Supporting Arab Families

Peel CAS is expanding its culturally responsive service models to better meet the needs of our region's diverse communities. Ma'an, which means "together" in Arabic, is a partnership between Peel CAS and Polycultural Immigrant & Community Services (PICS) to serve members of Peel's Arab communities.* Ma’an launched in Spring 2021 with the goal of providing culturally appropriate services to children, youth and families of these Arab communities.

This demographic represents one of the fastest growing communities in Canada, and in Peel. Four Arabic-language countries are in the top 10 countries of birth for recent immigrants in our region. It is important for our services to address the unique needs of this growing community. The Ma’an project will help us better serve Arab communities and help ensure that children and youth of those communities are able to remain with their families as much as possible.

The Ma’an project team consulted with focus groups, community agencies, and community members, as well as staff from Peel CAS and PICS, to ask how we could best support Arab communities. This feedback was incorporated into the Ma’an service model, to provide culturally competent services and support to our Arab families, children and youth, with improved access to employment, housing, education, parenting, and mental health services. 

The Ma'an Project, and others like it, are important components of the agency's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy. By working in partnership with our region's diverse communities, we can strengthen relationships, raise awareness, and dispel myths related to child welfare, while providing better service to the children, youth and families we work with.

*The phrase Arab communities refers to members of the Peel community who speak Arabic and/or are from an Arab cultural background.