2006 Building Caring Communities: The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

Sta

cy A

sht on,

Nan

cy B

ake

r&

Ali

Pa

ran

de

h

A qualitative study into the experiences of immigrant volunteers at mainstream agencies

Acknowledgements Thank you to the volunteers and volunteer coordinators who shared their stories with us during this research process. We hope we have been able to capture the depth and passion of your stories in this report. And, of course, thank you to Megan McGuiness for her careful reading and copy editing of the final draft. Thank you also to Christine Unterthiner, who lent her design skills to formatting this report. Funding from Canadian Volunteerism Initiative © 2006

With the participation of the Government of Canada

Avec la participation du gouvernement du Canada

Building Caring Communities

 Table of Contents



Acknowledgements Executive Summary Introduction Appreciative Inquiry and Multicultural Volunteerism Discover Design Dream Destiny What We Designed: Methodology Focus Groups Qualitative Analysis What We Discovered: Research Findings Immigrant Volunteer Perspectives on Volunteering Volunteering in Countries of Origin • Volunteering in Canada • Motivations to Volunteer in Canada Immigrant Volunteer Perspectives • Volunteer Coordinator Perspectives • Exploring the Discrepancy • Motivations to Recruit Immigrant Volunteers Increased Comfort with Diversity • Access to a Range of Skills • New Outlooks/Perspectives • Finding and Keeping Immigrant Volunteers Barriers to Volunteering • The Key Role of Support • What Else Do Successful Volunteer Managers Do? • Success is not Surprising • Complex Issues Language • Gender, Culture and Volunteerism • What We Dream: New Ideas and Recommendations Introduce the Concept of Volunteering to those Considering Immigration Share the Success Stories of Immigrant Volunteerism Develop Culturally Inclusive Agencies Connect to Potential Volunteers Adapt Volunteer Opportunities Destiny: Future Applications and Research References

The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

Inside Front Cover 3 7 9 9 9 10 10 11 11 11 13 13 13 14 15 15 17 17 18 18 18 19 19 19 20 20 21 22 22 22 23 23 23 23 24 24 26 27



Building Caring Communities

 Executive Summary Building Caring Communities: The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers A qualitative study into the experiences of immigrant volunteers at mainstream agencies

Community agencies provide a wide range of services to support the well being of Canadians, and volunteerism has long been a way for community agencies to stretch their limited resources: the 2004 Canadian Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating (CSGVP) estimates that 11.8 million volunteers contributed the equivalent of over 1 million fulltime jobs to the voluntary sector in 2003. Immigrant volunteers provided almost 200,000 of these fulltime jobs, or 357 million hours of volunteer work. The 2004 CSGVP shows a shift in which immigrants volunteer, with the most recent immigrants to Canada volunteering more than ever before, matching the rate of immigrants who have been in Canada the longest. The shift in immigrant volunteering suggests that new attitudes about volunteering may be emerging that create an opportunity for mainstream agencies to reach out to a broader pool of potential volunteers, to match the broader pool of potential service recipients in our communities. This project used Appreciative Inquiry to investigate successful experiences of pairs of immigrant volunteers and volunteer coordinators. Ten volunteers emigrating from nine countries and nine volunteer coordinators participated in two focus groups. We explored the following questions: • How do new immigrants become volunteers in mainstream agencies? • What do new immigrants and their volunteer coordinators think has been successful in the volunteer placement?

The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

• What challenges needed to be overcome (if any) in making the volunteer placement successful, and how were these challenges overcome? • How do we create a voluntary sector where successful volunteer placements in mainstream agencies for new Canadians and new immigrants are the norm?

Research Findings Immigrant Volunteer Perspectives on Volunteering: • Immigrants to Canada see differences in how volunteering is done in their countries of origin versus Canadian-style volunteering. Volunteers in our focus group appreciated that organized, formal volunteering allows for a lot to be done with a little: “funding is limited so work gets done by a lot of people giving a little bit of time each – it becomes something bigger than the funding.” • A distinction was made between the kinds of problems dealt with through volunteerism in some countries of origin and Canada: volunteers were more likely to come forward to deal with physical problems, like fixing a road, providing food to poor villages, or fixing schools, rather than to address emotional problems, which were more likely to be dealt with in families who would avoid social agencies due to the stigma of seeking outside help. One volunteer noted that despite Canada’s comparative wealth, “people are lonely, depressed, and problems go to the heart, not to the body.”

 Motivations to Volunteer in Canada

Finding and Keeping Immigrant Volunteers

• Immigrants’ motivations to volunteer focuses largely on social motivators: “to feel good about myself”, “to enjoy myself”, “to be a part of my community”, “to meet new people”, “to stay active” and values-based motivators: to volunteer for a cause they believed in; to repay a debt of gratitude to people, organizations, or Canada as a whole; or from a sense of universal duty to the community.

• Barriers to volunteering: Immigrant volunteers felt that finding out about volunteer opportunities was harder than it should be, and that economic barriers to volunteering, such as transport to the agency, needed to be dealt with to support access to volunteer experiences.

• Our study confirmed surveys on volunteering that immigrant volunteers overwhelmingly volunteer because they believe in the cause they are supporting; language and skills development are seen as bonuses that come with volunteering rather than motivations to volunteer. • Volunteer coordinators were more likely to attribute language and skills development as reasons for immigrants to volunteers than the volunteers were, although they did not that long-term volunteers need to be converted to the cause to stay; volunteers solely motivated by language or skills development moved on quickly.

Motivations to Recruit Immigrant Volunteers • Increased comfort with diversity: By having immigrant volunteers in mainstream agencies, staff and clientele gain familiarity with a range of cultural differences, helping to break down societal anxieties around diversity. • Access to a range of skills: New immigrants bring with them a range of skills useful to non-profit organizations, including professional skills, cultural skills and language skills. Investing in the development of multilingual volunteers allows agencies to serve a broader range of people accessing services. • New outlooks/perspectives: Agencies are exposed to different ways of seeing the world when they bring in volunteers with different cultural background, which can offer new solutions and approaches to issues in the community.

• The key role of support: Volunteers and volunteer coordinators alike stated a supportive volunteer coordinator was key in retaining volunteers and maximizing volunteers’ contributions through (a) appreciation and encouragement; (b) recognizing and using volunteers’ skills; and (c) promoting a sense of belonging. • Successful coordinators also: › Actively invited potential volunteers into volunteer roles. › Marketed volunteer opportunities to appeal to a range of potential volunteer motivations. › Assessed volunteers to ensure their specific skills and level of English fluency were used effectively in the volunteer placement. › Welcomed immigrants into their agency by respecting the life experiences of immigrants to Canada, developing positive staff-volunteer relations, and hiring staff from diverse backgrounds where possible. › Converted volunteers to the agency’s mission and mandate by connecting the volunteer work to the larger good being achieved. › Mentored new volunteers, especially where fluency in English was an issue, through partnerships with more experienced volunteers or staff. • Success is not surprising: Coordinators in our focus group were not surprised by their success in integrating immigrant volunteers into their agency; potential problems were anticipated and treated as challenges to overcome.

