Annual General Meeting

The Gateway Association Family Resource Centre (FRC) is located on Treaty 6 territory. Founded by families that envisioned a “gateway to a better life”, our Family Resource Centre is here for families supporting loved ones across all ages with disabilities (developmental, physical, sensory, mental, or neurological) and/or health conditions impacting their well-being, independence and social participation.

The ultimate goal of our Family Resource Centre is to enhance each family’s expertise on their own children and provide concrete resources that can ease the journey as the family navigates the next steps. Our FRC team is made up of families, neurodiverse individuals, and multiple ethnicities that have varied experiences. The team partners with various organizations to continually increase our diversity of thought and capacity to work with all families.

• Sahana Parameswara (she/her), FRC Director, Executive Director
• Betty Hahn-Sidor (she/her), Planning Supports Manager
• Fiona Wilson (she/her), RDSP Coordinator & FRC Administrative Assistant
• Jacqueline Dymianiw (she/her), RDSP Coordinator
• Kristina Laban (they/them), Family Resource Centre Coordinator
• Miriam Ading (she/her), Family Resource Centre Coordinator
• Stacy Grainger-Schatz (she/her), Planning Supports Manager
• Yonique Ritch (she/her), Family Resource Manager

Learn more about FRC team members HERE

2022 was our 2nd year as Family Resource Centre for the Edmonton region. Collaborations increased by 100% as did the people served. The FRC Team is on a learning and reflecting pathway to examine team dynamics and community dynamics with an anti racism and equity lens.

We are grateful for the cultural brokers we collaborate with- for their trust, insight and wisdom. 

This year we welcomed two Registered Disability Saving Plan Coordinators, Fiona and Jacquie, who has been offering RDSP support to families, individuals and service providers.

In 2022, the FRC:

• Served close to 1000 families directly in 2022.
• Through the website, newsletter, Gateway App, Facebook Groups, we impacted over 3000 folks in the Edmonton region.
• Facilitated 44 workshops
• Attended 30 events (includes presentations)

RDSP Coordinators:

• Provided RDSP support to over 170 people
• Completed 16 Service Provider and community presentations
• And have established 10 community partnerships in the Edmonton area.

See the full 2022 report HERE

The Employment Resource Centre (ERC) supports participants to find meaningful, paid, employment and meets them where they are at throughout the process. We provide holistic supports and ensure that participants receive resources, and community referrals not only for their employment goals but also for other aspects of their life such as mental health resources. We continue to impact multiple facets of peoples lives by supporting them to find meaningful employment in areas they are passionate about while also supporting people to build their confidence, capacity, skills, make new connections and connect with community.

• Renate Burwash (she/her), Director, Diversity & Inclusion Consulting/Director Employment Programs
• Ashleigh Benson (she/her), Manager, Program Development/Career & Inclusion Consultant
• Cassie Shaw (she/her), Workplace Inclusion Strategist
• Emma Kiefftenbeld (she/her), Career & Inclusion Consultant
• Jamie Thiessen (they/them), Workplace Inclusion Strategist
• Jasmine Hasiuk (she/her), Intake & Mentorship Coordinator
• Myra Tanwir (she/her), Career & Inclusion Consultant
• Sandra Zilka (she/her), Data Coordination Manager/Employment Administrator
• Menda Tesfaye-Visser, Workplace Inclustion Strategist
• Toby Grant, Digital Literacy Coordinator

Learn more about the Edmonton ERC HERE

General

• We supported 83 Job Seekers in 2022.
• We worked with 65 employers in 2022.
• Added 5 new team members

Workshops

• Facilitated 20 workshops in collaboration with the Calgary Employment Team
• Facilitate 4 Financial Literacy sessions and 1 series
• Hosted Job Search Workshop in person
• Started facilitating Lived Experience Learning sessions, where job seekers can share their employment journeys with other job seekers
• Hosted several DEAM events, including a Career Fair, Cheers to Inclusion event, and the DEAM Big Contest

We are supporting people to engage in the digital world and engage with people in person now that restrictions have eased up.
Building employer relationships and capacity to support the people we work with continues to be one of our priorities.
We not only support the person but we support the entire family to make the employment journey successful for all.
Our program supports the betterment of people lives…. their relationships, financial stability and independence

Our employment team has developed numerous workshops to support participants through all phases of our employment process. The goal of these workshops is to build participant capacity so that everyone that successfully completes the program has the skills and knowledge to be successful independently in the future.

