We are very pleased to have done the “Opportunity Cost of Not Investing in Interpretation” report – it is so important to have clarity on these challenges and…

Hindia Mohamoud, Director, OLIP
I was happy to see integration to Algonquin territory and indigenous culture related programming in 2014 WOW. Please continue to involve local Aboriginal organisations and…

Linda Manning
WOW 2014 participant, Senior Fellow, University of Ottawa
My nomination is an indication that our hard work in building Canada is recognized. All we do is to serve the community in return for embracing us when we needed it.  

Mehdi Mahdavi
Ottawa Immigrant Entrepreneurship Awards Nominee
The WOW seminar on immigrant women’s nutrition and health was a step in the right direction towards closing the gap between academic researchers and service providers.

Josephine Etowa
Associate Professor, School of Nursing, University of Ottawa
Canada has been shaped by people who came from all over the world to build this country. WOW offers a platform for us to celebrate this history and the future it will help…

Alex Munter, Chair of the OLIP Council and President and CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and Ottawa Children’s Treatment Centre
OLIP helps to unite and share scarce resources for greater impact by working together in the field of student education.

Walter Piovesan
Associate Director of Education, Ottawa Carleton District School Board
The target beneficiary of the work of OLIP is the whole community. In this short period we have planted together important seeds for Ottawa’s development.  

Dick Stewart
OLIP Council
The City of Ottawa will continue to play a lead role in the implementation of the Ottawa Immigration Strategy, just as we did in the founding of OLIP.

Steve Desroches
City Councillor and Deputy Mayor of Ottawa
All the WOW events that I went to were great – WOW does give a sense of a community trying to improve its attraction and retention!

Caroline Andrew
Professor, University of Ottawa
The Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre is so happy to have joined the OLIP Health and Wellbeing Sector Table. It is clear that OLIP cares about immigrants and refugees and…

Wendy Tang, Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre

Jennifer Benedict

February 14, 2013

Jennifer Benedict is Director of Community Initiatives with the Community Services team at United Way Ottawa, where she oversees three strategic areas. These include “increasing meaningful employment opportunities for people with disabilities”, “increasing employment opportunities for immigrants and new Canadians”, and strengthening relationships with/collaborating with/exploring new opportunities with the Aboriginal community.  Jennifer works with senior volunteers to ensure the successful investment of resources in front-line programs and services, to identify strategic growth,  partnership and community-wide opportunities, and to facilitate the research and evaluation of the impact of United Way’s work in the Ottawa community. Jennifer also liaises with United Way’s Priority Goal Partners, the community agencies that work to advance our community priority goals through their individual programs or their participation in broad-based community partnerships.

Jennifer joined United Way in 2010 prior to which she worked in the not-for-profit housing sector. Earlier in her career, she was a consultant and a project manager for an international high-tech firm and managed projects in North America, Europe and the Middle East.

Actively involved in the community, Jennifer serves as Vice-Chair on the Board of Tabitha Foundation Canada and volunteers her time and talents to a wide variety of community fundraising initiatives. Jennifer lives in a log home in rural Ottawa with her husband Fraser, two sons and three dogs and can be found hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, canoeing or kayaking.