Community Basis 

To all our Centre Friends and Colleagues,

Welcome to volume eight of the "Community Basis" newsletter, a way to communicate news and innovation in community based research locally, nationally, and internationally to our network, colleagues and friends.  

Since the last Community Basis email, there has been lots of new and exciting projects and community engagements.

Please read on for some brief updates on what is new at the Centre. This issue of Community Basis also features a current project and an article on the work we are doing. The featured project has an international scope: the Canadian Immigration Integration Project (CIIP).  The featured article is about one of the CURA demonstration projects, entitled Leaders Mobilizing Change by Tanya Darisi.  But first some news from our Centre...

Recently, we said 'good-bye and good luck!' to Andrew Taylor, CCBR Research Director. After 19 years of working here, Andrew is seeking new horizons and adventures in the field of community based research.

For more details about Andrew click here...

LIPC Comunity Forum Settling, Working, Belonging: Moving Forward

The LIPC project has come to the end of Phase I . Over the past year, the Waterloo Region community has been planning how the entire community can work with immigrants and refugees to improve their settlement and integration. The community forum held March 24th, offered the opportunity  for everyone to become a part of a shared vision for a truly integrated community.  

Over 200 people came to the Community Forum: Settling, Working, Belonging: Moving Forward, and heard about the work of the various task groups representing health care, immigrant/refugees, education, government, business, service providers and non-governmental funders. The priorities presented were based on  two Community Strategy Sessions, 18 working group meetings (six thematic task groups) and nine focus groups. The focus groups were conducted with immigrants and refugees from 35 countries.  To read more about the project and preparing for the next steps and to read the full LIPC report click here.

CU Expo2011, Bringing Global Perspectives to Local Action 

CU Expo2011 is a Canadian-led, international conference designed to showcase the exemplars in Community-University partnerships worldwide, and together to introduce creative ways of strengthening our local communities.  CU Expo 2011 will be held May 10-14, 2011, and will be hosted by the communities of Waterloo region and led by CCBR. Please click here to view a flyer announcing this exciting conference.

(Version francaise)

On May 3^rd 2010, the call for proposals and reviewers will be launched on our upcoming new and improved website.  A series of Roundtable Events will be held in the Waterloo Region from now until the conference to showcase CU partnerships, research efforts and findings, positive community impacts, and to raise awareness of CU Expo 2011. Stay tuned for more details.

For more information, ways to get involved, or sponsorship opportunities, please contact: Bonnie McCutcheon via email at: bonnie@communitybasedresearch.ca or by telephone: (519) 741-1318. 

New and Recent Projects

CCBR is currently managing 31 research projects. New projects are always under development which contribute to and enrich our diverse research theme areas. 

The Canadian Immigration Integration Project. CCBR has been contracted to conduct an evaluation of the new model funded by the Government of Canada to aid immigrant integration for foreign skilled workers (FSW) who are in the process of immigrating to Canada called The Canadian Immigration Intergration Project (CIIP). The CCBR team begins international site visits to China, India and the Philippines April 22nd. For more information see Featured Project section below.

CCBR has been teaching a university course for undergraduates and graduate students of Renison College and University of Waterloo about  Participatory Action Research. The course objective is to learn how to conduct community based research with a focus on a participatory action research (PAR) approach. There are 17 students enrolled in the course taught by a team led by Joanna Ochocka at the offices of CCBR in Kitchener.  In the spring, the Centre will teach a new course, Community Engagement and Social Development. 

Project Database

CCBR has a searchable database for all projects, associated publications and presentations. The database includes information on CCBR's work. To check out the database, please click here. Please also note that our website now has an additional general search option at the top of each page. This will allow users to search the entire content of our website.

A selection of projects are described here.

Staff Updates

CCBR has been very fortunate to welcome many new excellent people to the CCBR family over the last little while. Alongside these new arrivals, we have also had to say a number of bittersweet goodbyes and good luck to staff who are moving on to pursue graduate education or new career paths.

