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YEP Program Overview

Overview of YEP

In low-income/high-immigrant neighbourhoods across Toronto, Youth Empowering Parents (YEP) inspires young people to become leaders and mentors. Through an innovative classroom design, it facilitates one-on-one tutoring of immigrant adults by youth, often of the same linguistic and cultural backgrounds, to advance English language comprehension and computer skills. Pervasive issues amongst new Canadian adults such as unemployment and lack of community integration are overcome; and, through training, marginalized youth learn essential life skills that contribute to their future and leadership potential. The nature of this relationship and the mutually created benefits lie at the core of YEP’s work, driving much of its success and demand for replication by organizations, both at home and abroad, who advocate its novel approach and share in its vision.

Our Mission:

To unlock community resources to meet the educational needs of immigrant adults, and develop young people into effective teachers and service-providers. The ideal outcome of each program: a reinvigorated development of character and skill, and access to real life-changing opportunity.

Our Vision:

To help transform communities by investing in youth, empowering and engaging them through an innovative, grassroots model that serves the needs of immigrant adults. The work of YEP crosses generations and is championed through these partnerships, profoundly impacting the removal of barriers and defining paths to a better quality of life.

Overview of the Model/Program

• The Model:
  • YEP pairs youth (aged 11-18) and adults (aged 28-78) from target neighbourhoods, with a significant focus on developing basic English and computer skills through one-on-one tutoring. Youth are paired with adults based on common native languages.
  • Courses range in both focus and difficulty to address different interests and proficiency levels. Upon successful completion, certificates are awarded.
  • Youth follow YEP’s easy to use proprietary curriculum, which features simple to follow diagrams and pictures that enable youth to provide one-on-one teaching with ease.
  • There is no traditional instructor role in a YEP program; rather, a facilitator oversees the program and provides ongoing training and coaching to youth. Youth receive nine hours of training before a semester begins, and are continuously coached throughout a semester to reinforce good teaching habits.

• The Curriculum
  • Curriculum focuses on: English language and functional literacy for newcomers (e.g. making introductions, food & groceries, transportation, money and finance, understanding the school system, keeping healthy and being more able to communicate with health professionals, etc.), and digital literacy (e.g. basic computer functions, using internet, skills that boost employability such as Microsoft office, using mobile phones, etc.)
  • The YEP Curriculum exceeds 80 lessons and 400 pages. (As of May 2014)

• Statistics
  • Currently, there are 5 YEP locations in community centres and schools across Toronto, and programs in Ethiopia and Niger.
  • There are on average 20 adults and 20 youth per class, who form partnerships.
  • There are on average 36 hours in a YEP semester, which takes place over 12 weeks.
  • Youth teach either their own parents (30% of the time) or other adults who speak the same mother tongue (70% of the time).

• What Others Have Said About The Program:
  • Daniel Cerván-Gil, United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Division: “YEP [is] a unique social innovation to be implemented across cultures and communities in Toronto and around the world.”
  • Carolyn Acker, Order of Canada; Founder of Pathways to Education: “YEP is an innovative approach to improving outcomes for newcomers and building leadership skills in youth. The success of YEP is not surprising.”

Why the YEP Model Is Successful:

• Natural Dynamic
  • Many youth have parents who lack English and computer proficiency, and so teach, their parents those basic skills at home. YEP merely brings that interaction and dynamic from the home to a formal classroom.
  • Hoore Janat (YEP Youth Volunteer): "I came because I like helping people...It’s the same as helping my own parents.”

• Similar Language
  • Language similarities between the adult and youth help to expedite learning and encourage attendance by permitting the same level of comfort one has when speaking with someone of the same language.

• One-On-One Tutoring
  • The youth is effectively the adult’s personal tutor, allowing the adult to learn at his/her own pace.
  • Ferial Khabiri (YEP Adult Participant): “In this course...I could stop [my youth tutor] anytime I had a question and he was so patient to explain it. I learned a lot this way.”
  • 98% of participants believe that the YEP program is better than other similar courses offered in the neighbourhood.

• Availability To All
  • Students at YEP learn free-of-charge - tutors contribute voluntary instruction towards receiving community service hours.
  • At the market rate of $15 per hour for private tutoring (of comparable subject matter), YEP has so far provided a cost saving benefit to Canadian immigrants of over $300,000.