Building Caring Communities

 Complex Issues • Language: English fluency impacted on immigrant volunteerism in multiple ways: › ESL classes were frequent sources of referrals to volunteer positions, creating recruitment opportunities › Lack of fluency in English limited volunteers in some agencies, but in others mentoring and strategic placement created ways for volunteers to contribute even with a lack of English › Fluency in English increases with practice, so coordinators who invest in low-English volunteers end up with a multilingual group of volunteers. • Gender: Some volunteer coordinators found working with male volunteers from some cultures held challenges where male volunteers were unwilling to work with female supervisors.

Recommendations 1. Distribute information describing volunteerism to potential immigrants to Canada via Canadian consulates and immigrant-oriented websites. 2. Develop and distribute local community welcome packages for new immigrants, including information on community involvement as a means to get to know the community, improve language, and get work experience. 3. Develop cultural presentations for managers focused on how to handle cross-cultural miscommunications to build mutual understanding and relationship, and how to capitalize on the contributions of immigrant volunteers. 4. Create opportunities for immigrant volunteers to tell their stories through volunteer training, presentations to cultural communities, partnerships with immigrant-serving agencies. 5. Develop staff-volunteer policies and training that promote inclusivity and respect for cultural differences.

The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

6. Hire staff to reflect the diversity of the community served. 7. Develop programs targeted to immigrant populations, e.g. showcasing local immigrant history in local museums, offering ESL training through Arts classes. 8. Agencies seeking volunteers can make presentations at ESL classes and immigrant-serving societies. 9. Partner with immigrant-serving societies to encourage them to refer potential volunteers. 10. Develop successful immigrant volunteers at your agency into ambassadors to their community to actively recruit more volunteers and/or speak on volunteering to interested groups, ESL classes, etc. 11. Make connections across agencies to tap into pools of volunteers; service recipients at one agency may make excellent volunteers at another. 12. Develop volunteer centre outreach at places with good foot traffic, e.g., travelling kiosks of volunteer opportunities in shopping centres, community centres, libraries, coffee shops and other gathering places. 13. Connect with local Welcome Wagons to include information on volunteering and community involvement in packages to newcomers. 14. Pair up volunteers where language fluency may be a barrier with more experienced volunteers or staff. 15. Assess the English fluency and skills of volunteers at intake and over time to maximize volunteers’ contributions. 16. Share resources across organizations to support volunteers, e.g. organizations with strong relationships could pair same-language volunteers across their organizations for mentorship and training.



Building Caring Communities

 Introduction

Community agencies provide a wide range of services to support the well being of Canadians. From family support to youth mentorship to poverty relief, community agencies strive to help people live richer, fuller lives. Volunteerism has long been a way for community agencies to stretch their limited resources: the 2004 Canadian Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating (CSGVP) estimates that 11.8 million volunteers contributed the equivalent of over 1 million full-time jobs to the voluntary sector in 2003.1 Immigrant volunteers provided almost 200,000 of these fulltime jobs, or 357 million hours of volunteer work. 41% of immigrants to Canada volunteer, according to the 2004 CSGVP.2 Previous studies of volunteerism in Canada, the 2000 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating (NSGVP) and the 2003 General Social Survey, found that the longer immigrants live in Canada, the more likely they are to volunteer. The 2004 CSGVP shows a major shift in which immigrants volunteer: the most recent immigrants to Canada are volunteering more than ever before, matching the rate of those who have been in Canada the longest. Forty percent of immigrants who arrived from 1995 onwards volunteered in 2003, compared to 41% of those who arrived before 1967, and to 36% of those who immigrated between 1984 and 1994. The highest rate of immigrant volunteering (50%) occurs with immigrants who came to Canada between 1967 and 1983. The shift in immigrant volunteerism suggests that new attitudes about volunteering may be emerging. This may create an opportunity for mainstream agencies to reach

The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

out to a broader pool of potential volunteers, in order to match the broad pool of potential service recipients in our communities. Canadian-born and immigrant citizens alike are eligible for the services provided by mainstream agencies, yet barriers of language and cultural understanding can interfere in new immigrants’ ability to access services. In both the Tri-Cities and New Westminster, a growing immigrant population is making cultural accessibility a necessity for mainstream agencies. According to BC Stats’ latest PEOPLE projection, New Westminster is expected to grow by 30% over the next 25 years, an addition of 25,000 new citizens, and the Tri-Cities is expected to grow by 31% over the same time period, an addition of 95,000 new citizens.3 According to 2001 census data, the immigrant population is 28% New Westminster, and 32.7% in the Tri-Cities.4 Highlights of immigrant settlement in New Westminster and the Tri-Cities are: • New Westminster’s top recent immigrant groups are from the Philippines (18.8% of those immigrating from 1996 to 2001), China (12.1%) and India (12.1%). The Tri-Cities’ top recent immigrant groups are from Taiwan (17.1%), Korea (15.2%), Hong Kong (11.7%) and China (10.9%).5 • The Korean population has grown exceptionally quickly in Coquitlam, especially the Westwood plateau, where the Korean population increased 80-fold from 1991 to 2001 (25 people in 1991 to 2,015 in 2001). Over the same time period the number of people of Chinese descent rose from 1,625 to 8,795 (Smith, 2005).

 • 11% of government-assisted refugees are settling in Coquitlam, 6% in New Westminster. The top five countries from which refugees are fleeing are Afghanistan (23%), Sudan (18%), Iran (13%), Columbia (9%) and Indonesia (7%) (Immigrant Services Society, 2005). With a growing overall population and diverse immigrant population, Tri-Cities and New Westminster will experience increased demands for mainstream services as well as for services directed to immigrant communities. Adding to the complexity is that each immigrant group brings its own needs: for example, according to focus groups with new immigrants run as part of the Tri-Cities Mapping Project (Alexander, 2004), Chinese immigrants, who speak Mandarin, noted their needs are different from Taiwanese or Hong Kong immigrants who speak Cantonese, and who have more established communities and organizations in the Tri-Cities.

population; rather, they help connect new immigrants to the vast array of mainstream services and organizations that exist in their community. How is this achieved? In response to a growing immigrant population, mainstream agencies are looking at ways to become more welcoming and able to provide effective service across cultural barriers. Volunteerism is one way mainstream agencies extend their ability to provide service. In this study, we decided to examine the experiences of immigrant volunteers successfully volunteering at mainstream agencies, using the Appreciative Inquiry method.

Common across all immigrant groups is the need to learn about and find their way in a new country. Immigrantserving agencies such as SUCCESS and Immigrant Services Society function to help newcomers to Canada navigate the transitional period of coming to a new country, including learning new language, new rules, new cultural norms, new workforce, new school system, and new celebrations. Immigrant-serving agencies do not duplicate mainstream services for an immigrant

1. The National Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating (2000) found that 6.5 million (29%) of Canadians volunteer. Although the 2004 Canadian Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating estimates 11.8 million (45%) of Canadians volunteer, this figure may overestimate the total number of Canadian volunteers due to significant changes in methodology in the CSGVP: the 1997 and 2000 NGSVPs were part of a general Labour Force Survey; the 2004 CSGVP was a stand-alone survey on volunteerism. Non-volunteers would be less likely to agree to participate in a stand-alone survey on volunteerism than in a general Labour Force Survey. Also, the 2000 NSGVP identified volunteers by asking about “unpaid volunteer activities as part of a group or organization”, whereas the 2004 CSGVP asked about “any activities that you did without pay on behalf of a group or organization”. The latter question is more likely to identify volunteers who do not think of themselves as formal volunteers. 2. The 2000 NSGVP reported 21% of immigrant volunteered in 1999 (compared to 29% Canadian-born volunteers), and the 2003 General Social Survey reported that 29% of immigrants volunteered in 2002 (compared to 35% of Canadian-born volunteers). 3. The growth rate for the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) over the next 25 years is expected to be 24%. 4. Compared to 26% in all of BC and 38% in the GVRD. 5. Based on compiled data from Electoral Districts covering Coquitlam-Maillardville, Port Coquitlam-Burke Mountain, and Port Moody-Westwood. Although the Electoral District of Burquiltam covers part of the Tri-Cities, it was not included as the majority in this district are residents of Burnaby.

