STEMCAN
From Local Success to National Impact: Exploring the Potential of Specialized Employment Bridging Programs for Immigrant Women in STEM (STEMCAN)
What is STEMCAN?
STEMCAN is a research study to explore how the virtual program delivery capacity that got built in the immigrant settlement sector (ISAs) during the pandemic can be harnessed to ensure that STEM-trained immigrant women’s access to specialized employment bridging programs is not limited by their postal code.
Why specialized employment bridging programs?
Immigrant women make up the majority (52.6%) of Canada’s women-in-STEM workforce. Specialized, sector-specific employment bridging programs delivered by ISAs create pathways to equitable employment for STEM-trained immigrant women but are often limited in their reach to particular regions. Lack of access to these programs can create barriers to economic security for highly-skilled immigrant women in STEM who are left without a bridge between their international education, training and skills and the Canadian labour market.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of virtual service delivery across immigrant serving organizations. This shift inadvertently created an opportunity that can serve to broaden the reach of specialized bridging programs beyond their current regional borders. However, the potential of this broader reach has not been fully explored yet.
This research study evaluates the feasibility and conditions for developing STEMCAN as a scalable pilot program that removes barriers of distance and regional duplication costs for immigrant women’s access to specialized employment bridging programs that can help them get the right jobs in STEM sectors of their expertise. This study’s results can hold particular promise to increase access to these critical programs for immigrant women in suburban, rural, and northern regions.
“How can we expand a local specialized bridging program’s reach so that immigrant women can access it from anywhere across Canada to get the right job in their STEM field of expertise?”
Why is TGC leading STEMCAN?
STEMCAN explores the potential of virtual specialized employment bridging programs to overcome barriers and improve labor market outcomes for immigrant women in STEM. TGC’s mandate is to conduct innovative research, design accessible pilot programs, and build capacity to advance the socio-economic integration of immigrant women in STEM in Canada. TGC’s work mitigates the risk for immigrant serving organizations that may lack the necessary resources for research or pilot programs.
Once STEMCAN is complete, TGC will provide open access to our research findings and recommendations to immigrant serving organizations across Canada.
How can immigrant serving organizations get involved?
STEMCAN explores the interest, readiness, and needs of immigrant serving organizations that either offer or are not currently able to offer relevant bridging programs. The results of this study will create a comprehensive view of the conditions needed to both scale-up current programs without having to start from scratch, and enhance the reach of successful specialized employment bridging programs currently being delivered across Canada.
If you are interested in contributing to the STEMCAN research study, please fill out the form below.
