The Peel Newcomer Profile:
A new online tool aimed to strengthen planning and outreach through data
As part of its third strategic priority - Strengthening service coordination and planning across Peel Region - PNSG's Service Delivery Network (SDN) set out to steer the process of Service Coordination. Building on the premise of the "No Wrong Door Approach," this work was intended to develop seamless systems of navigation for newcomers and immigrants in five neighbourhoods in Peel: Caledon Community Services (Bolton), Peel Multicultural Council (Meadowvale), Polycultural Immigrant & Community Services (Sheridan), Punjabi Community Health Services (Springdale) and Malton Neighbourhood Health Services (Malton). These five neighbourhoods were selected, as pilot projects, as a result of community consultations and reflection of established neighbourhoods where newcomer/immigrant populations were growing.
Both residents and service providers within these five neighourhoods spoke about the need to enhance services and remove barriers at community consultations. The need to keep the community abreast of programs and services and make data available to help inform, enhance, and support program planning and outreach was also identified by residents and service providers. Consultation also revealed a key gap – none of the current online tools had newcomer specific data and mapping of services. PNSG organized a meeting between Peel Data Centre (PDC), 211, and the Immigration Portal, a first of its kind, to discuss the areas of overlap and intersection, identifying the following:
- customized newcomer statistics that could paint the complex picture (e.g., Immigrant Status and Period of Immigration Housing Affordability and Income)
- updated statistics by small levels of geography
- mapping of newcomer-related services available across the Region
With a robust and interactive site, discussions with the Peel Data Centre (PDC) were furthered and a partnership formed to investigate the three areas above. PDC attended the Service Delivery Network working group meetings to gain an understanding of the data that would most benefit the planning and implementation of services and programs for newcomers.
ACTION
The partnership between the Peel Data Centre (PDC) and PNSG's Service Delivery Network working group has resulted in the creation of an online tool, 2011 Region of Peel Newcomer Profiles, that depicts data by Service Delivery Areas, and allows the reader the ability to compare data across the following variables:
- Peel Total: Includes all non-immigrants, immigrants, and non-permanent residents
- Peel Newcomer: Refers to the immigrant population who landed in Canada between 2006- 2011
- Peel Immigrant: Includes individuals who are or have been landed immigrants/permanent residents. Individuals were granted the right to live in Canada permanently by immigration authorities. Immigrants include all individuals who have landed in Canada prior to May 10th 2011
- Area Municipalities: Three municipalities in Peel Region: City of Brampton, Town of Caledon, and City of Mississauga
- Service Delivery Areas: are geographies intended to support service planning and delivery, by providing service providers with data that is relevant to the local geographies they serve.
The data is depicted in four key themes:
Demographics and Ethnicity
| Employment and Education
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Income and Housing
| Language
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The Newcomer Profile tool developed in partnership with the Peel Data Centre had a soft launch in early 2015. Feedback received from several community demonstrations of the tool have been positive and continue to support the fine-tuning of the tool.