Building Caring Communities

 Appreciative Inquiry and Multicultural Volunteerism

We inspire action through telling stories of success.6 Success stories resonate with us when we are struggling through transitional periods in life. Volunteer Canada and Social Development Canada (formerly HRDC) collaborated on Career Information For New Immigrants And Refugees: Needs Assessment Research (c. 2000), to explore effective practices in helping new immigrants find their way to volunteering and careers in Canada. What worked best, according to both new immigrants and those serving immigrants, was hearing about the success stories of new immigrants who had already become volunteers and employees. New immigrants wanted to see success stories circulated more widely, through pamphlets, newsletters, and websites. Appreciative Inquiry, the model used in this project, seeks to use the power of success to inspire positive change in systems as well as in individuals. The Appreciative Inquiry research model is based on the idea that we learn best from success. As opposed to needs assessments, which seek out gaps in service, or research that focuses on barriers to progress and then recommends solutions, Appreciative Inquiry seeks out examples where barriers have already been overcome and gaps have already been filled in order to document the work that went into creating success and to inspire thinking about how local success can be built on and exported to the larger system. Appreciative Inquiry, developed in 1987 by David Cooperider and Suresh Srivastva, consists of four phases (the four “D’s”): Discovery, Dream, Design, and Destiny.

Discover The Discover phase encompasses the process of defining the issue under consideration from a positive perspective, determining who the best informants are, and inviting their stories. Our goal was to examine the experiences of new immigrants and new Canadians as volunteers in mainstream agencies. In a non-AI study, one of the research questions may have been “What are the barriers facing new immigrants as they seek volunteer opportunities in Canada?” In AI, problem-focused questions are reframed into success-oriented questions. In this study we decided to explore four questions: • How do new immigrants become volunteers in mainstream agencies? • What do new immigrants and their volunteer coordinators think has been successful in the volunteer placement? • What challenges needed to be overcome (if any) in making the volunteer placement successful, and how were these challenges overcome? • How do we create a voluntary sector where successful volunteer placements in mainstream agencies for new Canadians and new immigrants are the norm?

Design To explore these questions, we needed to talk to the players involved in co-creating successful volunteer placements: the volunteer and the volunteer coordinator. We circulated invitations to participate in two focus

6. As watching late night infomercials about anything from weight loss to becoming a real estate zillionaire demonstrates.

The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

10 groups, one for volunteers and one for volunteer coordinators, to member organizations of Community Volunteer Connections and to participants at TriCities VolunteerFest 2006. We asked volunteer coordinators of organizations that self-identified as “mainstream” agencies to identify new Canadian or new immigrant volunteers who were successful volunteers in their organization. In order to participate in the volunteer coordinator focus group, volunteer coordinators had to arrange for one (or more) of their successful new Canadian or new immigrant volunteers to participate in the volunteer focus group. We believed this design would guarantee access to successful experiences, as volunteer coordinators would ask volunteers with whom they had positive relationships to commit to this experience. We also wanted to be able to compare the perspectives of volunteer and volunteer coordinator for each individual story.

Volunteer Participants Ten volunteers emigrating from nine countries participated: two from Korea and one each from Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Iran, Germany, and Russia. Three volunteers were male and seven female, and they had been in Canada from eight months to 30 years. The diversity of this group yielded an excellent snapshot of volunteer experiences of new Canadians and new immigrants in the Tri-Cities and New Westminster.

Organization Participants Eight organizations sent nine volunteer coordinators. Organizations were: • Seniors Services Society – Information, referral, and support services for seniors • ArtsConnect – Umbrella organization for arts groups in the Tri-Cities • Dogwood Pavilion – Seniors programs and information centre

• Coquitlam Heritage Society – operates museum and heritage events • SHARE Food Bank – Food Bank for the Tri-Cities • Coquitlam CitySoup.ca – internet training for seniors and organizations • New Westminster Family Place – Drop-in support for young families • SHARE Community Development – After-school programs for families We also conducted one-on-one interviews with coordinators at Youth Matters and the Salvation Army Family and Community Connections Program.

Dream In AI, the success stories themselves become the inspiration of the Dream phase, where we determine “what might be” based on the best of the past experiences. AI uses the input of everyone involved to develop Dreams, including participants and researchers. We asked our focus group participants to reflect on the stories they had told and offer their ideas about creating more successful experiences recruiting and integrating new immigrant or new Canadian volunteers into their agencies.7 As researchers, we took additional time both directly after the focus groups and in a separate meeting later on to examine the stories, identify common themes and success factors, and develop a set of recommendations.

Destiny The Destiny phase entails finding innovative ways to create the preferred future described in the initial research question, in this case “How do we create a voluntary sector where successful volunteer placements in mainstream agencies for new Canadians and new immigrants are the norm?” We developed recommendations based on our findings, and have also provided suggestions for future research to explore this question further.

7. In the volunteer focus group we ran out of time to cover this question thoroughly. We would like to explore this question with new Canadian and new immigrant volunteers further in future research.

Building Caring Communities

11 What We Designed: Methodology

Focus Groups The focus groups were facilitated by three facilitators, one of whom directed the flow of conversation while the other two took extensive notes and facilitated small groups when necessary. Immediately following the second focus group the three facilitators discussed and took notes on what they had noticed from the conversations. Additionally, one facilitator interviewed two additional informants from Youth Matters and the Salvation Army, using the questions asked at the volunteer coordinator focus group. In the end we had six separate documents capturing qualitative data from the focus groups and interviews: • Two sets of notes from the volunteer focus group • Two sets of notes from the volunteer coordinator focus group • One set of shared reflections from the three facilitators • Notes from the one-to-one interviews

Qualitative Analysis Qualitative data analysis techniques involve chunking the data into discrete units and sorting the data into themes (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Traditional computer software programs to assist qualitative data analysis (e.g. NUD*IST) colour-code data according to the research rationale and allow for free movement of ideas into various categories, which allows themes and patterns to emerge from the data. For our purposes, we decided to adapt this process to a hands-on methodology. We chunked each document so that each separate note was on its own slip of paper, colour-coded to match the source document. This process yielded 364 separate pieces of data to work with. The three facilitators blocked off a day for qualitative analysis, during which we reviewed the slips and collaboratively sorted them into categories. During the qualitative analysis procedure, we kept in mind the questions that had started the research project in the first place: • How do new immigrants become volunteers in mainstream agencies? • What do new immigrants and their volunteer coordinators think has been successful in the volunteer placement? • What challenges needed to be overcome (if any) in making the volunteer placement successful, and how were these challenges overcome? • How do we create a voluntary sector where successful volunteer placements in mainstream agencies for new Canadians and new immigrants are the norm?