• Cost-Efficiency
  • YEP keeps costs low by utilizing already existing community resources, social infrastructures, and facilities for community development and by operating during off-peak hours when spaces are not being utilized.
  • Boston Consulting Group estimates that YEP is over 2 times cheaper to operate than traditional language or computer classrooms.
  • Boston Consulting Group and PhD researcher volunteers estimated that YEP has a $6 : $1 social return on investment.

Youth

What YEP Does:

YEP trains at-risk community youth to become effective one-on-one tutors for community adults of the same linguistic background.

General Tutor Stats:

• Over 4 years, 800 youth have volunteered as YEP tutors. (As of May 2015)
• YEP youth have contributed over 20,000 one-on-one tutoring hours.
• Youth teach either their own parents (30% of the time) or other adults who speak the same mother tongue (70% of the time).

How YEP Impacts the Youth:

• Increased Civic Engagement
  • Youth are engaged not merely as service recipients, but as valued service-providers who provide a relevant service and so develop a greater willingness to volunteer after they experience YEP.
  • An external PhD researcher surveyed Regent Park youth: YEP Youth had more favourable perceptions of volunteering than youth who volunteered elsewhere, and YEP youth were 70% more likely to volunteer following their YEP experience, even beyond the 40-hours of community service that is required for students.
  • 90% of youth continue to volunteer at YEP for more than 1 year.

• Increased Leadership
  • Mentoring others teaches YEP youth volunteers to become more confident and independent.
  • Selam (YEP Youth Volunteer): “At home, my parents call the shots. Here, I call the shots. I’m learning how to be an adult.”

• Greater Empathy
  • Youth who participate in YEP develop stronger character, empathy and deeper relationships with their parents and other adults in their community as they witness the challenges these adults face.
  • YEP Youth Volunteer: “I’m 15 and I’m responsible for teaching a 50-year old. I’m happy knowing that I’m making another person happy.”

• Better Grades & Future Opportunities
  • YEP youth develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, as well as the ability to communicate efficiently and express ideas clearly, which leads to improved academic performance.
  • 75% of youth believe the experience improved their work in school.
  • 85% of youth reported an increase in grades.
  • Jason Kandankery (Principal at Nelson Mandela Park Public School): “We’re seeing kids with improved outcomes in their academics, with greater confidence, and with better communication skills.”
  • 94% of youth believe the experience increased their employability.

Adults

What YEP Does:

Over the course of one semester, an adult will learn the basics of English and acquire a base proficiency in computer use through one-on-one tutoring with their paired youth.

General Participant Stats:

• Over 4 years, 800 adults have participated in YEP's programs. (As of May 2015)
• Historically, participants have been 80% female and 20% male, between the ages of 28 and 71. Most of our adults are newcomers to Canada, having arrived in the country anywhere between 1 to 10 years ago.
• Participants have come from over 20 different countries, speaking over 25 different languages. (As of May 2014)
• In Regent Park, 93% of program participants indicated satisfaction with the YEP program and 96% of program participants would recommend the YEP program to others.
• 98% of participants believe that the YEP program is better than other similar courses offered in the neighbourhood.

How YEP Impacts Adults:

• Encourages Community Engagement Among Socially & Culturally Isolated Adults
  • 90% of all YEP participants are stay-at-home housewives who are socially-isolated due to language and cultural barriers, and for 80% of the total participants, YEP is the first program that they regularly attend.
  • YEP changes the trajectory of their lives. It takes them out of their homes and into a comfortable classroom setting where they learn new skills and can meet new people.
  • Shuley (YEP Adult Participant): “I see her as more than a tutor but also as my friend.”

• Increases Employability & Future Opportunities
  • YEP allows graduates to transition to higher learning or employment.
  • Post-YEP, 85% of participants regularly attend new learning programs or receive employment.
  • 100% of adults who participated in the mentorship program believe YEP has increased employability

• Increases Digital Literacy
  • Average 300% increase in the time adults spend on a computer after they are enrolled in YEP.
  • Adults who have participated in our past computer modules have shown a significant increase in computer usage from 0-1 hrs/week to 4-7 hrs/week within 4 months of starting YEP.

