A little over five years ago, the old McCauley School building started a new journey as the Edmonton Intercultural Centre (EIC). Since its inception, the EIC has become a home to 10 non-profit organizations, which share a similar mandate or vision of antiracism, inclusion, and intercultural sharing and learning. The EIC also has common rental spaces, utilized by numerous smaller community groups, who have needs both for space and for a welcoming, safe, and diverse environment.

EIC has a few updates to share with the McCauley and Boyle Street communities as we start the 2020s. Rose Carmichael, the long time Operations Administrator of the EIC, retired in late 2019 and Sim Senol joined the organization as its inaugural Executive Director at the end of November.

Sim has more than two decades of experience working for post-secondary institutions, including six years of service as an Administrative Professional Officer at the University of Alberta. She has been a Board Member for several non-profit organizations including the Parkallen Parents Association and the Islamic Family Support Services Association.

Having managed the day to day operations of the Turkish Canadian Society, a non-profit cultural society that owns the old Canora School building on the West side, Sim is ready to tackle the challenges of serving the diverse needs of the EIC tenants and of McCauley and Boyle Street community members. She will be reaching out to the community members in the next few weeks to get feedback about the future direction of the EIC and to identify opportunities for collaboration with the various community organizations. If you have any suggestions or ideas for making the EIC an even more vibrant intercultural community hub, feel free to email her directly at exdireic@gmail.com.

Information submitted by the Edmonton Intercultural Centre.