The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

12 And we came to the data with some additional questions in mind: • Where do immigrants find out about volunteering? • Where do immigrants want to find out about volunteering? • What do immigrants offer as volunteers? • What do immigrants want to get out of volunteering? However, we were committed to allowing the data to create its own categories. As we sorted we continually reflected back to each other additional questions and patterns as they emerged.

Figure 1: Qualitative Data Sort

Building Caring Communities

13 What We Discovered: Research Findings

Through the qualitative data analysis we developed a series of topics illuminated by the data we had collected. Following are our findings from the qualitative data analysis, which we have set within the context of previous research into volunteerism and multiculturalism in Canada.

Immigrant Volunteer Perspectives on Volunteering Volunteering in Countries of Origin From the focus groups Volunteers talked about what volunteering meant in their home country and in Canada. It is important to note that this study was not a thorough overview of volunteering in other cultures, which would require multiple informants from each country.8 Our volunteer focus group was comprised of ten volunteers from nine countries, so their reflections are single viewpoints on a complex topic. However, these reflections are valuable in that they capture some of the different ways volunteering has been experienced from culture to culture. They also help those who have only been exposed to Canadian volunteering to begin to see underlying assumptions about Canadian volunteering that can be hard to observe from the inside. • Germany: One informant stated volunteering was not a well-known concept in Germany. Although Germans had free time, it tended to be spent on recreational clubs. Another informant who emigrated from

Germany several decades ago reported that Germany had been too involved in physical and economic rebuilding after World War II to focus on volunteering. Our informants thought that many social organizations that would thrive in Canada with the help of volunteers would go bankrupt in Germany because of the lack of volunteerism. • Hong Kong: Our informant experienced Hong Kong as very commercially-oriented. Volunteering was seen as unpaid work, and would require an investment of time that could have a negative impact on career. Most volunteering in Hong Kong that our informant was aware of was with animals, not people. A suspicion of corruption among charity organizations’ management of donated funds had further undermined his motivation to volunteer in Hong Kong. • India: Our informant had been involved as a volunteer in India through political advocacy of the rights of the poor to education and services. In her experience, social organizations and social workers were seen as financially corrupt and prone to breaches of confidentiality in close-knit communities, making families reluctant to access social services. For this volunteer, volunteering in India revolved around social action and meeting the physical, concrete needs of underprivileged people (i.e., education, good roads, access to medical care). Internal problems (i.e., mental health, family issues) were dealt with informally within families.

8. Nakano (2000) conducted narrative research into the identity of the volunteer in Japan as both part of and distinct from mainstream identities. She interviewed and analyzed volunteer trends and motivations to volunteer in a single residential neighbourhood in the context of historical, societal, demographical trends in Japan as a whole and in the specific neighbourhood studied. The pressures to volunteer (i.e., as a way to express oneself, commit to something greater than oneself, and gain community recognition) and the pressures not to volunteer (i.e., as volunteering takes away time that could be devoted to career and family) weave together into a complex pattern that determines individual, local, and national attitudes to volunteering. It is important to remember that each of the countries represented in our focus group has an equally complex range of contexts that affect volunteerism.

The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

14 • Iran: Our informant said that in Iran there was no system of volunteering, but rather an ethic of helping each other in families – informal volunteering. There was no office responsible for volunteering. • Philippines: Our informant, who emigrated in the 1960’s, was not aware of organized volunteering at the time she left. She was aware, however, of a tradition of helping beggars by inviting people into the kitchen for food, though never through giving money. For example, her family owned a bakery and gave out day-old bread. In her experience, people tended to get help from families. Recently she has noticed teenagers volunteering, cleaning streets and other examples of volunteer activities. • Russia: Under the communist government, volunteering was not voluntary but compulsory, and carried with it a stigma of the oppression that she was fleeing in coming to Canada. The freedom of volunteering in Canada was something she needed to learn about. • South Korea: Formal volunteering was not something our informant had encountered in South Korea. In his experience, volunteering usually occurred through churches and was largely focused on supporting orphans and the elderly. Large events like the World Cup also drew volunteers. He did not know of any formal voluntary organizations. • Sri Lanka: Our informant believed that a strong class structure in Sri Lanka affected volunteerism in two ways: (a) people in need were looked down upon and in turn were ashamed to access social organizations, leading to under-utilized services and lower demand for volunteers; and (b) volunteers were looked down upon because they did not earn money and were working with lower-class people. • Thailand: Our informant had experienced community involvement in Thailand as a process of “sharing from the heart from person to person and community to community”. Most helping was grassroots and locally

developed, and the Thai government would lend support locally, rather than create its own services.

From the literature Our findings echo similar ones from Project Kaleidoscope, (Volunteer Centre of Calgary, 1992), a series of community consultations on cultural understanding of volunteerism with groups of immigrants and community leaders from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Project Kaleidoscope found: • Older Chinese immigrants saw volunteering as a courtesy and an obligation to the community. • Filipinos saw volunteering as a sign of community spirit. • Ismaili Muslims saw volunteering as a religious requirement, and therefore part of daily living. • Latin Americans saw volunteering as something the privileged do, and not something lower or middle class persons would be involved in. • Polish immigrants’ views on volunteering were shaped by their experience living under a system where volunteering was mandatory to promote government ideology.

Volunteering in Canada Formal versus informal volunteering Volunteers reflected on what they’d noticed about volunteering in Canada. Volunteers liked the system of formalized volunteering in Canada and liked being able to participate in an organization where many volunteers work together towards a common cause. Organized volunteering was seen as different from people doing good things on an ad hoc basis or in order to help family or friends, because organized volunteering could have a broader social impact. Several volunteers were surprised by the power of volunteering to create change: “funding is limited so work gets done by a lot of people giving a little bit of time each – it becomes something bigger than the funding.”

Building Caring Communities

15 Volunteers themselves had benefited from the efforts of other volunteers (e.g. accessing advice from volunteer law clinic), which gave them even greater appreciation for how volunteering happens in Canada. One volunteer remarked on how inspired he was by seeing people volunteering for no other reason than to do something good. One volunteer thought that formalized volunteering is necessary in Canada because although Canada is rich in physical wealth, emotional problems are not uncommon. She said that before coming here, Canada was portrayed to her as paradise, but she realized Canadians also have many problems, such as loneliness and depression. She sees problems in Canada as often being “invisible”: “people are lonely, depressed, and problems go to the heart, not to the body.” In this context, formal volunteering is needed to reach out to those who do not have family to support them. She noticed that the elderly in Canada do not have visitors and are often seen sitting alone and looking sad, whereas in her home country seniors would always have someone to talk to.

Class structure One volunteer noted the relative lack of a class structure in Canada, as compared to Sri Lanka. In her home country, this volunteer would have been judged for volunteering, as unpaid work did not carry status. In Canada, volunteering is something to be proud of and volunteers receive recognition for the good work they do. In this context, volunteers become more comfortable being around people with less social status, further softening the class structure. She particularly liked being able to mix with a range of people, without worrying about judging them based on dollars, clothes or jobs.

