Midterm Activities Report -- Metropolis Project CERIS Toronto Back to Table of Midterm Activities Report Contents Special Projects 1. Knowledge for Action, Action for Knowledge: CERIS-PAC Research Training Project 2. Immigration Information Outreach Project 3. Access and Equity Research on Health and Social Services 1. Knowledge for Action, Action for Knowledge: CERIS-PAC Research Training Project Research team (lead researcher, partners): Morton Beiser, Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement - Toronto John Shields, Department of Politics & School of Public Policy, Ryerson Polytechnic University Ted Richmond, CERIS Wendy Kwong, City of Toronto Public Health Timothy Owen, COSTI Mary Alberti, Family Services Association of Toronto Khan Rahi, Access Action Council of Toronto CERIS and the Partnership Advisory Council (PAC). The Partnership Advisory Council is composed of representatives from the following agencies: Family Services Association of Toronto; Halton Multicultural Centre; Department of Canadian Heritage; Hong Fook Mental Health Association; Social Planning Council of Peel; Ontario Region Settlement Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Canada; Toronto District Health Council; Toronto Public Health; City of Toronto Access & Equity Centre; Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation; COSTI; York Community Services; Access Action Council of Toronto; Ken Ramphal, Anti-Racist Consultant; Health Promotion and Programmes Branch, Health Canada; Urban Alliance on Race Relations; Centre for Language Training and Assessment; Multilingual Access Services, City Clerk=s Department, City of Toronto. Start date: July 13, 1998 Projected date of completion: June 30, 1999 Amount awarded from CERIS: $52,000 - in kind contributions, staff time, space allocation, etc. Amount awarded from other sources of funding: $164,000 - Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Immigrant Settlement and Adaptation Program, (ISAP), (OASIS - Ontario Region of Citizenship and Immigration Canada) Abstract: In December of 1998, the CERIS Partnership Advisory Council (PAC) launched a project whose purpose is to strengthen the capacity of agencies serving immigrants and refugees in the Greater Toronto Area to use relevant research on immigration and settlement issues, to improve their program planning and delivery. The CERIS-PAC Research Training Project - entitled KNOWLEDGE FOR ACTION - ACTION FOR KNOWLEDGE is a project funded by OASIS, The Ontario Region of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which aims to increase the access of these agencies to available research, deliver specialized group training (ex. structured training, information sessions and public forums), as well as increase the ability of community groups to participate in the CERIS priority-setting process. More specifically, this project will see the realization of approximately 50 workshops, to be held in Community Agencies throughout the Greater Toronto Area. The development, design and production of the curriculum for the training modules, as well as the delivery of project components, have been contracted to individuals with expertise in the area and with adult education experience. The topics of these workshops were determined through a coordinated and ongoing process of outreach to survey potential program participants, in terms of specific training and support needs. The initial components of this needs assessment were comprised of a general meeting and the distribution of a survey. Training priorities and resources will be re-directed according to the response of the participants, as the training program develops. Another important component of this project is making research resources more accessible to community agencies. Relevant training materials are being collected and developed by the project, to be placed in the CERIS Resource Centre and on the CERIS WebSite. The following are the preliminary workshop topics which will be offered from April to June 30, 1999, throughout various community agencies, in the Greater Toronto Area: Accessing Available Research on Immigration and Settlement Acquiring and Interpreting Census Information Doing Valid and Cost-Effective In-House Research Acquiring and Using Research for the Purposes of Funding Proposals How to Utilize Research on Immigration and Settlement for Program Planning, Development & Evaluation Introduction to Research Methodology on Immigration and Settlement Using the Internet to Gather Research on Immigration and Settlement Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods in Immigration and Settlement Research How to Undertake Action- and Participatory- Research How to Apply for Research Funds Building Closer Academic-Community Collaboration How to Set Up a Reliable Client Database Using Research for Advocacy Outcomes/results anticipated: It is intended that this project will train over 1,000 staff from immigration and settlement agencies on issues related to access of research. This project will also provide an opportunity for CERIS to dialogue with the widest range possible of community agencies, in order to better gauge community research priorities. This project will provide approximately 1,000 staff of immigration and settlement agencies in the Greater Toronto Area with the skills necessary to access, utilize and interpret research on immigrants and refugees. This will result in the development of programs and services which are based on the established knowledge of the situation of these communities and thus more effective. These staff will also be better able to advocate for the communities which they are serving. Contribution to training and/or professional development: The 50 workshops in this project are intended to train the staff of community agencies on how to access, isolate and interpret immigration and settlement research. Approximately 1,000 individual workshop training places will be made available in these workshops. This project will also develop the training capacities and experience of approximately 15 community trainers and curriculum writers. The staff and students who are participating on the part of CERIS are developing skills in event management, resource development, library science and survey research. This project has employed seven students, on a full-time, part-time or occasional capacity. These are receiving experience and training in such areas as human resource management, event planning and management, curriculum development and becoming familiar with the network of immigration and settlement agencies in the Greater Toronto Area. Fernando Nunes Human resource management, event planning, financial administration, curriculum development. Fidelia Torres Event planning, office administration, database management, social service network, survey data analysis, library resource management. Huyen Nguyen Community outreach, social service network, presentation skills. Madalena Silva Event planning, workshop training, community organizing Kapila Sankaran Office administration Wei Wei Da Office administration Mei Yang Office administration Policy implications of work: Improved training on access to research will improve the capacity of community agencies to develop informed policy regarding their work. These agencies will also be in a stronger and more informed position to lobby governments on issues which directly affect immigrants and refugees. Finally, this project will expand the role of CERIS.in the community-at-large, and with its community partners. 