• Increases Independence
  • YEP empowers adults to be self reliant, and thus reduces their reliance on their children and/or spouse.
  • 100% of YEP graduates saw reduction in time required by youth / spouses on language/literacy help.
  • Youth whose parent(s) are in YEP cite a decrease of 30 minutes per week in the time spent having to help them with everyday tasks.

• Greater Confidence
  • Adults build confidence and key skills that allow them to function better at home or at the workplace.
  • 100% of adults YEP graduates feel comfortable talking to healthcare professionals, compared to 30% prior to the program.
  • YEP Adult Participant: “Before, I was scared to speak in English because I did not have confidence. The one-on-one teaching was so helpful. The tutor did not judge me at all and she was so patient.”

Seniors

General Participant Stats

• 30% of YEP ‘students’ are seniors
• 15% of YEP youth teach their own grandparents.

How YEP Impacts Seniors

• Reduced Social Isolation
  • 100% of seniors in our program express drastic reduction in social isolation.
  • Roman Mulugetta, YEP participant since July 2014: “This program is like therapy for me. Without it, I would hardly ever leave my home. It feels good to get out and exercise my brain.”

Other

How YEP Impacts Communities:

• Impacts High-Need Communities
  • YEP operates in communities that need it most: high immigrant areas with many at-risk, disengaged youth, and low income houses. Focusing on these areas ensures change.

• Benefits Families & Home-Life
  • YEP’s programs strengthen familial relationships, reduce household stress and improve overall quality of life:
  • 100% of parents identify having better relationships with their children
  • Youth normally spend more than 2.5 hours per week helping parents with family-related administrative tasks. Youth whose parents participated in YEP reported a decrease of approximately 45-50 minutes per required to assist parents.
  • 100% of youth who participated in YEP reported less time doing family related administrative tasks

• Changes Youth Perceptions
  • Every YEP interaction helps shape positive perceptions of young people and foster better community relations.
  • Yusef (YEP Youth Volunteer): “Just by living [in our neighborhood], us youth aren’t viewed in a positive light, even if we aren’t guilty of anything. Here [at YEP], we get to show a side that many didn’t know existed.”

• Increases Intergenerational & Intercultural Interaction
  • YEP’s programs foster comfortable communication across generational, cultural, and linguistic divides. These interactions are infrequent within the communities YEP operates in.
  • Adult participants share stories and learnings from their native countries with their diverse peers from more than 30 ethnicities.

• Promotes ‘Life-Long Learning’
  • Once a youth sees the dedication and commitment that their own parent or even another adult is placing towards education, we can expect to see a significant shift in culture and outlook towards education within the Regent Park community.

Secondary Sources:

Volunteerism

40-Hour Mandated Community Service for Students

Hundreds of Ontario Grade 12 students scramble to graduate at the last minute because they have not done their 40 mandatory hours of volunteer work, educators say.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/education/2013/12/20/ontario_high_school_students_struggle_to_get_their_volunteer_hours.html

Study on if Mandated Volunteering is Effective: http://socialeconomycentre.ca/PDF/factsheets/requiredvolunteering.pdf

Differences in Volunteering Based on Socioeconomic Status

• Differential access to time, resources, and social networks may markedly influence the types of community involvement activities in which high- and low-income students participate.
• Low-income participants reported receiving virtually no guidance in locating a community involvement placement and perceived this lack of support as indicative of a wider lack of concern for their civic engagement.
• High-income participants tended to complete a more diverse range of activities at a greater variety of locations than low-income participants.
• 46% of the low-income participants admitted to forging or exaggerating their community involvement hours, while only one high-income participant reported falsification.
• High-income participants’ wider breadth of community involvement activities and low-income participants’ relatively limited (and sometimes negative) community involvement experiences were consistently spoken about throughout the qualitative focus group discussions.

Source: http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/mandated-community-involvement-question-equity

Benefits of Volunteering

• Conrad and Hedin’s review of community involvement research in K-12 educational settings provides evidence that involvement in community service is associated with students’ civic-related learning outcomes – notably, self-esteem, appreciation for diversity, responsibility toward the community, political efficacy, understanding of socio-historical contexts, and willingness to volunteer in future.