Motivations to Volunteer in Canada Immigrant Volunteer Perspectives on Why They Volunteer The volunteers in our study reported a range of motivations for volunteering, including:

The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

• To address issues or community needs important to them (e.g. teaching seniors computer skills; connecting with lonely seniors) • To do something well/share skills (e.g. librarian training, computer skills) • To feel good about themselves • To be a part of a group of volunteers. Volunteers experienced many benefits of volunteering, including: • Increased confidence. One volunteer said “you try things that might seem risky or things you don’t know how to do and find out you can do it” • Access to help with other parts of life, like schoolwork, problems at home, etc. • Access to a larger social network for support • Access to information about other community resources from volunteer coordinators • Able to improve language and understanding of Canadian culture; one volunteer who volunteered at a family drop-in centre found working with mothers and children helped her language skills because she could listen to them talk to each other. Another volunteer found she could learn about Canadian culture by observing how people work in Canada versus her home country. An analysis of all the reasons volunteers gave for volunteering fell into three main themes: 1. Personal/practical 2. Personal/social 3. Universal duty/values-driven volunteering

Personal/Practical Personal/practical motivations to volunteer were grounded in the desire to gain skills and knowledge to enhance employability and adjustment to Canadian culture. These motivations were least likely to be described by volunteers as motivators of their volunteering. When volunteers did mention improving

16 English skills and gaining job experience, these motivations rarely appeared as stand-alone comments in our data but rather as one of a list of motivations. Often volunteers described the practical support they received from volunteering as unexpected bonuses. Even volunteers who had been told to volunteer for practical reasons had their own deeper reasons to volunteer . One volunteer was directed by course instructors to volunteer to enhance his skills, but rather than describing skills development as his motivation to volunteer, this volunteer had a well-developed philosophy underlying his volunteering -- to give back to the previous generation by teaching them the skills of the young (Internet skills).

Personal/Social Personal/Social motivations to volunteer were those that connected to the volunteer’s sense of overall confidence and desire to make social connections. Examples of motivations we classed under this theme were “to feel good about myself”, “to enjoy myself”, “to be a part of my community”, “to meet new people”, “to stay active”. One volunteer shared that he selected the place he wanted to volunteer by going to the site and seeing there were a lot of happy people there. Volunteers also cited using existing skills and creativity, which sometimes overlapped with a motive to develop employability, but was more often associated with valuing the boost in confidence that came from applying skills successfully -- “you find out you can do more than you thought”.

Universal duty/values-driven volunteering Most fascinating were the glimmers of larger philosophies guiding helping behaviour that emerged in our conversations with volunteers. Volunteering for a Cause: A major motivation for volunteers was that they were doing work they believed in. Not all volunteers specifically selected the organization they were with because of the cause. Some did; others selected the organization by type of volunteer work and happenstance (e.g. it was the only organization advertising an administrative position posted at the library); others selected the organization

by liking the people already there. However, these volunteers, who had been successfully volunteering at their organization for between six months and ten years, had become strong advocates of the mission and mandate of their organization. Their commitment to the cause they were working for, whether it was feeding people through the food bank, helping lonely seniors connect to housing, teaching computer skills, or working with young families, had all become their reasons to stay involved as long-term volunteers. Volunteering as Repayment: Repaying a debt of gratitude was mentioned as a motivation to volunteer in several different ways. One volunteer talked about volunteering as a way to repay the older generation, as part of a cyclical process of being raised and supported by parents and grandparents, and therefore being obligated to improve the lives of elders by sharing the skills of the younger generation. Other volunteers expressed gratitude for the help they had received from friends, family, and/or community organizations and volunteered in order to repay the kindness they had experienced. Finally, some volunteers were grateful to be living in Canada, and saw volunteering as a way to give back to their new country. Volunteering as Universal Duty: One volunteer stated he volunteers because “helping makes you mean something to others and means that you are bigger than animals”. For him, volunteering is about giving to the community because everyone lives together.

From the literature The stats bear out the volunteers’ perspective: 93% of immigrants surveyed in the 2000 NSGVP volunteer to support causes they believe in (very close to the rate of 95% for persons born in Canada). Only 17% of immigrants, versus 24% of Canadian-born citizens, cited developing employability as a motivation for volunteering (see Table 1 next page).

Building Caring Communities

17 Table 19 Motivations to Volunteer: Immigrant versus Canadian born percentages

% Immigrants

% Canadian-born

Helping cause in which you believe

93

95

Use your skills and experiences

76

82

Personally affected by cause organization supports

67

69

Explore your own strengths

54

58

Fulfill your religious obligations

35

25

Because your friends volunteer

28

30

Improve your job opportunities

17

24

Required to volunteer by school

*

8

* Results suppressed due to small sample size. Source: Calculations by the Canadian Council on Social Development using data from the National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 2000.

Volunteer Coordinator Perspectives on Immigrant Volunteer Motivation We asked volunteer coordinators why they thought newcomers to Canada volunteered, and also explored what volunteer coordinators thought had attracted the volunteers they had nominated for the volunteer focus group to their organization. Although volunteer coordinators mentioned helping others and meeting new people as reasons for immigrants to volunteer, they were far more likely to point to practical motivations for volunteering, the number one reason being to improve English, with developing job skills a close second. Interestingly, when we asked volunteer coordinators why they volunteered, they talked about supporting community development and helping causes they believed in, even though many of these individuals’ got paid work as volunteer coordinators in part due to their

history of volunteering. As with the immigrants in our focus groups, volunteer coordinators saw their careers as happy and unexpected byproducts of following their desire to help.

Exploring the Discrepancy Shifting motivations One reason for the discrepancy between motivations for volunteering as described by volunteer coordinators versus the volunteers themselves may be that volunteer coordinators tend to ask about what volunteers hope for and expect out of volunteering at the initial interview stage, whereas the successful immigrant volunteers in our focus group were talking about their motivations for volunteering now that they had been a volunteer for a lengthy period of time. Volunteers may well have practical reasons to volunteer in the forefront when they

9. 2004 CSGVP data on Canadian-born versus immigrant motivations to volunteer has not yet been released.

The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

18 begin a volunteer placement, such as to improve English or develop job skills. An area of study in volunteerism that has not been fully explored is how volunteer motivation changes over time. The findings of this study suggest that initial motivations to volunteer may be practical, but as volunteers experience the camaraderie of working together for a cause, motivations may become more social and values-driven.

Inspiring passion for the cause Volunteer coordinators did recognize the importance of converting volunteers to the cause early on. One of the volunteer coordinators stated that in her experience volunteers who volunteered solely for the purpose of learning English or gaining employable skills were the least likely to become successful, long term volunteers. Limits of language Another reason for the discrepancy between volunteer and volunteer coordinator views may be the limits of language, both across the potential barrier of differing first languages and in terms of the level of conversation typical of daily life. It is easier to talk about practical motivations to volunteer than to describe values-based reasons for volunteering, especially if you are speaking in a second language. Most volunteers in our focus group were eager to talk “from the heart” about their volunteer experiences, felt honoured to have been asked by their volunteer coordinators to participate, and had a lot they felt was important to share about volunteering as immigrants in mainstream agencies. They themselves pointed out that they might not always have the words to express their thoughts, but were willing to go ahead anyway. The space created through the focus group allows for and encourages conversations that delve deep into the issues discussed, deeper than a typical volunteer/volunteer coordinator conversation might go on a day-to-day basis.

Motivations to Recruit Immigrant Volunteers We asked volunteer coordinators what volunteers from various cultural backgrounds brought to volunteering.