Community Partnerships 

CMHA
During our monthly meetings, Gateway staff are able to ask questions that either specifically or more broadly target issues that we are seeing in the mental health of the individuals we support. The team can then move forward in a more informed approach that limits harm and facilitates growth.

NiGiNan Housing Ventures
A registered non-profit that works to address housing needs and requirements of indigenous people living in Edmonton. Through this partnership, we have been connected to a few different participants to join our employment program. However, because of the transient nature of people accessing NiGiNan services and our capacity to bring on more participants, we haven’t had a lasting opportunity to work with the folks utilizing their services.

Kibbi
To continue supporting those who need jobs, we have been using the Kibbi app and web browser frequently in the job searching phase of our program. Kibbi was introduced to Gateway through the CEO, who has worked hard to make this resource accessible for all that use it. It is a resource that is especially beneficial to the individuals we support who do not have driver’s licenses.

Among the fluctuating social and funding environments, our team is proud that we were able to continue to provide high quality one on one support for the people we are working with!

The Employment Resource Centre (ERC) supports youth to discover their skills and interests and plan for a career that best aligns with their values. Participants are assisted to develop their resume, action plan, and connect to training or educational opportunities that suit their needs. We offer a variety of virtual workshops to help participants build confidence and practice skills like interviewing and professional communication. Our team builds relationships with the local business community and facilitate talent matches that last.

• Samantha Grabinsky (she/her), Senior Program Manager
• Akinyi Aboka, Career & Inclusion Consultant
• Courtney Lanouette (she/her), Career and Inclusion Consultant
• Gene Lachica (he/him), Career and Inclusion Consultant
• Jae Lee (he/him), Workplace Inclusion Strategist
• Marnie Quan (she/her), Career and Inclusion Consultant
• Ricardo Yepez (he/him), Career and Inclusion Consultant
• Stephen Wright (he/him), Workplace Inclusion Strategist
• Zehra Voong (she/her), Workplace Inclusion Strategist

Learn more about the Calgary ERC team HERE

• Supported 115 Job Seekers
• Connected with 200+ employers
• Facilitated over 80 virtual workshops
• Hosted stakeholder events, including Employer Networking Lawn Bowling, Holiday Party, and Cheers to Inclusion events
• Participated in Calgary DEAM Proclamation event, Cheers to Inclusion, DEAM Artist’s market and the DEAM Conference in Canmore, Alberta
• Women’s Centre Holiday Toy Drive
• Mental Health Education day with CMHA

Gateway to Digital Inclusion (GTDI) is a Digital Literacy program for Alberta residents, age 18 and older, who self-identify as having a disability-based barrier. This program was designed to help people gain the basic digital skills to engage online and keep up with the changing digital world. Through a series of interactive online workshops, field trips, courses, and tutorials; participants can build online connections and network, create digital content, have a digital presence, and build employable digital skills. After intake, participants can sign up for any of the workshop they are interested in, repeat workshop if they choose, and access digital literacy tutoring sessions. Gateway to Digital Inclusion helps participants build the digital skills and confidence to work, play, and engage online in a way that is meaningful to them.

The Gateway to Digital Inclusion Mobile App is designed to assist any Albertan family in navigating life while supporting a loved one with a developmental disability. The app covers topics across the lifespan and is available to 24/7. This allows Gateway to join community members on their journey, wherever they are at. Workshops and programs are available to help develop digital literacy skills. Additionally, the APP aims to complement all the different programming being executed by various teams at Gateway. By organizing events and workshops on themes such as mental health, story sharing, art and expression, our team is working towards providing a more holistic experience.

