The United Way is pleased to let you know that Making Grey Bruce Home’s online information hub (www.newcomersbrucegrey.ca) has won an International Award for Innovation from The Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (AIRS) which is the international association for the information and referral profession in Canada and the United States. The Newcomer Hub was the only Canadian award recipient; all of the other winners were from the United States.

The Newcomer Hub was created by Community Connection/211 Central East as part of the Making Grey Bruce Home’s project, (a project of the United Way of Bruce Grey in partnership with Welcoming Communities Grey Bruce).

The Hub provides 211 information in over 20 languages. It utilizes the encompassing 211 database of non-profit organizations, community groups and government agencies. The information in the database is updated every six months by the 211 system. It is specific to Bruce Grey but the hope is that other communities will see the value and look to develop their own specific site.

"Making Grey Bruce Home” was a project to develop, test and implement a model for increasing the capacity of rural regions to support the social and economic integration of current and anticipated refugees and vulnerable newcomers. The project is meant to benefit communities that do not have formal coordinated settlement and support services.

Newcomer Information Bruce Grey is an innovation because of its ability to provide up-to-date information in multiple languages. Being in its first generation, the website is still in development. As the site uses Google Translate, some newcomers who have tested the website expressed that the translation was a little “awkward” but understandable. At this time the search function is restricted to English but there are plans to explore how to search in other languages. The United Way of Bruce Grey will continue to assess its functionality as technology and budget allows.

For more information, please visit (www.newcomersbrucegrey.ca or call 519-376-1560.

source: United Way