Often the projects that bring us the most professional and personal fulfillment are as much about the team we are working with as it is about the work that we do. We love it when we find a new client who has a mission we can support and a collaborative team of people who make it easy for us to do our job. All the better when it syncs up with our skillset and our experience. Working with the Edmonton Regional Immigrant Employment Council (ERIEC) was one of those projects.
While we were working on the Alberta Mentorship Program (read more), we were introduced to the team at Edmonton Regional Immigrant Employment Council (ERIEC). For me, this was a nice bonus to do an additional project with the ERIEC team and build on the knowledge I was gathering about mentorship for newcomers to Alberta. It was also another opportunity to build on my MA in Intercultural Communications.
ERIEC has been part of the Edmonton business community since 2008. They’re all about making sure that “immigrants are welcomed and participate in the Edmonton economy to their full potential.”
We were asked to help ERIEC refresh their website content for their new site this summer. We also transferred 8 years' worth of blogs and success stories over. These stories keep the history of the organization at hand so we can see how much ERIEC has accomplished.
ERIEC has always been a mentorship program and now has networking events and an annual conference. The website is framed to showcase these three programs. Getting to work on website content is a fun treat for us. Usually, we do deep dives into more of the process sides of organizations. Taking a step back and working on something that is more public-facing is fun.
ERIEC has built up an international team that really reflects their mission and vision. When you talk with them about their work, they are deeply caring about making the Edmonton economy and city a good place to work and live for our new immigrants. This is reflected in their stories about past mentors and mentees. Having this depth of experience and knowledge made it easy for us to help with the website. The website itself was built by local design company Lift Interactive. They created the framework that we got to play in to reshape ERIEC’s content to tell the story of who they are now, in 2020.
This project was just gearing up when we were sent into COVID-19 lockdown, but existing relationships with the ERIEC team and a project that exists almost fully in the digital workspace meant the pandemic didn’t slow the project down. In-person meetings translated well to online meetings and chats.
This project was so much in my happy place that I signed up to volunteer as part of ERIEC’s Connector Program where you meet for coffee with new immigrants in a similar field and help to build their network. I love a volunteer gig that is casual and fits into my eclectic schedule.
If you are looking for a volunteer position, or if you are looking to expand your workforce, ERIEC is a great place to build a diverse team that has a global perspective. As we try to diversify our economy and look to international markets and partners, having team members who can navigate that is a huge asset.
You can learn more about ERIEC at their brand-new website and see the work that we did as part of a collaborative team with ERIEC and Lift Interactive here: www.eriec.ca.
We love projects that are collaborative and build on the skills and experience of a diverse and capable team. It is so important for us to create work not only that we are proud of but that feels like it reflects the work and values of our clients. Contact us to book one of our team members to work with you on your writing and communication projects.