Luis Aguirre knows how difficult it can be to adjust to life in a new country. As the executive director of the Victoria Immigrant Refugee Centre Society (VIRCS), he and his team work firsthand with newcomers from across the world, supporting them and their families as they settle into life in a new city and find their footing within a new culture.
“Navigating a new system in a different language in an environment that is not what you’re used too – it poses a lot of barriers,” he says. “At VIRCS, we are a community-based organization that provides services for those newcomers and refugees who are looking for the right supports to help make their new life in Canada.”
Serving around 3,000 newcomers each year, VIRCS’s programming includes a Community Resilience Program (CRP) – which provides different education classes, services and supports – expressly designed for individuals of diverse backgrounds to support their settlement and adjustment to the Greater Victoria area.
To better support CRP participants, staff were eager to transform the centre’s large, but under-utilized multipurpose room to help deliver their diverse programming and classes – but first needed to source the required funds.
“We were trying to find the resources to make this space more adequate to deliver the structured training to all of our clients,” says Aguirre. “We were so happy when we learned we got a grant.”
The grant – a $16,000 B.C. Community Gaming Grant from the Province of B.C. – was used to support upgrades to the room, helping transform it into a modern, fully equipped training classroom, as well as a welcoming space where participants regularly access education, connect with staff and spend time with fellow classmates and community members.
The impact of the upgrade has been immediate and significant, both for staff and clients.
“This renovation has made this space super useful and a very safe space for our clients,” says Kimia Yousefian, case management and engagement coordinator. “With our elders and seniors, for instance, many of them don’t know how to use computers or send an email. When you start to see them learning from this training, you see that confidence [grow].”
VIRCS is just one of many thousands of organizations across B.C. supported by the Province’s Community Gaming Grants program.
Every year, $140 million of BCLC’s net income goes back to the Province to be distributed through Community Gaming Grants to support a wide range of non-profit organizations – like VIRCS – in their delivery of vital, local and ongoing programs and services that benefit individuals, families and communities throughout B.C.
Charis Tazumi, community access and outreach coordinator, believes the impact of their grant goes much further than the configuration and set-up of a room.
“I’d say that the overall impact of using this space and this program is empowering people. We’re really lucky that we get to play that part in people’s journeys.”
Each year, BCLC’s net income goes back to the Province and is distributed in many ways to benefit British Columbians, including $140 million that goes towards the Province’s Community Gaming Grants program to support non-profit organizations and initiatives like the Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society.
