Who We Are - Let the Contest Begin

As a follow up to our previous post, this coming Monday, November 9th, CIES will launch its "Who We Are" Contest. The contest's overall objective is to have clients understand and express the overall mission of CIES, while familiarizing staff and arming them with the best ways to describe what CIES does as an organization.  All classes will participate as a group and the top class from each building will receive a prize. A third group will receive a prize for most original / unique project.  There are no strict guidelines in place, as the project could come in the form of writing, photos, or both, a video, a presentation or even a play.  The only must is that whatever the project may be, it captures who we are and what we do. To help you with your focus, a summary of CIES, with our mission, goals and vision has been supplied to you.  When working on this project, always ask yourself if the work  being produced comes back to what you read below.

Organizational Summary

The Calgary Immigrant Educational Society (C.I.E.S.) is a non profit registered charitable organization established in 1988 with one primary goal: to provide Calgary immigrants and economically disadvantaged individuals with a solid foothold in Canada and afford them the opportunities to grow into productive, confident and contributive Canadians.  C.I.E.S. is governed by a Board of Directors made up of devoted community minded volunteers and operates through funding from both government and private organizations. From our humble beginnings, C.I.E.S. has grown from 5 volunteers in a single office to an employer of about 90 dedicated staff members and over 100 volunteers. C.I.E.S. now operates and is in full ownership of both our main office building in Calgary’s SE Forest Lawn district and our branch building in Calgary’s NE Whitethorn district. Since its inception, C.I.E.S. has assisted nearly a quarter of million clients to strengthen their identities as members of Alberta society, offering services valued at tens of millions of dollars.

Mission Statement: Provide immigrants and economically challenged individuals the tools to be successful and active participants in the community

Goals 

• To provide English as a second language classes to newcomers 
• To assist newcomers and low income Canadians to be more sufficient through employment 
• To provide fair access to newcomers to existing services and organizations by helping them overcome various barriers 
• To promote mutual understanding and respect between the mainstream and the ethnic communities on cultural issues 

Objective / Vision: To help newcomers and economically challenged Calgarians become productive and successful members of society

**Deadline for all entries is December 9th, 2015**