Coordinators

SWIS Coordinator
Dawn Franklin

Email: dawn@nccpeterborough.ca
Phone: (705)743-0882 ext 223; (705) 313 3674 (cell)
Languages: English

Dawn  is the SWIS Coordinator focusing on connecting families with children and youth to the resources, programs and supports in the schools and community.

Dawn has experience teaching in public and private elementary schools.  As a Settlement Support Worker in Schools in Saskatoon, Dawn assisted new families to integrate into their schools and community.   Dawn holds a B.Sc. (Kinesiology) University of Waterloo and a B. Ed. University of Western Ontario.

Partnership Council Coordinator (interim)
Safo Musta

Email: safo@nccpeterborough.ca
Phone: (705) 743-0882 ext 234
Languages: English, Albanian, some Spanish

Safo is responsible for coordinating the various committees of the PPCII and for facilitating the Newcomer Advisory Group.

Safo is originally from Albania and has a law degree from the University of Tirana. She earned an LL.M. from Temple Law School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in US and a second LL.M. from Riga Graduate School of Law in Riga, Latvia. Before moving to Canada she served as Policy and Advocacy Specialist and Project Manager on several development projects in Kosovo. Safo shares a passion for traveling and writing. She is very excited to join the PPCII team.

Community Coordinator
Anne Elliott

Email: anne@nccpeterborough.ca
Phone: (705) 743 0882 ext. 222
Languages: English

Anne is the Community Coordinator responsible for arranging group activities such as trips to discover the local area, social events and conversation circles.  She also manages and supports our volunteers.

Before relocating to Canada with her family in 2007, Anne was an Education Administrator in England working at the University of Warwick and for a large public school board. She is a qualified high school teacher with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the University of Wales.

As a newcomer to Peterborough herself, she is delighted to welcome others and to help them explore and feel a part of their new community.

Settlement Services Coordinator
Tamara Hoogerdyk

Phone: (705) 743 0882 ext. 224
Email: tamara@nccpeterborough.ca
Languages: English and French

Tamara has been working at the New Canadians Centre since 2007, initially as the employment counsellor.  Since April 2009, Tamara has been coordinating settlement, employment, language training, translation, interpretation, and immigration services.

Tamara holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from McMaster University and has been working in the Social Services field since 2003.  Her favourite part of the job is working one-on-one with clients and meeting many different types of people.

Outreach Coordinator
Yvonne Lai

Email: yvonne@nccpeterborough.ca
Phone: (705) 743 0882 ext. 233
Languages: English, Mandarin, Cantonese

Yvonne moved to Canada from Singapore in 1998 to attend university. She graduated with a BA (Honours) in Psychology and English from Trent University, and with an MA and PhD in Psychology from York University. Her graduate work was based on assessing immigrant needs in small urban communities and patterns of community engagment.

Yvonne has worked with various community agencies which include the Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre, Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid Society, YWCA of Peterborough, Victoria and Haliburton and the Canadian Mental Health Association. She feels very fortunate to be able to work with such a dedicated team in a great community and looks forward to engaging with individuals and community partners to further the mission of the NCC and Peterborough Partnership Council on Immigrant Integration.

Employment Services Coordinator
Michael VanDerHerberg

Email: michael@nccpeterborough.ca
Phone: (705) 743 0882 ext. 231
Languages: English

Michael has been providing employment services at NCC since April 2009. He assists new Canadians looking for work as well as employers hoping to hire new Canadians.

Michael has been involved in various social justice activities, including  cycling around Lake Ontario for Africycle, raising money for the Stephen Lewis Foundation, and assisting in the administrative work for refugee sponsorship applications. He finds joy in this work.  Michael wrote the web page www.peterboroughcareers.com as an initial effort to encourage employment searches here in Peterborough.