Baseline Survey to Evaluate Settlement Survey Participants Experience Before and During COVID-19

Community-based settlement service providers (CBSSPs) are on the frontline, equipping the newcomers with community-driven, hands-on knowledge and skills, accelerating newcomers’ engagement in their new local communities in particular, and in Canadian society in general. In keeping with the COVID-19 public health protocols, as most CBSSPs transferred their settlement service programs online, in order to continually support the newcomers in establishing their new social ties and community connections. A comprehensive examination of the challenges that newcomers have been facing and the benefits obtained while participating in these virtual services, especially being studied is the influence of the virtual service approach on newcomers’ progress in establishing their social ties and community connections, has become a novel endeavor during the COVID-19 pandemic. This project uses an online survey approach to evaluate the newcomers’ challenges and benefits associated with their participation in the virtual settlement service programs before and during COVID-19 in Metro Vancouver, Canada. Since COVID-19-triggered public health mitigation strategies have moved most service programs virtually, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers may use this dataset and survey instrument to evaluate the effectiveness of in-person and virtual service programs.