Calgary organization helping support rising number of newcomers [Video]

A Calgary organization that assists young newcomers is seeing an increase in the number of families in need of support.

The Calgary Bridge Foundation for Youth (CBFY) supports children and young adults who have a difficult time integrating into their schools and communities with a number of settlement supports.

Lorraine Kinsman, CBFY director of programs, says the organization typically deals with newcomers from five to 24 years old.

“When I came in, in 2022, up to that point we had on average about 2,500 students a year that we serve between the Calgary Board of Education and the Calgary Catholic School District,” she said.

“Last year we had just under 11,000.”

CBFY has a diverse staff of close to 75 full-time workers and more than 40 part-time workers. Eighty-five per cent of the staff members are immigrants themselves.

When Kinsman started with CBFY, she said the number of students referred from both school boards was manageable for …