Increased Comfort with Diversity By having immigrant volunteers in mainstream agencies, staff and clientele get used to the presence of immigrants, especially new immigrant groups to the Tri-Cities region. Knowing people and feeling on familiar ground with a range of cultural differences helps break down societal anxieties around diversity.

Access to a Range of Skills New immigrants bring with them a range of skills useful to non-profit organizations: Professional Skills: Many immigrants have high-level skills they can’t yet apply in workplace due to restrictions around professional licensing or a lack of Canadian work experience. Some volunteers in our focus group had extensive experience in library science and computer technology. Volunteer coordinators shared stories about volunteers with backgrounds as rocket scientists and successful entrepreneurs who had brought high-level skills to their agencies. Cultural Skills: Immigrant volunteers can act as a bridge to their cultural community, promoting better understanding of clients from the shared cultural community . One volunteer had made a presentation to her organization about how wife beating is perceived in India that helped inform the agency about effective and cultural sensitive approaches to this social problem. In practice, being able to navigate cultural impasses can be key to a successful client experience. One story told by both the volunteer and volunteer coordinator in separate focus groups was the value of the volunteer in bridging a cultural gap between the agency and an older male from the volunteer’s home country. Rather than directly offer assistance to the client, the volunteer knew that framing the problem as one for which he could offer her advice would be more effective. She told the client that she was finding adjusting to Canada difficult and asked the client if he could suggest some ideas about connecting to the community and getting housing. This approach helped the client open up to a discussion of struggles he was experiencing as an immigrant so that agency could address them.

Building Caring Communities

19 Language skills: Immigrants bring with them fluency in at least one non-English language, and not uncommonly several non-English languages. Agencies are able to serve a wider range of clients when they can access a bank of languages in their volunteer corps.

New Outlooks/Perspectives When they bring in volunteers with different cultural backgrounds, agencies are exposed to different ways of seeing the world which can offer new solutions and approaches to issues in the community. Volunteer coordinators noted an openness to laughter in some communities that brought a different energy to the work, as well as a different way of valuing family connectedness. Volunteer coordinators also emphasized that immigrants are a population that is just as likely to yield long-term, skilled volunteers as any other community population, and as such is worth pursuing. Personal attributes of the volunteers volunteer coordinators were working with were also highlighted as reasons to recruit them, including kindness, caring, dedication/focus, and respectful behaviour (especially in youth volunteers). Finally, the possibility of being exposed to a new range of delicious foods did not go unmentioned. We also asked volunteers what they felt they brought or could bring from their culture into volunteering. Several volunteers pointed to the value of family in their own culture, and wanted to find ways to weave that value into their volunteering by encouraging Canadian families to spend more time with their children, examine their workfamily priorities, and recognize and address the loneliness of seniors. Those volunteers that came from cultures that particularly valued extended family relationships felt that Canadians might benefit from seeing family in action in other cultures.

The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

Finding and Keeping Volunteers Barriers to Volunteering Finding out about volunteering The immigrant volunteers in our focus group noted that finding out about places to volunteer wasn’t as easy as they thought it should be. Volunteers said they found out about volunteering through print sources and social sources. Print sources included internet (govolunteer. ca and Citysoup.ca were both mentioned specifically), newspapers, pamphlets, and newsletters. Postings at libraries and colleges were also mentioned. More commonly, volunteers noted social connections got them involved in volunteering. Friends, neighbours, events, information from instructors, teachers or counselors were all mentioned. Referrals through community organizations were usually providers of ESL classes or immigrant-serving community organizations (e.g. SUCCESS, Immigrant Services Society). Immigrants did not find it easy to access comprehensive information on community volunteering and volunteer opportunities, and tended to experience their road to volunteering as ad hoc and coincidental.

Economic barriers Economic barriers were mentioned as barriers to volunteering. Having to pay transit costs to and from volunteering was seen as a potential problem for low income volunteers trying to improve their skills. One volunteer spoke about having to hire a babysitter in order to volunteer, and her appreciation that her volunteer coordinator was able to reimburse her after she realized this was the case.

From the literature “Not being asked” has been consistently cited by new immigrants as a deterrent to volunteering (2004 CSGVP, 2003 GSS, 2000 NSGVP). Many volunteers come to organizations they have heard about or been asked to help out at by family or friends. New immigrants may know fewer people in the community, so may be less likely to connect to volunteering through informal networks. In

20 our recommendations we discuss ways to raise awareness of volunteering throughout immigrant communities.

The Key Role of Support By far the most often mentioned aspect of retaining volunteers was a supportive volunteer environment. Volunteers talked about receiving direct encouragement and appreciation on a regular basis, feeling their skills were recognized and developed, and having a sense of welcome and belonging to the organization. Volunteers also noted their gratitude for practical support, such as help solving problems at school or in their life, referrals to helpful organizations, and help with English and resume-writing.

Appreciation and Encouragement Both volunteers and volunteer coordinators cited appreciation and encouragement of volunteers as key to a successful volunteer experience. For volunteers, the level of appreciation they received for their contributions was sometimes overwhelming. Most volunteers were grateful for the appreciative feedback, and found it enhanced their confidence and made them want to help more. Volunteers didn’t find the appreciation as insincere, and volunteer coordinatorvolunteer coordinators talked about taking steps to ensure appreciation was specific to what the volunteer did or could do out of a desire to avoid general appreciation that might be perceived as insincere.

Valuing Skills Volunteer coordinators thought that finding interesting and diverse opportunities for volunteers was important; volunteers appreciated having their skills, even skills they did not know they had, recognized and used. One volunteer began as administrative help, applying her skills as a librarian to organize the agency’s library, but the agency quickly realized her fluency in Punjabi and her compassion would make her an excellent outreach worker for their underserved Punjabi senior clientele and within six weeks had invited her to volunteer in that capacity. The volunteer saw this as a vote of confidence in her that increased her commitment to the agency. Technical skills were also noted as something to capitalize on in volunteers.

Sense of Belonging Both volunteers and volunteer coordinators said developing a sense of belonging was critical to maintaining a successful volunteer. Volunteer coordinators worked to ensure good relations between staff and volunteers, to create a welcoming environment, and to create safe places for volunteers to feel comfortable expressing themselves. Volunteers talked about volunteering helping them develop a sense of belonging at an agency level, a community level, and a national level. Volunteers outlined the characteristics they appreciated in supportive volunteer coordinators: patient, open, flexible and human. In all the talk of support, very little was said about volunteer recognition items or gifts. One volunteer coordinator mentioned T-shirts and awards in a one-toone interview, but no one in the volunteer or volunteer coordinator focus groups spoke about recognition items or gifts. Some volunteers mentioned handwritten letters or cards of appreciation as memorable and meaningful to them.

What Else Do Successful Volunteer Managers Do? Aside from support and encouragement, the data outlined a range of ways volunteer coordinators are active in the process of recruiting and retaining immigrant volunteers: • Invite: Successful volunteer coordinators were alert to opportunities to invite potential volunteers into volunteer opportunities, including individuals and cultural groups. One manager described how he watches out for good people and attempts to recruit them on sight, and also shared a story of inviting Korean boys at a youth club to come volunteer at his agency. • Market: Volunteer coordinators were aware of the variety of motivations volunteers might have to volunteers, and wrote their volunteer descriptions to appeal to a range of potential volunteers.

