People come to Canada for all sorts of reasons. When they choose to live in St. Catharines, Yaneth Londono is ready for them with a warm welcome to their new home.
A newcomer to St. Catharines herself - she came to Canada with her infant son in 2003 – Yaneth used her own experiences to found Links for Greener Learning to help others grow their futures here. The not-for-profit develops and implements programs and initiatives that promote sustainable practices within the community and provides opportunities for people to learn, get involved and foster an appreciation of their natural environment.
"Newcomers are under a lot of stress," Yaneth says. "You're trying to adapt to a new culture and at the same time learn a new language. Even something like recycling can be confusing to someone who's not from here. Most know how to grow food but they don't to know how to do it here in a different climate. So, we help teach the newcomers.
"We teach women how to sew, another skill they can use at home to support their families (by reusing materials that may have been sent to the landfills). Everything is related to the environment."
Links for Greener Learning offers workshops about gardening, waste management, and water and energy conservation to help newcomers to learn and benefit from invaluable on the job experience. Since starting in 2013, Links for Greener Learning expanded to include more programs, including community gardens; cooking classes (where participants are introduced to meals from different cultural backgrounds); food boxes full of fresh produce and healthy food to families in need; and school programs.
Yaneth also runs the Eco-Chic retail store in Port Dalhousie. Proceeds support Links for Greener Learning programs and newcomers use their skills and talents to create unique and beautiful products from "pre-loved" items and materials, helping them to reduce waste and create a source of income.
The Government of Canada is using immigration policies to boost economies, grow workforces and enrich neighbourhoods in communities across the country. St. Catharines is a destination of choice for those looking for a high quality of life and affordability and, as the only provincially-designated Urban Growth Centre in the Niagara Region, poised to grow to more than 165,000 in population by 2041. With this growth on the horizon, organizations such as Links for Greener Learning play an important role in the community to help newcomers transition to their new homes.
"I wanted to do something good with my life, something meaningful. Something to help other people."
Advice for other women entrepreneurs
An environmental lawyer in Colombia before coming to Canada, Yaneth said she had a hard choice to make for her new life in St. Catharines – continue practicing law or follow her passion for environmental preservation. While it wasn't easy being for a woman who was a newcomer with a young family to start her an organization helping other newcomers with her ideas firmly planted in mind she plowed ahead to grow her dream. Her advice to other women entrepreneurs is to start with good ideas and go for it.
And, be persistent.
"One of the biggest challenges as a newcomer is people don't know you," she said. "You have talk to people and you have to have them believe in you and what you want to do.
"Don't accept no for an answer. There were a lot of closed doors but I only focused on the people who opened them. There are resources – use them. Set your mind to it and make it happen.
It's not always easy for women. You have to make sacrifices. And there are going to be times when you won't know where you are going. Keep going."
The St. Catharines Enterprise Centre helps entrepreneurs with great ideas take their next steps in making there dreams reality. The Enterprise Centre is a unique partnership between Ontario's Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, and the City of St. Catharines' Economic Development and Tourism Services and offers guidance, resources and support to small business startups with the goal of helping more businesses start and succeed.
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