From Left to Right: Catherine, Liliana, Norah, Cveta, Elin, Tanya, Lindsay and Alexis. Background CCBR logo was painted by Ana Bobesiu.

Welcome to Catherine Maine and Cveta Konjokrad who have joined the administrative team. Congratulations to: Elin Moorlag, Tanya Darisi and Yasir Dildar, new Senior Researchers and to new Centre Researchers: Norah Love, Alexis Buettgen, Liliana Araujo and Lindsay Sprague.

Students recently contributing to CCBR were: Cara Dowhaniuk (Renison University College), Marina Dubon-Hernandez (Renison University College, Matthew Harrison (Renison University College, Ravi Gokani (Wilfrid Laurier University),  Jenn Toews (University of Waterloo), Courtney Baily (St. Mary's High School) and Christos Stratopoulos (Cameron Heights High School).

Featured Project

In this issue, we are pleased to profile the evaluation of one project.

The Canadian Immigration Integration Project (http://ciip.accc.ca)  is a 5-year pilot project funded by the Government of Canada and managed by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) (www.accc.ca).  CCBR has been contracted to conduct an evaluation of this international project designed to help immigrants under the Federal Skilled Worker  (FSW) Program prepare for integration to the Canadian labour market while they are still in their country of origin completing final immigration requirements.

For more on CIIP follow or copy paste this link: http://www.communitybasedresearch.ca/Page/View/CIIP.html 

Featured Articles

Leaders Mobilizing Change  by Tanya Darisi. is the feature article about one of the CURA demonstration projects, being currently implemented across Ontario.

Recent Publications

CCBR researchers continue to be inspired to write, publish and disseminate findings and issues associated with our research projects.  Here is a list of  recent publications:

Published

• Darisi, T., Davidson, V., Korabik, K. & Desmarais, S. (2010). Commitment to Graduate Studies and Careers in Science and Engineering: Examining Women's and Men's Experiences. International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology 2 (1) 48 - 64.

• Janzen, R., Ochocka, J., Jacobson, N., Maiter, S., Simich, L., Westhues, A., Fleras, A. & the Taking Culture Seriously Partners (2009). Synthesizing Culture and Power in Community Mental Health: An Emerging Framework. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health

• Nelson, G., Janzen, R., Ochocka, J. & Trainor, J. (2009). Participatory Action Research and Evaluation with Mental Health Self-help Groups and Organizations: A Theoretical Framework. In L. Brown & S. Wituk (Eds.), Mental Health Self-Help: Consumer and Family Driven Initiatives. New York: Springer.

• Newberry, D.J. & Strong, A.D. (2009). Beyond mental health maintenance: An evaluation framework driven by recovery-focused outcomes. Special Issue of the Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health. 28, 2, 73-94.  

• Simich, L., Maiter, S. & Ochocka, J. (2009). From social liminality to cultural negotiation: Transformative processes in immigrant wellbeing. Anthropology and Medicine Journal.

• Simich, L., Maiter, S., Moorlag, E. & Ochocka, J. (2009). ‘Taking Culture Seriously': Ethno linguistic community perspectives on mental health. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 32 (3), 208-214

  In press

• Janzen, R., Ochocka, J., Jacobson, N., Maiter, S., Simich, L., Westhues, A., Fleras, A. & The Taking Culture Seriously Partners (in press). Synthesizing Culture and Power in Community Mental Health: An Emerging Framework. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health.

• Ochocka, J., Moorlag, E., Marsh, S., Korsak, K., Mutta, B., & Kaur, A. (in press). Taking Culture Seriously in Community Mental Health: A five-year study bridging research and action. Canadian Issues: Special Issue on Immigrant Mental Health

• Westhues, A., Janzen, R., Roth, D. & Grant, J. (in press). Community mental health organizations in Ontario: Perceptions of responsiveness to the needs of diverse cultural-linguistic communities. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health.