• Lee Pilkington (she/her), Project Lead, Digital Literacy Coordinator YYC
  
• Jessica Frechette (she/her), Digital Literacy Coordinator YEG
• Toby Grant – Digital Literacy Coordinator
• Heath Birkholz – Digital Event & Platform Coordinator
• Maigan van der Giessen – Digital Event & Platform Coordinator
  Rabia Dhanani – Project Evaluation & Reporting
• Kevin McKee (he/him), IT Coordinator
• Sahana Parameswara (she/her), Research and Development 

Learn more about the GTDI team HERE

• Added 3 new members to the GTDI App team:
  • Heath Birkholz
  • Maigan van der Giessen
  • Rabia Dhanani
• Expanded our program workshops, see all HERE
• Gateway to Digital Inclusion offered 443 Digital Literacy sessions/workshops
• Hosted 30 Events on the Gateway App
• The combined attendance for our workshops and events, for the year, was 730 and 286 learning certificates were awarded.
• Our Digital Literacy program had 153 participants
• 233 new registrations on the Gateway App over the course of the year

Participants in the program reported improvement in their (foundational) digital skills as well as increased confidence and comfort in navigating the digital world and engaging online. When asked about their experience in the Gateway to Digital Inclusion program participants responded:

“It has been fantastic. The team at Gateway are wonderful and really helped me, as well as making me feel welcome in all the classes and at Gateway as a whole.”

“It has been wonderful! I’ve explored skills I wouldn’t have tried on my own and improved in areas I had already tried. I’m still looking forward to a few more classes and I hope there will be many more in the future!”

In 2022, GTDI introduced SkillShare sessions on the Gateway App. Skillshare sessions are created and facilitated by and for members of the Disability Community on a wide variety of topics including by not limited to: Creative Writing, Inner Confidence and Overcoming Barriers, and Benefits of a Support Animal. Skillshares have continued into 2023, and there are number of exciting sessions planned in the coming months.

In addition, the GTDI team received funding and began work on some exciting new projects for 2023 such as development of Version 2 of the Gateway App, a Digital Coach channel for the App, Digital Storytelling sessions, and a new Work Simulation.

The Inception:

With Alberta and Canadian workplaces currently experiencing workforce shortages, especially because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and with these shortages only projected to become larger in the next 10-15 years, Gateway Association was able to quickly identify an opportunity to formally and continue to support Alberta employers in becoming more inclusive. Utilizing proven workforce strategies such as equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and leaning into our existing 10+ years’ experience in supporting job seekers and employers informally through our employment program, plans for a provincial EDI resource centered were created.

The GEDI-Hub officially launced in February of 2022 and is Alberta’s first and only free workplace EDI resource centre. The GEDI-Hub offers customized consultations, free weekly workshops, and offers other resources located through the website. The team of Diversity and Engagement Consultants are located across the province and meets each workplace where they currently are in their EDI journey- whether starting from the beginning or finalizing an existing strategy!

The GEDI-Hub is a “one-stop-shop” in helping workplaces build their EDI capacity and knowledge. The GEDI-Hub is funded by the Government of Canada and its services will be offered at no cost to workplaces.

In addition to supporting workplaces, the GEDI-Hub will support the promotion of employment-focused service providers through a service provider directory and marketing activities. The GEDI-Hub also connects and introduces workplaces to a diverse talent pool of job seekers through a network of Alberta service providers. once launched, the Hub assists with all types of workplaces and organizations – ranging from small to enterprise-level and for and not for profit.

• Sean McEwen (he/him), Director
• Hayley Richards (she/her), Diversity & Engagement Consultant
• Shannon Black (she/her), Marketing and Communications
• Nishan Yihalem (she/her), Program Administrative Assistant
• Crystal Mulik (she/her), Diversity and Engagement Consultant
• B Adair (he/him): Diversity and Engagement Consultant
• Judy Sillito (she/her), Partner – Consultant through Multicultural Health Brokers
• Rosanna Mascarenhas (she/her), Diversity and Engagement Consultant
• Vincent Wells (he/him), Diversity and Engagement Consultant
• Lauren Migrino (she/her), Diversity and Engagement Consultant

