Saint John's YMCA newcomer program expands to meet big demand

One of the agencies helping immigrants and refugees in Saint John is so busy, it's had to expand.

The Greater Saint John YMCA Newcomer and Community Connections has moved to a new location to help meet the increased demand for services.

That's because of the growing immigrant community in the city, around 700, plus more than 500 new Syrians that are relying on the Saint John YMCA for settlement services.

"The number of clients that we've been serving at the regional Y has surpassed the space available to us there, especially the classroom space," said Angelique Simpson, the vice president of Newcomer and Community Connections at the Y.

Big demand for language training

Language courses were the immediate problem.

"We tried to figure out how we were going to fit them all into language, because that was the first most essential piece that they told us they really wanted," said Shilo Boucher, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Saint John.

So the Y has moved into its services into a new location at Hilyard Place on Main Street, a campus with more classrooms for language classes, and a new computer lab to help students find jobs.

The space was also designed to include more room for social events, to allow opportunities for the Y to invite in potential employers.

"Trying to build bridges between what they're already here with in terms of talent pool, where there are existing gapsin the job market," said Simpson. "Because we do know that jobs are available in New Brunswick, but they're in specified sectors."

Keeping the newcomers in province

Retaining the immigrants in the province is the key goal, and the YMCA wants to get the word out to employers that there are many well-trained and educated potential employees available for work.

"We have a number of high level learners from all around the world in our programs," Simpson said. "Whether they are provincial nominees, whether they are just new immigrants that have come here for a variety of maybe family or social or economic reasons, that we do serve a very diverse and mixed clientele."

Even with the new location, and continuing to use the space at the regional Y, the organizationexpects all its classrooms to continue to be crowded, with more newcomers on the way in the near future.