Newcomers' Centre

COVID-19 UPDATES (Service Modifications at the Newcomers' Centre)

The Newcomers' Centre values the health and safety of our staff, clients, volunteers, students, program participants, and donors. In light of COVID-19, ACSA Newcomers' Centre has modified its services to newcomers based on the recommendations of the Toronto Public Health and Public Health Ontario.

Our Newcomers' Centre staff have continuously provided support for newcomers via phone and online since the Covid-19 pandemic began. We have been providing assistance in connecting newcomers to relevant services to respond to their needs such as foodbank services, filling out application for income support, assisting newcomers in EI reporting, referral to housing support and other mental health services for further support. Our Online Language Training Program or Online LINC has continuously supported newcomers in improving their language skills. We recognize that the amount of information released by the government surrounding Covid-19 information and resources could be very overwhelming, thus we organized webinars to talk about the most recent supports, policies, system, etc put in place to support Canadians. Our webinars have been hosted by legal professionals and other professionals with designated subject matter expertise. We have also launched our Citizenship Test Preparation Webinar which helped newcomers learn more about Discover Canada to prepare them in taking the Citizenship Test. If you are a newcomer and needs help, please contact us at the number below. Stay safe everyone!

General Line: (416) 292-6912 ext. 3

Jamillah T. Mananghaya-Poernama, Manager (ext. 323) mjamillah@agincourtcommunityservices.com

Lorraine Arulnesan, Office Administrator (ext. 326) alorraine@agincourtcommunityservices.com

Tracy Yu, Settlement Team Lead (ext. 325) ytracy@agincourtcommunityservices.com

Karuna Wimalasuriya, Settlement Counselor (ext. 324) wkaruna@agincourtcommunityservices.com

Nedal Alshiekh, Settlement Counselor (ext. 322) anedal@agincourtcommunityservices.com

Christine Markwell, Language & Training Specialist (ext. 334) mchristine@agincourtcommunityservices.com

Lakshmi Rajan, Language Program Coordinator (ext. 321) rlakshmi@agincourtcommunityservices.com Cel: (647) 210-9466

Evone Keyork, Settlement Counselor (ext. 333) kevone@agincourtcommunityservices.com

Sarah Liu, Settlement Counselor/Small Business Advisor (ext. 332) Lsarah@agincourtcommunityservices.com Cel: (416) 886-6912

Shaden Jebahi, Project Lead (ext. 335) jshaden@agincourtcommunityservices.com Cel: (647) 881-2245

We are closely monitoring the situation and will provide timely updates should we need to make any further changes to our programming. Be safe everyone!

About Us

The Newcomers' Centre delivers a complete package of settlement programs and services for new immigrants, refugees and newcomer LGBTQ+ through knowledge transfer, capacity-building, employment support and creating meaningful connections to help them succeed in Canada. We started in 2010 and has since then offered mutliple programs and services funded by the Immigration Refugee Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Province of Ontario, United Way of Greater Toronto, corporate foundations and individual donors which enabled us to serve over 10,000 newcomers in their settlement and integration journey over a period of time.

The Newcomers' Centre Team

Our Team speaks 12 languages other than English

Arabic
Armenian
Tagalog
Tamil
Mandarin
Cantonese
Hindi
Urdu
Sinhala
Telugu
Malayalam
French

Who Do We Serve?

Permanent Residents
Convention Refugees
Protected Persons
Live-in Caregivers
LGBTQ+ newcomers

The Newcomers' Centre

The Newcomers' Centre provides services to newcomers to assist them in their settlement and integration process. We were established in 2010 and generously funded by the Immigration Refugee Citizenship Canada (IRCC). We offer a wide array of services from information and referral, one-on-one settlement counseling support, employment referral, upgrading of skills, preparation of immigration related application forms (PR renewal and application for citizenship), orientation sessions, filling out forms, etc.

The Newcomers' Centre assists the following newcomers:

Permanent Residents
Convention Refugees
Protected Persons
Live-in Caregivers
LGBTQ+ newcomers
Newcomers Seniors

Economic and Skills Opportunities for Stronger Women

This Project supports those who identify as Women who are:

Permanent Residents
Convention Refugees
Protected Persons
Refugee Claimants
Citizens

Project Activities

Training/Licensing/Certification

Food Handling
Cake Decoration Training
Front of House Operations/Guest Services
Restaurant and Banquet Server Training
Training on Starting a Catering Business

Legal Assistance Centre

ACSA's Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) is a two-year project funded by the Law Society of Ontario to increase the capacity of ACSA to address the legal needs of immigrants, refugees and racialized groups in Toronto East (Scarborough). It focuses in 4 areas of Law: Immigration, Housing, Family and Youth Justice.

Project activities:

Capacity building for ACSA staff, clients, volunteers and partners;
Mobilization of legal professionals/law experts from various groups and associations;
Creation of ACSA Legal Assistance Centre to provide pro-bono services at various ACSA locations;

Locations and Hours

Dorset Park Community Hub, 1911 Kennedy Rd. Unit 105, Scarborough, ON M1P 2L9 Tel: (416) 292-6912 EXT. 3
(9am-5pm) Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

(9am-6pm) Tuesdays and Thursdays (Room 105)

Itinerant Locations

Toronto Public Library-McGregor Park Branch (2219 Lawrence Avenue East), 1-3pm, Tuesdays

Toronto Public Library –Kennedy & Eglinton Branch (2380 Eglinton Ave E), itinerant services are temporary on-hold but Citizenship Test Workshops are on-going

Toronto Public Library-Cedarbrae Branch (545 Markham Rd.), 2-4pm, 2nd and 4th Thursday of the Month

Scarborough General Hospital (3030 Lawrence Ave. E,, Suite 108) 9:30am-2pm, 2nd Wednesday of the Month

Contact Person

Jamillah Mananghaya-Poernama, RSW
Manager, Newcomers' Centre
1911 Kennedy Rd. Unit 205, Scarborough, ON M1P 2L9
Tel: (416) 292-6912 ext. 323
Fax: (416) 292-6913
Email: mjamillah@agincourtcommunityservices.com

ACSA had the pleasure of hosting the media announcement of Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen on the removal of the condition that applied to some sponsored spouses or partners of Canadian citizens and permanent residents to live with their sponsor for two years in order to keep their permanent resident status. This upholds the Government of Canada's commitment to family reunification and its support to gender equality.