Learn more about the GEDI-Hub team HERE

• Through workshops, website resource access and through customized consulting sessions, we have assisted over 3000 workplaces to build their EDI capacity, knowledge, and skills.
• To date, over 2150 employers have increased learning and capacity around workplace EDI by attending workshops, training and information events, customized workplace EDI audits, etc.
• We have completed a total of 61 weekly workshops on a variety of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion topics – which have been attended by a total of 669 workplaces, ranging from large enterprise businesses to not-for-profit organizations
• The access to EDI expertise and resources has been met with great enthusiasm by HR Managers and the clear message is that the GEDI-Hub is a welcome addition to the business community in Alberta
• DEAM Events:
  • A DEAM Career Fair for job seekers with disabilities – Edmonton – Oct 6, 2022
  • Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Livestream Event and Pop-Up Market – Calgary Oct 6, 2022
  • Medicine Hat Chamber of Commerce DEAM Breakfast and Networking Event – Oct 12, 2022
  • Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce Events – Oct 12, 19 and 20 (Disability Employment Presentations)
  • Northern Alberta Inclusive Employer Awards – including DEAM Radio PSAs (October 2022)
  • DEAM IDEA Conference – October 12 and 13
  • DEAM Inclusive Employer Awards Gala – Calgary – Oct 26, 2022 (51 Employers nominated)
• Mayor’s Luncheon in May
• Sponsored ACDS conference (September 28/29)
• Multiple Indigenous & presented collabs with Community Features Treaty 7

In 2022, Gateway expanded and a full time Aministration Support and Organizational Development team was put in place. The team has been able to focus on strategic planning, processes, procedures, offering support to all Gateway teams and members to increase the efficiency of Gateway as a whole.

• Sahana Parameswara (she/her) – Executive Director, FRC Director, Research and Development

• Ashton Bennett (she/her) – Communication and Engagement Coordinator

• Cheri Cleyn (she/her) – Executive Assistant, Organizational Development Specialist

• Doris Wang (she/her) – Bookkeeper/ Payroll Clerk

• Kevin McKee (he/him) – IT Support

• Kimberly Sweeney (she/her) – Administrative Generalist

General

• We supported 83 Job Seekers in 2022.
• We worked with 65 employers in 2022.
• Added 5 new team members

Workshops

• Facilitated 20 workshops in collaboration with the Calgary Employment Team
• Facilitate 4 Financial Literacy sessions and 1 series
• Hosted Job Search Workshop in person
• Started facilitating Lived Experience Learning sessions, where job seekers can share their employment journeys with other job seekers
• Hosted several DEAM events, including a Career Fair, Cheers to Inclusion event, and the DEAM Big Contest

We are supporting people to engage in the digital world and engage with people in person now that restrictions have eased up.
Building employer relationships and capacity to support the people we work with continues to be one of our priorities.
We not only support the person but we support the entire family to make the employment journey successful for all.
Our program supports the betterment of people lives…. their relationships, financial stability and independence

Our employment team has developed numerous workshops to support participants through all phases of our employment process. The goal of these workshops is to build participant capacity so that everyone that successfully completes the program has the skills and knowledge to be successful independently in the future.

Community Partnerships 

CMHA
During our monthly meetings, Gateway staff are able to ask questions that either specifically or more broadly target issues that we are seeing in the mental health of the individuals we support. The team can then move forward in a more informed approach that limits harm and facilitates growth.

NiGiNan Housing Ventures
A registered non-profit that works to address housing needs and requirements of indigenous people living in Edmonton. Through this partnership, we have been connected to a few different participants to join our employment program. However, because of the transient nature of people accessing NiGiNan services and our capacity to bring on more participants, we haven’t had a lasting opportunity to work with the folks utilizing their services.

Kibbi
To continue supporting those who need jobs, we have been using the Kibbi app and web browser frequently in the job searching phase of our program. Kibbi was introduced to Gateway through the CEO, who has worked hard to make this resource accessible for all that use it. It is a resource that is especially beneficial to the individuals we support who do not have driver’s licenses.

Among the fluctuating social and funding environments, our team is proud that we were able to continue to provide high quality one on one support for the people we are working with!