Building Caring Communities

21 • Assess: Figuring out the best fit of a potential volunteer to agency opportunities was key to successful placements, especially with immigrant volunteers. Rather than interviewing potential volunteers according to the specific volunteer opportunity the candidate had applied for, volunteer coordinators were cognizant of exploring all the possible ways the candidate could contribute, and were willing to create new opportunities to maximize use of volunteers’ skills. Volunteer coordinators would also assess the level of English fluency and determine how to work with it, if possible, within their agency.

from local volunteer coordinators as we were preparing this research project who had found integrating immigrant volunteers difficult, we had expected our volunteer coordinators to have experienced surprises along the way to success. Unlike the other questions in the focus group, this one drew a complete blank from our participants. After attempts to clarify the question, volunteer coordinators stated that they were aware of the potential challenges of integrating immigrant volunteers into their agency, so were never blindsided by any difficulties, and ultimately had never expected their efforts to yield anything but success.

• Welcome: Successful volunteer coordinators found ways to welcome immigrants into their agency. They spoke of holding a deep respect for the life experiences and courage of immigrants willing to create new lives for themselves in a new country, and worked hard to create welcoming agencies through policies around staff-volunteer relations, and hiring staff from different backgrounds.

In reflecting on how surprised we were as researchers at our participants’ lack of surprise, we suggested that perhaps volunteer coordinators who assumed they would be successful were successful; that the belief in success became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead of viewing language and cultural understandings as barriers, volunteer coordinators experienced them as challenges to be overcome. In terms of recruiting and retaining immigrant volunteers, such a positive and practical attitude seems ideal.

• Convert: Volunteer coordinators sought out ways to get people more involved in the agency mission, sometimes by turning clients into volunteers by noticing and commenting on their potential contributions. One manager said by “treating [clients] in a collegial way, she helps them see themselves in a new light”. Managers convert new volunteers into committed, long-term volunteers through encouragement, appreciation, and maximizing volunteer contributions. • Mentor: Volunteer coordinators developed strategies to mentor immigrant volunteers, especially those with poor English, for example by pairing them with volunteers whose English was better.

Success is not Surprising We asked volunteer coordinators what had surprised them about their successful integration of immigrant volunteers into their agencies. Given the wealth of literature on barriers and potential barriers to volunteering for immigrants, and concerns we had heard

The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

One volunteer coordinator noted that we were working with a group of volunteer coordinators we had specifically selected for their success at integrating immigrant volunteers, and that if we were dealing with a random sample of volunteer coordinators, we would have heard more about challenges, barriers, and surprises. Although this may well be the case, the uniformity of the confusion caused by asking a question about what surprised volunteer coordinators about the process of successfully involving immigrant volunteers should serve as encouragement to those who are struggling – success, once it has been achieved, becomes inevitable in retrospect. As a follow-up question, we asked volunteer coordinators to reflect on changes over the last 20 years that may have made success in integrating immigrant volunteers more likely; aspects of today’s volunteering that may have surprised previous volunteer coordinators. We were seeking to broaden the context volunteer coordinators

22 were accessing when thinking about barriers that had been overcome to allow successful volunteer integration. Volunteer coordinators responded to this question at a societal level: “we are now showing more patience as a society in working with other cultures” and “we take diversity for granted now because it is so ubiquitous”. Volunteer coordinators attributed successes in integrating immigrant volunteers to the changing cultural landscape, where interaction with people from a variety of backgrounds is more common, and organizations that serve the general population must change to be accessible to their clientele.

Complex Issues Language We expected language skills and English fluency to be perceived as a barrier to volunteering, but found that language interacted with volunteerism in several ways. Although both volunteers and volunteer coordinators found that a lack of English fluency can be a challenge, many volunteers actually found out about volunteering through their English as a Second Language Classes. Lack of fluency can be seen as a factor in recruitment, as much as a deterrent to volunteering. Some managers spoke about the ethical dilemmas in turning potential volunteers away based on English fluency, pulled by a desire to honour the contributions any volunteer wishes to make versus a need to ensure effective volunteer work. Many volunteer coordinators had developed ways to support volunteers with limited English, including placing volunteers in opportunities that matched their ability to contribute and partnering ESL volunteers with more experienced volunteers. These strategies help volunteer coordinators expand the range of volunteers whose contributions they were able to use. Language barriers did not always get in the way of relationship building between staff and volunteers or between volunteers from different cultures. Dogwood Pavilion, for example, has a successful group of

volunteers with many different first languages all working together, even though their English hasn’t noticeably improved during their time volunteering. Other methods of communication have emerged that allow the work to be done, and the relationships to be enjoyed. Finally, fluency in English improves with practice, leaving volunteer coordinators with bilingual volunteers who can train and support new immigrant volunteers and be an asset to the agency’s ability to provide service to the increasingly diverse communities in the Tri-Cities and New Westminster.

Gender, Culture, and Volunteering Our volunteer focus group was comprised of three men and seven women. Gender issues did not come up in the volunteer focus group of successful volunteers, but did in the volunteer coordinators group. Volunteer coordinators stated that recruiting men from immigrant cultures was more challenging that recruiting women. One manager noted that, in his experience, immigrant male volunteers preferred to have important positions right away and were unlikely to be retained as volunteers unless other men were around. Another volunteer coordinator found that some immigrant men had difficulty following the directions of female supervisors. Confronting immigrant men on this issue is only successful when they are ready to hear the message that working with women is inevitable in Canada. Gender issues in female volunteerism also came up. One volunteer coordinator spoke about a female volunteer from Iran who had experienced living in a context where women were not allowed to participate actively in community. For her, volunteering was a way to express the freedom she came to Canada for, and created for her a sense of being able to do anything, making her a particularly active and flexible volunteer.

Building Caring Communities

23 What We Dream: New Ideas and Recommendations

Volunteers and volunteer coordinators shared a number of ideas about how to make recruiting and retaining new immigrant volunteers successful.

Introduce the Concept of Volunteering to those Considering Immigration Volunteer coordinators suggested that Canadian volunteerism be a part of information packages to potential new immigrants at Canadian consulates and on Canadian immigration websites. Volunteers in our focus group reported that they heard about Canadian-style volunteerism after they arrived in Canada. According to research by Volunteer Canada (c. 2000) on the prevalence of information on volunteerism as part of career information modules for new immigrants and refugees, many job clubs and employment preparation programs for new immigrants and refugees discuss volunteerism as part of an effective job plan. However, immigrants in this study reported Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s A Newcomer’s Introduction to Canada, available in print and on their website, as a major source of information (2006). This document does not mention volunteerism or link to Volunteer Canada or other volunteer websites. The volunteers in our focus group wanted better access to local information about volunteering. Finding ways to impart information about volunteering as part of the process of settling into a new country, a new province, and a new city is critical to involving new citizens locally.

Recommendations: 1. Distribute information describing volunteerism to potential immigrants to Canada via Canadian consulates and immigrant-oriented websites 2. Develop local welcome packages for new immigrants to specific communities, including information on community involvement as a means to get to know the community, improve language, and get work experience. These can be distributed through English as a Second Language schools, immigrant-serving agencies, libraries, and shopping centres.

