Where 2 Go Canada Aids Newcomers in Migration Decision-Making with Job-First Resources, City Profiles, Housing Information, and More

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Toronto, Canada, November 9, 2022 – Pathfinders for Ukraine, a federally-registered Canadian not-for-profit organization devoted to bettering the resettlement journey for Ukrainians, announced today the launch of Where 2 Go Canada, a custom-built app designed to aid newcomers in migration decision-making. The app was created jointly between Pathfinders for Ukraine in partnership with Improving, a technology management and consulting services firm, and YoppWorks, an application development consulting company specializing in digital transformation and Cloud native modernization.

“We are very excited to be part of this important project to help Canada relocate displaced Ukrainians. Leveraging our technical development expertise with our partnership with Google Cloud and the insights from Pathfinders we were able to produce an application that will make a positive difference for this mission. Our company strives to help both local and international communities and this is a big example of giving back to help those in need,” said Jack Gulas, President of Improving.

Two of the most prominent questions from Ukrainian refugees are “where should I go?” and “where do I get a job?”. The Where 2 Go Canada app is a tech product solution developed to help answer both of these questions while also providing extensive geographic and occupation-based resources for resettlement. Through the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program, a critical factor in successful relocation is gaining employment in Canada. Where 2 Go Canada takes a job-first approach to migration decision-making by recommending settlement locations within Canada for Ukrainians searching for gainful employment. 

The Where 2 Go Canada product is designed to help prospective newcomers to Canada identify potential cities to settle in based on their occupation. Marking the first time National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes have been translated in Ukrainian, users will select the NOC based on their most recent job or aspirational job and the app will provide two city lists: one featuring the top three cities with the highest number of jobs with the selected NOC; the other showcasing the top three cities with the highest number of unfilled positions with the selected NOC. 

Each city profile includes details such as population, language, cost of living, transportation, climate and key considerations (pros and cons) to aid in migration decision-making. City profiles also link out to Pathfinders’ website, which hosts more information about pre-arrival and post-arrival specifics, including which Canadian organizations to reach out to for housing, integration and employment, either before or upon arrival in Canada.

This application was built using Google Cloud. Google Cloud provides a very flexible, scalable, and reliable infrastructure to deliver a solution that provides an intuitive application for users to review job titles and city profiles. The Where 2 Go Canada app is available internationally as a progressive web app, accessible by phone or on a browser.

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About Improving
Improving is a modern digital services company offering consulting, software development, outsourcing and training. The Company has an international presence with sixteen office locations across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Their innovative solutions and processes have helped thousands of clients across the globe realize their tactical and strategic business objectives. As a result, their 1,500 employees have accumulated extensive technology and management experience in several industries, including financial services, energy, travel, retail, government, and several others. Improving acquired YoppWorks in early 2022. To learn more about Improving, visit www.improving.com.

Yoppworks is an application development consulting company specializing in digital transformation and Cloud native modernization, located in Ottawa, Canada. They specialize in Scala programming, Akka Open Source, cloud native technologies and the application of the Reactive Architecture. YoppWorks is proud to be partnered with Lightbend and Google Cloud. Established in 2016, YoppWorks has been empowering enterprise innovation and bringing modern IT solutions to their customers.

Through Improving, Yoppworks’ team of architects, UX designers, and front- and back-end developers built a minimum viable product (MVP), including developing story maps to define features of the MVP, as well as designing, building and testing user stories and requirements for production of the app.

Pathfinders for Ukraine is a project of Pathfinders Support Association – a federally-registered Canadian not-for-profit organization. It was formed in March 2022, in reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Pathfinders’ mission is to inform, guide, and link together supports along the resettlement journey for war-displaced Ukrainians. Their multinational team of volunteer humanitarians, lawyers, military and emergency response veterans, and media professionals share the common goal of helping Ukrainians enjoy a successful life. Their work is focused on providing Canadian migration-related information, guidance through the CUAET process, pre-arrival preparation for Canada-side partner hand-off and a recent focus on assisting Ukrainians with finding gainful employment. Their earlier work includes conducting aid runs cross-border and assisting with chartering flights from Poland to Canada in collaboration with humanitarian aid organization Samaritan’s Purse.

As one of the only Canadian organizations on-the-ground in Poland, Pathfinders helps to pave the refugee path from Ukraine to Poland to Canada. A focus of their mission is to create ideal profile matches between refugees and settlement locations in Canada by making curated referrals, priming displaced Ukrainians for hand-off to Canada-side partner organizations.

For the past 8 months, Pathfinders has led the Canada desks at high-frequency touchpoints in Poland including Warsaw Central Station, GlobalEXPO Center, Przemysl, as well as Lviv International House, and other partner sites in Ukraine, each with over 150 interactions with Canada-curious Ukrainians per day.