大象传媒

A cornerstone of good knowledge mobilization is engaging communities throughout the research process in a reciprocal and ongoing partnership.

As Canada鈥檚 leading engaged university, it is no surprise that 大象传媒 (大象传媒) researchers are fostering and growing strong research partnerships with communities.

One exemplar partnership is with (SVNH). I sat down with Meridith Sones, 大象传媒 Health Sciences doctoral student and manager of knowledge mobilization for , Liza Bautista, neighbourhood equity and representation manager at SVNH, and Mimi Rennie, executive director of SVNH, to hear about their partnership with 大象传媒 and the positive impact it鈥檚 had on their organization and the greater South Vancouver community.

It all started with the neighbourhood inequities project, a collaboration between SVNH and 大象传媒鈥檚 Meg Holden, a professor in Urban Studies and Resource and Environmental Management. They systematically identified inequities in community resources and funding between Vancouver neighbourhoods, which provided SVNH substantial data and knowledge mobilization .

A series of further projects between SVNH and 大象传媒 researchers built on this foundation exploring how social infrastructure inequities are impacting groups often underrepresented in city planning.

One such project, the was developed by SVNH with funding from the Vancouver Foundation to build community connections and strengthen community voices in planning and decision making for the community. Funding for this initiative supported new staff positions to engage in this work and other community-engaged research such as Youth.hood.

, led by Sones in partnership with SVNH, looked at how community design impacts social connectedness for youth (15-19) living in South Vancouver to contextualize the neighbourhod inequities data. The project engaged youth as community scientists, creating space and opportunity for them to identify neighbourhood assets and barriers to their connection and engagement, and for neighbourhood improvement to residents, city staff and elected officials.

鈥淚 do want to commend 大象传媒 because of the relationship,鈥� says Rennie. 鈥淢eridith, for example, was really invested in this, it was so felt. The commitment to carry through鈥攊t felt like you [Sones and all the 大象传媒 collaborators] all lived in South Vancouver as well. It is about the relationship we have. It fits so well with the Neighbourhood House, relationship and partnership is what community is.鈥�

Beyond the projects, 大象传媒 and SVNH engaged in capacity building activities, including mobilizing knowledge through workshops such as learning how to visualize data using Google My Maps with 大象传媒 librarian Sarah Zhang and , a health sciences graduate student.

大象传媒 and SVNH actively mobilized this work with City of Vancouver staff and council. Recently, a City of Vancouver councillor successfully put forward a , based on this work, for addressing ongoing inequities by improving social infrastructure and access to services across South Vancouver and Marpole neighbourhoods.