• "There are extraordinary benefits to youth from volunteering – development of skills being the most notable. But there are many studies which conclude that youth who have poor volunteer experiences are less likely to be motivated to volunteer in the future." - The Effects of “Mandatory Volunteerism” on Intentions to Volunteer

• “By caring and contributing to change, volunteers decrease suffering and disparity, while they gain skills, self-esteem and change their lives. People work to improve the lives of their neighbours and, in return, enhance their own.” - Volunteer Canada 

Newcomers Many newcomers can feel like strangers in a strange land when they initially settle in Canada. There may be a language barrier, housing and employment issues, inexperience with different customs and laws, discrimination, uncertainty about the integrity of the justice system and unfamiliarity with geographic regions and their climate.

Statistics

• One-quarter of a million people migrate to Canada every year
• 48.6% (almost half) of Toronto's population is foreign-born (2011 National Household Survey - Statistics Canada.)
• English is not the mother tongue for over 45% of the population in Regent Park, St. James Town and Moss Park (City of Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles.)
• Almost half of all Toronto residents (49%) reported a language other than English as their mother-tongue (Statistics Canada 2011 Census.)
• 37.8% of Toronto youth are immigrants (OTF – Diversity in Toronto: A Community Profile). This means there are many multi-lingual youth who can provide teaching in newcomer adults’ native languages.

Newcomers & Civic Engagement

• Civic engagement decreases in a community as it gets more diverse through immigration and settlement, caused in part by language differences and distrust of neighbours (Statistics Canada 2006.)
• Immigrant adults have been proven to be more engaged in the shaping of their communities if their knowledge of the community increases, and if those barriers are broken (Community Engagement and Well-Being of Immigrants, Metropolis, 2010)

Employment (Youth)

Youth Employment Statistics

• According to a 2011 TDSB student census, 73% of students in grades 9 to 12 are worried about their future.
• The unemployment rate for those aged 15–24 living in Toronto was 17.7% in May 2014. (The national rate was 15%.) Source
• Vital Signs Reports: In Toronto, the overall youth unemployment rate was 17.6 per cent in 2013; this figure was more than double the overall unemployment rate of 8.8 per cent. Source
• Social Planning Toronto’s 2014 provincial election factsheet: The province’s youth unemployment rate is twice the national average, fluctuating between 16% and 17%. Because youth find it difficult to enter the labour force, they tend to engage in precarious forms of employment.
• Vital Signs Report: Toronto’s youth employment rate is hovering around 43 per cent. The discrepancy between the youth employment and unemployment rates also indicate that there are a significant number of young people withdrawing from the labour force altogether. A Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study suggests that this is the worst of any region in Ontario. Source
• One in five unemployed youth, aged 15 to 24, has never held a job, Benjamin Tal found. That's 40 per cent higher than the long-term average and close to the record high of the 1990s. Source
• Over 50% of youth are in part-time employment, compared to 14% of workers aged 25 or older. Source
• Toronto Vital Signs Report: The unemployment rate for Toronto’s recent immigrant youth (ages 15-24) was 27% in 2013, down from a high of 29% in 2012. Source
• In Toronto, 25% of people under 18 are low-income. Source

Barriers to Youth Employment

1. Systemic barriers weaken the social networks of our target youth. Often, these young people lack connections to positive mentors or role models who could help them navigate the job market, expand their networks, get job-ready and develop life skills. So they’re unprepared to start work.
2. A lack of meaningful opportunities means many youth can’t gain the experience to get a job.
3. The lack of accessible and affordable transportation can hinder economic opportunities. Youth in marginalized neighbourhoods are often unable to reach their workplaces in a timely or inexpensive manner.
4. Many young people experience racism and structural discrimination when applying for work.

Source

Problems Stemming from Youth Unemployment

• A lack of economic opportunity is cited among poverty and racism as one of ten roots of youth violence, as noted in 2008’s Review of the Roots of Youth Violence report to the Ontario Government.
• Youth who face barriers to employment may experience the shame and frustration of not being able to support their families, and additionally of relying on government support.
• While struggling to find work, many young people continue to feel disengaged from the education system; they are marginalized by where they live or they are victimized by violence. Source

What Needs To Be Done

• Level the Field for Youth Facing Barriers
  • Young people who face additional barriers to employment—including poverty and exposure to violence and crime—are particularly vulnerable.
  • “The reality is when you face systemic challenges over-and-over the one thing that does to young people is to rob them of hope,” says Denise Andrea Campbell. “We need to bring employers in front of young people who are vulnerable, with supports, to ensure that we are leveling the playing field. These young people have tremendous skills and talents and we should create the space for them to apply these…towards a living wage and a career.”
  • Source