Share the Success Stories of Immigrant Volunteerism Exposure to success stories inspires imagination and provides a pathway for involvement for both new immigrants and volunteer coordinators.10 Following are some recommendations to take advantage of the power of success to inspire action:

Recommendations: 3. Develop training for managers focused on how to bring the benefits of volunteers’ cultural backgrounds to organizations, whether through language, skills, cultural understanding, or food. Rather than focusing on what can go wrong in cross-cultural interactions, focus on how to handle cross-cultural miscommunications to build mutual understanding and relationship.

10. For example, Making Connections (2006) includes stories of immigrants who have made a difference in their own lives and the lives of others through volunteering. Access these through www.ccsd.ca/pubs/2006/makingconnections.

The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

24 4. Create opportunities for immigrant volunteers to tell their stories through volunteer training, presentations to cultural communities, partnerships with immigrant-serving agencies. Help new Canadian and new immigrant volunteers become ambassadors for volunteerism in their cultural communities.

Develop Culturally Inclusive Agencies Successful volunteer coordinators reported that their agencies had taken concrete steps to ensure inclusive practices, including developing policies and training to ensure staff is involved in appreciating and welcoming volunteers in the agency, and hiring staff with immigrant backgrounds to serve as a bridge between the agency and immigrant volunteers and to encourage volunteers from different cultures to get involved in the agency. Volunteer coordinators also suggested developing programs specifically targeted to immigrant populations, such as expanding the Coquitlam Heritage Society to tell the history of immigrant groups in the region or developing English as a Second Language programs through Arts classes.

Recommendations: 5. Develop staff-volunteer policies and training that promote inclusivity and respect for cultural differences. 6. Hire staff to reflect the diversity of the community served. 7. Develop programs targeted to immigrant populations, e.g. showcasing local immigrant history in local museums, offering ESL training through Arts classes.

Connect to Potential Volunteers Both volunteers and volunteer coordinators had many suggestions about connecting to volunteers in immigrant

communities. A variety of ways to take the message of volunteerism into immigrant communities were suggested, including:

Recommendations 8. Make presentations on your agency at ESL classes and immigrant-serving societies. 9. Partner with immigrant-serving societies (like SUCCESS and the Immigrant Services Society in the Tri-Cities, and the Community Development Program in New Westminster) to encourage them to refer potential volunteers. 10. Develop successful immigrant volunteers at your agency into ambassadors to their community to actively recruit more volunteers and/or speak on volunteering to interested groups, ESL classes, etc. 11. Make connections across agencies to tap into pools of volunteers; service recipients at one agency may make excellent volunteers at another. 12. Develop volunteer centre outreach at places with good foot traffic, e.g., traveling kiosks of volunteer opportunities in shopping centres, community centres, libraries, coffee shops and other gathering places. 13. Connect with local Welcome Wagons to include information on volunteering and community involvement in packages to newcomers.

Adapt Volunteer Opportunities For volunteer coordinators in our group, adapting volunteer opportunities to maximize the contribution of volunteers was standard practice for all volunteers. With immigrant volunteers, volunteer coordinators made sure they placed volunteers under supervisors that would be accepting of language difficulties and cultural differences, and arranged internal partnerships between volunteers of differing levels of English fluency to allow

Building Caring Communities

25 new volunteers to be mentored. Dufferin Care Centre developed an ESL group of volunteers from a variety of cultural backgrounds who all work together, and has found this has been a very successful way to retain volunteers – although these volunteers’ English has not substantially improved, they have found ways to work well together despite the lack of a strong shared language.

Recommendations: 14. Pair up volunteers where language fluency may be a barrier with more experienced volunteers or staff. 15. Assess the English fluency and skills of volunteers at intake and over time to maximize volunteers’ contributions. 16. Organizations may share resources to support volunteers; organizations with strong relationships could pair same-language volunteers across their organizations for mentorship and training

The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

26 Destiny: Future Applications and Research

The process of applying Appreciate Inquiry to immigrant volunteerism raised many possibilities for future applications and research. We asked volunteer coordinators for suggestions of how the findings of this study would best be presented. Although a written report, distributed in print or online, was endorsed, most volunteer coordinators wanted to see training seminars developed, with representatives from local immigrant populations involved to give the depth of experience to the training. Related to Appreciative Inquiry, World Café is a model of training that invites stakeholders in an experience, like the experience of immigrant volunteerism in mainstream agencies, to share their separate experiences through conversation centred around key questions (Brown, 2005). We would like to develop a training seminar based on World Café methods to expose participants to successful stories of volunteer integration in order to build volunteer coordinators’ confidence in recruiting and retaining people from different cultures as volunteers, and a motivating desire to share in the benefits enjoyed in organizations that have been successful in this regard.

Building Caring Communities

27 References

Alexander, C. (2004). Tri-Cities Mapping Project. Unpublished thesis. Available through SHARE Community and Family Services.

Smith, C. (2005). Researcher reveals Asian diversity. Georgia Straight, 4-Aug-2005.

BC Stats PEOPLE Projection Model 30. Available at www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/data/pop/pop/popproj.asp

Statistics Canada Community Profiles: 2001 Census. Available at www12.statcan.ca/english/profil01/CP01/ Index.cfm?Lang=E

Brown, J. (2005) The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter. San Franciso: Berrett-Koehler.

Statistics Canada Electoral District Profiles: 2001 Census. Available at www12.statcan.ca/english/ census01/products/standard/fedprofile/

Citizenship & Immigration Canada (2006). A Newcomer’s Introduction to Canada. Ottawa, Ont: CIC. Available at www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomer/guide/section06.html

Statistics Canada (2006). Caring Canadians, Involved Canadians: Highlights from the 2004 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating. Available at www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=71-542-XIE

Cooperrider, D.L. & Srivastva, S. (1987) “Appreciative inquiry in organizational life”. In R. Woodman & W. Pasmore (eds.). Research in Organizational Change and Development: Volume 1 (pp.129-169). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Available at http://www.appreciativeinquiry.org/AI-Life.htm

Statistics Canada (2002). Caring Canadians, Involved Canadians: Highlights from the 2000 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating. Available at www.givingandvolunteering.ca/reports/2000_NSGVP_ highlights.asp

Immigrant Services Society. (2005). 2003-2005 Refugee Trends. Unpublished presentation. Miles, M. & Huberman, M. (1994). Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Nakano, L. (2000). Volunteering as a lifestyle choice: negotiating self-identities in Japan. Ethnology, 39(2), 93-107. Scott, K., Selbee, K., & Reed, P. (2006). Making Connections: Social and Civic Engagement Among Canadian Immigrants. Ottawa, Ont.: Canadian Council on Social Development. Available at www.ccsd.ca/ pubs/2006/makingconnections/makingconnections.pdf

The Contributions of Immigrant Volunteers

Statistics Canada (1999). Caring Canadians, Involved Canadians: Highlights from the 1997 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating. Available at www.givingandvolunteering.ca/reports/1997_NSGVP_ highlights.asp Volunteer Canada (c. 2000). Career Information for New Immigrants and Refugees: Needs Assessment Research. Available online at: http://www.volunteer.ca/volunteer/ pdf/NewImmigrantsEng.pdf Volunteer Centre of Calgary (1992). Project Kaleidoscope: Cross-Cultural Partnerships in Volunteerism. Calgary, AB: Volunteer Centre of Calgary.

# 200 – 25 King Edward Street Coquitlam, BC V3K 4S8 Phone: 604-529-5139 Fax: 604-540-2290 [email protected]

www.volunteerconnections.net