CMWI recognized for community building efforts

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This article was published 05/10/2020 (1807 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Canadian Muslim Women’s Institute has been deemed a “community builder” after winning an award from SEED Winnipeg.

Founded in 2006, the CMWI (61 Juno St.) is a not-for-profit organization that helps women, whether they are newcomers or longtime residents, adjust to Canadian society. The institute offers various programs on employment, family, food, finance, and language.

“For us, building the community (means) when we help people achieve their goals, and help them to settle here, help them to solve some kind of problems that they have,” said Sarah Al-Saadi, a financial empowerment facilitator at CMWI.

SEED Winnipeg (80 Salter St.), which offers programs on employment and economic development, presents its Community Builder awards annually to individuals or organizations which demonstrate commitment to community development. 

“CMWI is a remarkable organization.  They deliver a range of critical services while building community capacity at the same time,” Louise Simbandumwe, co-director of SEED Winnipeg, said in an email statement.

“We are pleased to recognize their dedication to our community with SEED’s Community Builder Award.”

In partnership with SEED, United Way, and Community Financial Counselling Services, CMWI offers financial empowerment programs which teach individuals about financial literacy and tax filing.

“During three months, we did 64 tax returns. So it was like a really huge amount, especially that we were doing it from home,” Al-Saadi said, adding that CMWI received a letter of appreciation from Canada Revenue Agency for this work.

CMWI also operates a social enterprise called The Cutting Edge, which trains newcomer women to use sewing machines. They have sewn thousands of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CMWI provides immediate assistance, as well, to individuals who urgently need food, clothing, or translation services.

The need for CMWI’s services has inflated during the pandemic, according to Hassan Bare, another financial empowerment facilitator.

“It was increasing very much actually, because we are the only source that the people can call. If you look at all the other organizations … there was no one actually open at that time,” Bare said.

For more information, visit cmwi.ca