• Target Adolescents
  • Province of Ontario’s Stepping Stones: A Resource on Youth Development: adolescents (aged 13-19) are primed for exciting opportunities. These youth are at a developmental stage when positive experiences, like a supportive first-job opportunity, can help them navigate their life transitions and challenges

More Info

http://civicaction.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/civicaction_escalator_report.apr_.16.c.single.page-from-Key-Gordon.pdf

Employment (Adults)

Newcomer Employment

• TD Economics Report: Literacy Matters: Helping Newcomers Unlock their Potential estimated that the Canadian economy loses billions of dollars each year (an estimated $3.5 to 5 billion in 2011) due to underemployment of immigrants, citing poor language and literacy skills as the heart of the problem.
• Immigrants were more than twice as likely to be unemployed as Canadian-born workers in the Toronto region, at the end of 2010
• By 2031, nearly 3.2 million adults in the Toronto region may not have the English literacy skills to get into the workplace

Newcomer Income

• Fewer than 150 of households in Regent Park have annual incomes above $30,000; the average income for residents of Regent Park is approximately half the average income of the rest of Toronto.

Skills Development (Youth) --- Nothing Yet

Skills Development (Adults)

Language Skills

• Statistics Canada’s 2007 Special Edition on Canadian Social Trends: Understanding a new culture and learning a new language were said to be among the top 5 difficulties that newcomers face within 4 years of arriving in Canada.
• Learning a new language was identified by 26.2% of newcomers as the second biggest challenge (the first biggest challenge being finding an adequate job.)
• 2012 Immigrant Canada Report: Within 20 years, about 1 in 5 Canadian immigrants with low English literacy will be living in the Toronto region
• 2012 Immigrant Canada Report: 60% of 600,000 Canadian immigrant workers surveyed could not hold a conversation in English or French.
• Almost half of all Toronto residents (49%) reported a language other than English as their mother-tongue (Statistics Canada 2011 Census.)
• English is not the mother tongue for over 45% of the population in Regent Park, St. James Town and Moss Park (City of Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles.)
• Currently, 1.7% of Canada’s population report knowing neither English nor French
• Many new Canadians have difficulty seeking social assistance and communicating with healthcare providers.

Digitial Literacy

• Only 60% of households in Regent Park, Moss Park, St James Town, Parkdale, and Lawrence Heights have internet connection (compared to 95% from the wealthiest bracket), and only 28.5% of seniors in these areas have access to internet (versus 70% from the wealthiest bracket). (Statistics Canada)
• 80% of newcomers or seniors require someone to provide individual teaching to them, because they are unable to keep up with changing technology.

Barriers to low-income youth

• The findings are particularly concerning; it appears that a divide has been drawn between programs geared towards students coming from higher and lower income households. There is a significant over-representation of the poorest students within programs that offer few options for post-secondary education. Similar patterns have been recognized in the research literature (see, for example, Curtis et al., 1992; Martell, 2009). The findings of the present research suggest that there are structural conditions within the school system that maintain such economic divides. Opportunities for students to develop more marketable skills and become future economic contributors appear to be reserved mainly for students who are already financially advantaged.

This study has demonstrated that after 40 years not much has changed.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ946096.pdf

Skills Classes for Newcomers

• A 2010 internal survey of three Toronto neighbourhoods with large immigrant populations (Regent Park, Moss Park, and St. James Town) revealed that few or no courses were available on the weekends – times when they were needed most (due to work, childcare and other weekday commitments).

Environmental Knowledge

• 80% of YEP participants didn’t understand the importance of recycling, and thus weren't recycling at home.

Health (Youth)

Youth Mental Health

• Parentification
  • Parentification of youth: care-giving role reversal between youth and parents.
  • Parentified children often suffer from depression, suicidal feelings, shame, social isolation, and other internalizing symptoms, such as psychosomatic problems.

