Collective Impact
As a collaborative community table, HIPC is in a unique position to focus on the collective impact of efforts to improve local settlement outcomes. To this end, in 2019 a small team of HIPC members began working with advisors funded by the McConnell Foundation’s Innoweave Initiative for Newcomers. Meeting regularly for more than a year, we drafted a new strategic plan (theory of change) to shape our focus until 2025.
It is hoped that HIPC partners can see how their own work and that of their organizations can move our community towards these outcomes.
HIPC’s impact statement is two-fold, focusing on creating successful settlement experiences and sense of belong for newcomers.
HIPC has adopted three operational principles to guide our work:
- The basic needs of newcomers are foundational to achieving newcomer settlement and sense of belonging. HIPC’s work will connect influencers and resources in our community to improve equitable access to, for example, affordable housing, food, employment, and healthcare.
- Supporting and advocating for positive outcomes for newcomers in our community must include leadership from those who have been newcomers to Canada themselves. Lived experience and community networks are essential.
- HIPC commits to taking practical positive actions that are informed and evaluated by an anti-racism anti-oppression (ARAO) approach. ARAO principles should be embedded in all HIPC work.
Governance Overview
HIPC is a multi-layered community partnership initiative comprised of a Council lead by a Chair and Vice Chair, four Committees each lead by a Chair or Co-Chairs, ad hoc Working Groups, and a Secretariat of three staff. The City of Hamilton holds the contract for funding from the Government of Canada.
Three committees oversee and engage in work focused on three strategic priority areas
- Economic Stability – enhancing the ability of newcomers to acquire skills, find appropriate employment, and build assets
- Social Inclusion – readying Hamilton to be a welcoming community that values newcomer voices and contributions
- Community Engagement – building capacity among newcomers to navigate our city, access services, and participate as equal members of society
In addition, an Evaluation Committee oversees the implementation of HIPC’s evaluation framework and is a point of contact for any research projects.
For more information about joining a committee or the partnership council, please contact HIPC staff.
Current Projects
Annual Reports
HIPC Annual Report 2023-2024
"This report outlines many of the key initiatives taken by HIPC in the past year, including our inaugural Immigrant Survey. HIPC models community listening, and we will continue to respond to emerging needs in Hamilton in a way that is innovative, collaborative, and empowering.
HIPC provides a table where various community leaders and organizations gather to share what they see on the ground and to strategize about how we can work collectively to help newcomers get the best start they deserve. This newcomer-focused collective voice is HIPC’s value proposition."
HIPC Annual Report 2022-2023
"HIPC provides a unique table in Hamilton, and the work is important, even if often taking place out of the public eye. Over the past year in particular, HIPC initiatives supported incoming Afghans and Ukrainians by convening and participating in coordinating tables that included various sectors and ethnocultural
associations.
In November, HIPC’s Program Officer Araf and I co-presented this Hamilton model to
the Pathways to Prosperity national immigration conference in Ottawa. This was a highlight of the year,
along with meeting the prime minister as part of a Ukrainian welcome event last spring..."
HIPC Annual Report 2021-2022
"Over the past year, we saw ongoing challenges with the global pandemic and health inequities plus some new ones such as emerging refugee crises, first in Afghanistan and now in Ukraine. During these uncertain times, HIPC has continued to advocate for the basic needs of newcomers and to identify new ways we can bring service providers, community members, newcomers and others together around common goals.
One year into our new strategic plan, I am especially proud of HIPC’s COVID-19 response and engagement and the creation of the Hamilton Afghan Resettlement Taskforce. Much other important work is shown in this report. Each project is aligned with our collective strategic goal of seeing newcomers to Hamilton have successful settlement experiences and feel a sense of belonging."
HIPC Annual Report 2020-2021
"The past year has been a challenging one for many of us. By the beginning of our fiscal year on April 1, 2020, we knew things were going to be different, including the uncertainty of the pandemic and the transition to working exclusively online and from home. At the same time, HIPC itself was on solid footing: we had received a five-year grant from the federal government, the longest term of funding in our history. Our opportunities to engage with the public and to host events had declined, but we were able to engage in longer-term planning, and to focus on foundational and strategic pieces, including the launch of a strategic plan and the formation of our new council."
HIPC Annual Report 2019-2020
"HIPC has experienced another busy and productive year, and I have been privileged to witness this work up close, including some exciting collective impact discussions that will shape HIPC’s direction in the coming five years. I was particularly pleased by the launch of HIPC Employment and Language Task Force late in 2019 and look forward to seeing the fruit it bears for newcomers in the labour market."
HIPC Annual Report 2018-2019
"HIPC has experienced another busy and productive year, and I have been privileged to witness this work up close, including some exciting collective impact discussions that will shape HIPC’s direction in the coming five years. I was particularly pleased by the launch of HIPC Employment and Language Task Force late in 2019 and look forward to seeing the fruit it bears for newcomers in the labour market."