2010 New Pioneers Awards

Tsering Dolma (Skills for Change Graduate)

In October 2006, Tsering Dolma arrived in Canada as a refugee claimant from India.

Hoping to continue teaching, Tsering took ESL classes, cooked and cleaned at shelters and worked toward getting her teaching degree assessed. Upon receiving her interim teaching licence, she started volunteering at Parkdale Public School while taking a Business Employability Skills Training (BEST) course to upgrade her computer skills.

By the end of the course, Tsering was hired as a part-time instructor of colloquial Tibetan at the University of Toronto. Within the year, her students were reading, writing and typing Tibetan. But, because Tserings true calling was teaching younger students, she enrolled in the Teach in Ontario program at Skills for Change (SfC).

With no teaching position forthcoming, Tsering took the Clerical Employment Services workshop at SfC. Two months after completing this course, she was hired by the University Settlement as a community development officer. She introduced two new programs: the Healthy Living initiative, which brings locally produced fresh food to the neighbourhood at reasonable prices and the Safe Community initiative, which, in partnership with the Toronto Police, organizes safety workshops for different target groups. The Safe Community Initiative won the 2009 Mayor's Community Safety Award, encouraging Tsering to start the Safe Community Youth Initiative for 2010.

As the University Settlement United Way Employee Campaign Chair in 2008, Tsering increased participation from 25% to 89% in one year. In 2009, she co-chaired the same campaign and received the Employees Award for increasing the participation rate to 96%.
An active member of the Community Policing Liaison Committee (CPLC), Tsering works as a bridge between the community and the Toronto police, voicing concerns and sharing safety information with the community.

Tsering has taught English to Tibetan elders and, as Vice President of the Tibetan Women's Association of Canada, conducted weekly workshops with Tibetan women in Toronto. She also volunteers every Saturday at the crisis management office at the Redwood Shelter.

Tsering has not given up her dream of teaching elementary students. She is now looking for ways to overcome her ultimate hurdle - becoming a licensed teacher in Ontario. But along her journey to achieving her career goal, she has helped countless individuals through her great works and big heart.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

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• Tsering
• Dolma
• (Skills
• for
• Change
• Graduate)
• NPA
• New
• Pioneers
• Awards
• 2010