Health (Newcomers)

Overall Newcomer Health

• Compared to Canadian born residents and longer-term immigrants, newcomers are:
  • less likely to be physically active in leisure time;
  • more likely to have some chronic health conditions, particularly among certain newcomer subgroups. For example, immigrants from some regions are more likely than longer-term (including Canadian-born) residents to have diabetes;
  • more likely to suffer from some communicable diseases such as Tuberculosis (TB)and HIV/AIDS, particularly for those from regions endemic to these diseases;
  • more likely to have a low birth weight baby.
• Overall, newcomers’ self-reported health declines over time
• Decline in newcomer health is due to factors such as housing insecurity, race-based discrimination and social isolation.

Newcomers’ Barriers to Obtaining Health Services

• Unfamiliarity with services and difficulty navigating the healthcare system
• Limited availability of professional language interpretation
• Stigma related to issues such as mental illness, sexual health and HIV/AIDS
• Socio-cultural beliefs about health and illness
• Cultural competency among service providers
• Cost and eligibility requirements, particularly for health services not covered by OHIP.

Newcomers' Health & Social Isolation

Social Isolation in Newcomers Occurs Due To:

• Multiple barriers, which include language differences, time constraints, and discrimination
• Cultural Clusters
  • TD Economics Report: concentrations of immigrants of the same cultural background live in ‘cultural clusters’ in Toronto.
  • Can hinder individuals’ integration with Canada’s diverse society by inhibiting their ability to experience situations where they must learn and practice English.
  • ‘Cultural clusters’ often exist in low income communities (e.g., Regent Park, Toronto), and can often be more destructive than positive and cause social isolation.

Social Isolation’s Effects on Health:

• Social support researchers studying the social isolation of individuals find serious negative consequences for physical as well as psychological wellbeing, with social isolation being linked to increases in both morbidity and mortality (House, Landis and Umberson 1988)
• Studies find isolated adults are at risk of decline in social interaction and healthy communication skills, which can result in social isolation, loneliness and increased risk of disease.
• Participation in community events and having a psychological sense of community has been associated with a range of positive psychological outcomes. It imbues individuals with feelings of autonomy, environmental mastery, and purpose in life. Research suggests that it also promotes personal growth and self-acceptance (Evans 2007).
  • Immigrant community members experience less social and civic engagement than their Canadian born peers

Sources

http://accessalliance.ca/sites/accessalliance/files/PublicHealthInAGlobalCity_Final.pdf http://www.metropolis.net/pdfs/immi_health/Immigrant%20Mental%20Health%20-%20pgs93-97.pdf

Health (Seniors)

Social Isolation Of Seniors

Normally, seniors benefit from volunteering and participating in their communities due to a sense of satisfaction and efficacy, and communities benefit from the services and social capital seniors are providing. Social isolation of seniors is a phenomenon that hinders this interaction and is prevalent today: approximately 50% of people over the age of 80 report feeling lonely.

Detrimental Effects of Social Isolation of Seniors:

• Socially isolated seniors are more at risk of negative health behaviours including drinking, smoking, being sedentary and not eating well; have a higher likelihood of falls; and, have a four-to-five times greater risk of hospitalization.
• Research also indicates that social isolation is a predictor of mortality from coronary heart disease/stroke.
• Social isolation is associated with higher levels of depression and suicide. According to research, 1 in 4 seniors lives with a mental health problem (e.g. depression, anxiety or dementia) or illness, and 10 to 15% of adults 65 years or older and living in the community suffer from depression.
• Social isolation increases the risk of developing mental health issues, has an impact on the person’s self-esteem and confidence, which decreases their connection with the community and inhibits them from accessing health care services, thus perpetuating isolation.

Risk Factors That Increase the Possibility of Seniors Becoming Socially Isolated:

• living alone
• being age 80 or older
• having compromised health status, including having multiple chronic health problems
• having no children or contact with family
• lacking access to transportation
• living with low income
• changing family structures, younger people migrating for work and leaving seniors behind, and location of residence (e.g. urban, rural and remote)
• critical life transitions such as retirement, death of a spouse, etc.
• loss of sense of community

Specific groups of seniors were also identified as being at greater risk of social isolation, such as:

• seniors with physical and mental health issues
• low income seniors
• seniors who are caregivers
• Aboriginal seniors
• seniors who are newcomers to Canada or immigrant seniors (language proficiency issues, separation from family, financial dependence on children, low levels of inter-ethnic contacts, discrimination)
• lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered seniors

Source: http://www.seniorscouncil.gc.ca/eng/research_publications/social_isolation/page05.shtml#base_7