Pandemic check: How Destination Employment is supporting program participants

The hospitality and tourism sector is among the worst-affected ones due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this video, learn about the Destination Employment program and how it is helping newcomers in the hospitality sector with their financial needs and introducing them to online programs which allow them to exploit their full potential.

Destination Employment

The program helps newcomers gain employment in Canadian hotels. Participants get to learn from their mentors, receive industry-specific training, and gain relevant skills and work experience.

From connecting those eligible to Employment Insurance (EI) and Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), etc., the focus during this pandemic has been on helping and supporting participants throughout this hard time.

Adam Morrison, President & CEO, Ontario Tourism Education Corporation highlights how digital literacy and mental health supports became a much larger priority than ever. OTEC has been developing a portfolio of training programs across the Destination Employment programming network.

Virtual format has been received well

Vibha Vohra-Bhalla, Director, Services & Community Engagement at ACCES Employment shares how they already had a number of programs that were online and so, they were able to move Destination Employment smoothly to the online platform. This move was also received well by the clients as it removed a lot of common barriers such as accessibility, transportation, child care. The virtual format also allowed for the program to be opened to clients across the GTA instead of just the Peel region as was the case earlier.

Watch the video to find out lots more and also hear from a participant on how the Destination Employment program has helped her.

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