Flexibility is an important aspect of your immigration plan. Expect to make modifications to your plan in order to continue to attract immigrants to your community and retain those that have arrived.

Retention occurs when the immigrant is no longer an immigrant but a member of your community. Focusing on this transition helps families get the supports they need. These will change as time goes on.

Keeping in touch with various segments of the community including the immigrants and asking for their feedback will allow you to gauge if change is needed.

• Make sure that immigrants have access to the same services as the rest of community and check to determine if language is an access barrier

• Encourage the participation of local church groups and community groups to help with the transition

Ask a local ministry for spiritual support, if appropriate and where needed

If a temporary worker is in the community and requires information, they can contact Manitoba Immigration and Multiculturalism.

Goals, objectives and measurements were all part of your plan. It is important to take the time to assess what has been achieved, incorporate changes for the next cycle, and celebrate your successes as a community.

Moving Forward: the evolving community immigration strategy

Your plan has been assessed and perhaps some changes have been made. As your community moves forward and builds on its immigration strategy, challenges will continue to arise but well planned gradual growth will allow you time to make the necessary adjustments, develop additional community resources and identify future needs.

Small, well-planned achievements relative to immigration will help to ensure a stable positive community. Some communities experience pressures when large groups of immigrants have arrived at the same time.

A community’s ability to gauge how many immigrants they can successfully accommodate at one time is the important balancing point for both the immigrants and the community.

The cycle of immigration recruitment is never complete and builds momentum over time. Word of mouth among new immigrants with happy and successful experiences often form the basis of new waves of immigration of friends and family in the future.

Along with growing pains, a number of community-specific lessons are usually learned, to influence the next year's plan. Throughout the process feedback is received from the community, service providers, immigrants and other stakeholders. Some challenges were addressed immediately and others may require more effort and resources.

Pressure points that other communities have experienced are within schools, health facilities and housing. Constant monitoring and open communication of the challenges will allow the community to be able to assist in finding solutions. Communities developing manageable growth strategies have been able to successfully address the challenges that occur with any type of growth or change.

Revise your internal and external environmental scans, analyse the composition of your Immigration Committee and determine if the committee mandate needs to be revised. Take the pulse of the community to determine how it is feeling about the changes brought through immigration. Determine if new or different programs or training are required. Manitoba Immigration and Multiculturalism can provide access to programming and resources that are available to assist your community as it moves forward.