This Partnership Development Grant project is a university-community partnership focussed on building a more just and inclusive Niagara for African descendant and foreign-born newcomers in the Niagara region. In 2024, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council awarded a 3-year grant to the partnership to carry out research and knowledge mobilization activities informed by the perspectives of these populations. The partnership’s overall goals are to:
- Provide governmental and non-governmental organizations with insights and tools to develop culturally-responsive services for these populations
- Build community capacity
- Create original scholarship
- Enrich public discourse
- Train and mentor student and community-based researchers
Our work is organized in three research hubs:
- Childhood and Growing Up (focus on newcomer children and their experiences in housing, sport/recreation and schooling)
- Health Literacy (focus on promoting health literacy in immigrant, refugee and Afro-descendent populations)
- Identity, Connections and Belonging (focus on fostering a sense of belonging amongst Afro-descendant; sexual and gender diverse (SGD) young adult newcomers; and seasonal agricultural workers.
Team members are based at Brock University, University at Buffalo-SUNY, the University of Toronto, and York University, and the following community organizations:
- Brock University (Social Justice Research Institute)
- Centre Canadien pour l’unité de la famille
- Le Réseau en Immigration Francophone du Centre-Sud-Ouest
- Migrant Farmworkers Project
- Community Potential (Niagara Connects)
- Niagara Folk Arts and Multicultural Centre
- Niagara Local Immigration Partnership
- SOFIFRAN
- Tools for Empowerment and Success
- Welland Heritage and Multicultural Centre
- YWCA Niagara
Contact:
Livianna Tossutti ltossutti@brocku.ca
Jean Ntakirutimana jntakirutimana@brocku.ca
