Jan has made an amazing impact on the community in Central Alberta as the Public Awareness Coordinator – Community Educator with Central Alberta Refugee Effort for fifteen years. Jan has proven herself to be a leader in delivering intercultural training, providing support and information in regards to immigration, settlement, human rights, social justice issues, and community development. She is a strong and passionate advocate, ally and champion of inclusion and integration for all diversity.
As the Public Awareness Coordinator – Community Educator at C.A.R.E., she delivers hundreds of workshops and presentations per year throughout Central Alberta in colleges, universities, workplaces, organizations and conferences. These presentations are making a difference in the lives of students and adults and focus on cross cultural awareness, knowledge, communication, sensitivity, human rights, anti-racism, and multiculturalism.
In more recent years, she has completed much research on cultural competency in organizations, management of culturally diverse workforces, and intercultural strategies and tools for business which she shares with the groups she is connected with. She is an active member of the Red Deer community and regularly volunteers in different capacities – producing and directing plays for local theatre groups, on various committees e.g. Education for Somalia, and is passionate about community development in particular regarding the attraction, retention and integration of new immigrants to Central Alberta.
Jan has worked with the Welcoming and Inclusive Communities initiatives in Red Deer, Innisfail, Lacombe and Olds as a committee member, consultant and trainer sharing her expertise to assist these communities in working with newcomers. She has organized many multicultural events and activities, creating many local partnerships and collaborations with other organizations and agencies and developed new initiatives for March 21st, Human Rights Day, International Women’s Day and World Refugee Day. She brings a confidence to the newcomer volunteers that she has worked with over the years at C.A.R.E and they are very appreciative of the assistance and support she has provided in their transition and settlement in Canada. She has a positive, pro-active attitude and is always willing to go beyond the role of her position to assist communities and clients to become welcoming and inclusive of all diversity.
She was a facilitator with AMSSA’s Safe Harbour: Respect for All Initiative and delivered many workshops in Central Alberta. She is also a trained Facilitator of A.R.T. (Anti- Racism Response Training).
Because of her expertise, she has delivered Presentations and Workshops at numerous conferences such as the Canadian Race Relations Foundation Conference in Toronto (recipient of an Award for the development of the Public Awareness Program) Alberta Social Forum, the Saskatchewan Settlement Conference on “Best Practices”, the Parkland Regional Libraries Conference, Metropolis Pre- Conference Workshops, Immigrants in Our Own neighbourhoods – Building Communities – Together ( AAISA Conference), Rural Cultural Diversity Symposium on Welcoming Communities, in Strathmore to name a few. She was a recipient of the Red Deer Community Foundation Women of Excellence Award for Human Services and also the Red Deer Mayors Award in 2013.
As part of Alberta Culture Days in 2015 Jan produced “Journeys of Hope “–developing four plays telling the stories of local refugees using a variety of multi -media, including film, dance, poetry, songs, music, story- telling, which integrated over 100 refugees, immigrants, members of the public, and the arts community, and resulted in a live performance to an audience of 300 and five films by CACHE Productions, which are available on YouTube, have had local public showings and were recently shown at the National Small Centre Conference, 2018, held in Red Deer. She was a recipient of the Red Deer Community Foundation Women of Excellence Award for Human Services and also the Red Deer Mayors Award in 2013.
Jan is indeed an inspirational and dedicated person who has focused her personal and work life on making a positive collective impact