2. Immigration Information Outreach Project Research team (lead researcher, partners): Marie Truelove, Professor of Applied Geography, Ryerson Polytechnic University Tim Owen, COSTI Ted Richmond, CERIS Laura Simich, CERIS, Metadatabase Project CERIS, Partnership Advisory Council Start date: September 1998 Projected date of completion: August 1999 Amount awarded from CERIS: $32, 400. In-kind contributions from CERIS (for staff and student placement supervision, technical consulting, secretarial support and related administrative and office expenses) Amount awarded from other sources of funding: $30,000 - Canadian Heritage Abstract: The coordinated development of an internet-accessible database is an important component of an interdisciplinary research program for community agencies, affiliated government partners, university researchers and social planning organizations. The Immigration Information Outreach Project has two components: first, collecting, cataloguing and making accessible, on site and on the internet, unpublished academic research papers, community-based needs assessments, conference papers and studies by immigrant settlement agencies; and second, development of a central Web-based reference point for a wide variety of databases on ethnoracial demographics and immigrant settlement information in the Greater Toronto Area, including Census data, CIC databases, survey datasets, service agency databases and aggregate client demographics. The outreach component of the project includes both developing linkages to obtain access to this information, and using the communications infrastructure and network to make the information available to partners. The project is being implemented in conjunction with the University of Toronto's Data Library Service, and will benefit from contributions from York University's Institute for Social Research as well as range of government and community partners. Outcomes/results anticipated: The following outcomes and results are anticipated: expansion of resource collection of unpublished immigration research from the GTA; classification of these documents in a format suitable for onsite use and Web site searches; identification of immigration databases in the GTA and analysis of related structural and access issues; development of a searchable Web-based central access point for these immigration databases. Contribution to training and/or professional development: The project contributes to the acquisition of professional experience for student placement staff by promoting understanding of empirical immigrant settlement issues in collecting, analyzing, and cataloguing resource documents; in performing outreach tasks involving coordination of relations with government offices, community organizations and university staff and researchers; and in the techniques of Web site development. The following students are currently participating in this research project: Fidelia Torres (Coordination and outreach to obtain research documents for CERIS Web site) Huyen Nguyen (Outreach for Metadatabase Project) Samit Doshi (Assisting technical staff in updating and posting documents for Web site) Wei Wei Da (Cataloguing and updating master list of resources) Policy implications of work: The Metropolis project, in which CERIS Toronto is an integral component, has been set up to provide policy relevant research on the process of immigrant settlement and its impact on Canadian society. Opportunities exist to develop relevant and high quality immigration research and to examine the policy implications of this research. In the GTA, the success of these initiatives depends partially on developing access to information which this project will make increasingly available to immigration researchers. 3. Access and Equity Research on Health and Social Services Research team (lead researcher, partners): Morton Beiser, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto; Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Clarke Division; Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement - Toronto Doris Rajan, Freelance Community Researcher Wendy Kwong, PAC Steering Committee Partnership Advisory Council (PAC) Start date: February 01, 1999 Date of completion: April 30, 1999 Amount awarded from CERIS: In kind contributions from CERIS (approximately $ 10,000) Amount awarded from other sources of funding: $25, 000 - Health Canada Abstract: CERIS supported by funding from Health Canada is conducting this short term preliminary research study to attain a broad description of the nature, types of services and key organizational players in the area of health service delivery to the immigrant and refugee populations of the GTA. The primary goal of this research is to identify promising program and policy directions, as well knowledge gaps which must be filled if we are to achieve the goal of accessible and equitable health care for all. Some of the key questions relevant to this research project were: What health services are delivered t the immigrant populations? What are some of the key agencies involved in the delivery of these services? How have mainstream health providers involved community partners in the planning and delivery of services? What are some positive and negative examples of mainstream and community collaboration? Outcomes/results anticipated: A report outlining project results and recommendations is expected by May 1999. Contribution to training and/or professional development: Hired co-facilitators for conducting the focus groups. Policy implications of work: The research points to the need to examine government policies in order to identify areas where change could be incorporated, such as: Funding structure for health service delivery in relation to mainstream and community based agencies Ministry Health policies that may have discriminatory affect on immigrants and refugees The accreditation process for foreign-trained health care professionals.

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