Bev Zubot started work on January 12 as the federation’s Community Planning Advisor. Her job is to assist community leagues with planning matters and to help the EFCL develop positions on policy matters that affect all of our members. 

Bev brings a good deal of community league development experience with her, first with the development of a McKernan/Belgravia/Parkallen neighborhood plan and later – through a contract with the City of Edmonton – the development of the Downtown Edmonton Community Association. She received the Volunteer of the Year award from Parkallan for faciliting community planning workshops and was nominated for the YWCA’s Woman of Distinction Award in 2002 for successful community development work.

   Bev has a Masters of Arts degree in Sociology and was most recently Manager of Volunteer Services at the Bissell Centre, where she has recruited and coordinated the work of over 1,000 volunteers per year. Bev replaces Brian Kropf, who retired on November 23.

   Shahriyar will be responsible for overseeing the EFCL’s cultural integration project, which is designed to bridge the gap between Edmonton community leagues and recent immigrants to our city. In addition, he will represent the EFCL on a number of committees and task forces, such as the city’s traffic safety committee, the tennis rejuvenation task force and committees reviewing the booking of the school gyms, swimming pools and ice arenas.

 Shahriyar emigrated to Canada in 2005 from his home in Peshewar, Pakistan, where he obtained an economics degree, specializing in community development. Since arriving in Edmonton, he has worked as community facilitator and business development coach at the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, followed by a stint as coordinator of the in-home support program for immigrant families at Catholic Social Services.

The recent past president of the University of Alberta’s student union, Michael was heavily involved in obtaining and coordinating services for students, lead the development of a long-term organizational vision for Student’s Union businesses and services, created and maintained various online communication tools and organized a variety of fundraisers and charity events.

Michael will also look for ways to attract more young people to the community league movement as a member of the city’s Next Gen task force.