CCSIF Highlights
Tags: Vol. 1, Issue 1, October 2020
Four applied research projects led by professors in the Faculty of Social and Community Services have received over 1.2 million dollars. This funding was obtained through grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). In total, NSERC awarded Humber College $1.8 million to conduct and complete six research projects. The College and Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF) grants are intended to support college social innovation research projects in partnership with local community organizations.
The NSERC College and Community Innovation Program grants will support the following projects in the Faculty of Social and Community Services:
- Community Agency Partnerships: Best Practices for the Creation of Healthy Communities
- Engaging and Educating Young-Adult Cannabis 2.0 Consumers
- Experiences of hope, self-compassion and authentic collaboration: Foundations for a consumer-informed compassion-based human services delivery framework in a Canadian context
- Affordable Housing Needs in South Etobicoke
Projects
Affordable Housing Needs in South Etobicoke
Amount: $360,000
Term: three (3)
Date: 2020
Partners:
- LAMP Community Health Centre
- Lakeshore Affordable Housing Advocacy and Action Group
- Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation
- Mimico Lakeshore Community Network
Sky-high rent, condo developments, no rent control, evictions and unstable housing are all issues standing in the way of affordable housing in South Etobicoke, Toronto, and major urban cities across the globe. The increase in cost of living coupled with a rise in rent, and stagnant wages, poses threats to those who are facing poverty, health challenges or more disfranchised populations such as students and seniors.
With this research project we will uncover the cost of living issues through community based participatory research (CBPR) in South Etobicoke to develop a baseline of housing affordability; gather input from community members most marginalized to assess the impact of displacement and further marginalization; identify proactive measures to inform decision-making on issues across the ‘cost of living’ spectrum; contribute to the fight against homelessness; create inclusive and accessible communities; develop a strategy to co-develop and share possible solutions; and advocate for the building of affordable housing through social policy change.
Purpose: What are the cost of living issues for low-income and working class citizens, and how can a Community of Practice be created to sustain advocacy efforts to support new models for affordable housing through social policy change?
Principal Investigator: Salomeh Ahmadi
Engaging and Education Young-Adult Cannabis 2.0 Consumers
Source: NSERC CCSIF
Amount: $343,823
Term: Three (3)
Date: 2020
Partners:
- Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy)
We will conduct a mixed-methods, three phase project over the course of three years that will engage and educate young-adult cannabis users (18-30), the age group most likely to consume cannabis, and the age group most likely to consume cannabis on a daily or near daily basis.
- In Phase One we will gather the data necessary to understand what new public education materials need to be developed by conducting an online survey and a series of focus groups across the country.
- In Phase Two, we will work with Humber College advertising students, or partner organizations, and cannabis consumers to develop new public education materials focused on effectively engaging consumers with harm reduction information about cannabis 2.0 products.
- In Phase Three, we will launch the new materials, and being an evaluation of their efficacy before updating the materials to respond to any shortcomings identified in our evaluation.
Purpose: By targeting this age group we hope to impact long-term cannabis consumption practices, thereby having the best potential for improving public health and wellbeing outcomes for decades to come.
Principal Investigator: Daniel Bear
Community Agency Partnerships: Best Practices for the Creation of Healthy Communities
Source: NSERC CCSIF
Amount: $219,183
Term: three (3)
Date: 2020
Partners:
- The John Howard Society of Saskatchewan
- Street Culture Project Inc
Youth who are at risk of entering the criminal justice system, especially those who become gang-involved, need the support of multiple community agencies. Although there is strong evidence to support implementing a network response, there is limited information on how best to do it.
Humber College in partnership with John Howard Society of Saskatchewan and Street Culture Project Inc., will be examining the characteristics of effective community agency partnership networks. The project will analyze an existing community agency partnership network to identify best practices in creating and maintaining these types of partnerships.
Additionally, the study will evaluate existing programs aimed at youth 15 - 29 who are involved with the criminal justice system, or at risk of becoming involved, to determine whether they meet agency commitment to being trauma informed, culturally sensitive, free from systemic racism, and aligned with agency commitment to reconciliation.
Purpose: The overarching objective of this project is to help reduce youth crime, particularly gang violence, in Canada.
Principal Investigator: Ann Corbold
Experiences of hope, self-compassion and authentic collaboration: Foundations for a consumer-informed compassion-based human services delivery framework in a Canadian context
Source: NSERC CCSIF
Amount: $323,239
Term: three (3)
Date: 2020
Partners:
- Lutherwood
- South West Nova Transition
House Association – Juniper House - The Canadian Foundation for
Animal-Assisted Support Services - Family Transition Place
Human Services (HS) is a broad multidisciplinary field that is held together conceptually by the overarching goal of improving the quality of life of individuals, families, and communities in and through service delivery participation provided in public and non-profit organizations. Since the early 2000s HS have been evolving to a person-centered delivery structure with its consumers increasingly engaged in the service delivery processes. Problematically, though, the HS field remains without an evidence base that can inform a guiding framework to root service provision principles across its multidisciplinary workforce and varied institutions. This absence is noted in the call from the foremost professional body in the HS field, the National Organization of Human Services (NOHS) for HS research that can "build supports that are responsive to the aspirations and preferences of people who rely on HS to lead self-directed lives" (NOHS, 2019).
Purpose: This study seeks to collect co-created lived experience narratives from human service Canadian consumers and providers about their lived experiences of hope, self-compassion and authentic collaboration in the course of HS service delivery. Four HS organizations with local, regional and national service coverage are partnering in this study for the purpose of deepening our understanding of how HS provision can foster the aspirations and preferences in ways that strengthen consumers' abilities to lead self-directed lives.
Ultimately, this three-year research study will establish a consumer-informed foundation for a much-needed consumer-informed guiding framework that can aid Canadian HS organizations and service providers in their ability to be responsive to the aspirations and preferences of consumers in ways that strengthen their ability to lead self-directed lives. It will do so by bringing together community engaged scholars and applied researchers, along with a vibrant team of local and national community partners.
Principal Investigators: Sara Nickerson-White and Tina Lackner