportunity to lead an alliance of municipalities, First Nations, Metis Settlements, colleges and business/industry to enhance the quality of life in his region. Working collaboratively with numerous other organizations and government departments has enhanced positive results.
11443-143 Street,
NW Edmonton,
Alberta T5M 1V7
