community Archives -

August 27, 2024August 27, 2024

Exploring the New Research Handbook on Homelessness

The “Research Handbook on Homelessness,” published by Edward Elgar Publishing, offers a comprehensive and insightful examination of one of the most pressing social issues of our time. This new volume brings together a range of expert perspectives on homelessness, offering valuable insights into its causes, consequences, and potential solutions.

One of the notable contributions to this handbook is Chapter 32, titled “Homelessness Prevention,” authored by Abe Oudshoorn and Amy Van Berkum. This chapter stands out for its practical and evidence-based approach to preventing homelessness, drawing on extensive research and real-world applications.

Abe Oudshoorn, a CRHESI affiliate and member, collaborated with Amy Van Berkum to address critical strategies and interventions aimed at preventing homelessness. Their chapter provides a valuable contribution to the field, focusing on innovative prevention strategies and examining the broader context of homelessness.

In London, Ontario, the city and various stakeholders are working together on the initiative “Health & Homelessness: A Whole of Community System Response,” which involves CRHESI’s support. CRHESI plays a key role by supporting the System Foundations Table (SFT), which identifies priority questions for research and evaluation teams and sets timelines for deliverables. This includes coordinating research/evaluation team meetings, developing project plans and resources, and providing regular progress reports. CRHESI is dedicated to fostering effective communication and ensuring transparency throughout the process. For more information on CRHESI’s involvement and progress, visit Health & Homelessness – CRHESI.

For additional details about the city’s efforts, visit the City of London’s Health & Homelessness Initiative.

This handbook is an essential resource for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners committed to understanding and addressing homelessness. By delving into effective prevention strategies and exploring the broader issues surrounding homelessness, the volume offers valuable insights and guidance.

For more details and to access the book, visit the Research Handbook on Homelessness.

Laura Gibbs, CRHESI Affiliate, Community

Hello! My name is Laura Gibbs and I am very excited to be a CRHESI Affiliate. I want to change the way people think about the way the world could and should work so that everyone has the opportunity to reach their full health potential – and that’s exactly the impact of CRHESI’s work. I am passionate about integrating evidence and lived experience to produce more accessible systems and equitable health outcomes. As an evaluator with ten years’ experience working in local public health and the provincial mental health and substance use care system, I work to understand the ways the social systems we create influence how people seek, access, receive, and benefit from services. I would love to stop finding the same thing: that the experiences of living are unjustly influenced by the colour of their skin, the language that they speak, their gender, and a myriad of other things that shouldn’t negatively influence their lives.

For me, it’s not just about making services better, it’s about making everything better: but how? We know the health and social systems we have in place aren’t working for most people and the system flaws are fatal. This isn’t news. What we need is to make people want to change them for the better. I’m interested in re-thinking how we do research and evaluation and communicate the findings. I want to make these inequities so unacceptable that it’s not enough to make a small change or two or demand large-scale changes. I want people to be moved to create new, more equitable, and sustainable systems. What lessons can we learn from marketing, politics, and grassroots movements? Are we getting the right information to the people who can make those big changes?

I’m also passionate about changing the way we do evaluation so that we aren’t reproducing those inequities. I’m interested in exploring new ways to incorporate the lived experience and traditional knowledges of communities, clients, and providers in our assessments of what interventions work, who they work for, and how they produce equitable outcomes. How do we tap into the wisdom of others? What pushes our own methodological comfort zones? It’s time to look at the world of research and evaluation differently.

lgibbs2@alumni.uwo.ca

November 16, 2022

Rquesting your Input on London’s Policing Needs: London Police Service Strategic Planning

The London Police Service is researching the community’s needs as part of a strategic planning process.

A series of community consultations are being held virtually that will be open to all citizens including, but not limited to, community groups, institutions, businesses, and members of the public.

The next virutal consultation is Thursday November 24 from 7:00 – 9:00 pm

Please register here

An online survey is open until Nov 30th, 2022.

April 12, 2022April 12, 2022

London Community Recovery Network: Progress Update

Photo by Francesco Gallarotti on Unsplash

CRHESI staff and directors have been active in the London Community Recovery Network (LCRN), linking our intiatives with the LCRN’s 3 main focus areas:
Investing in People
Driving Prosperity
Fostering Community

CRHESI’s impact on community and university collaborations ensures a focus on collective and participatory research, particularily for populations affected most during the pandemic.

April 12, 2022April 12, 2022

Values in Action at Western University

CRHESI is proud to be part of the Western community. We strive to support values in action as we bring communities together to collaborate, research and address wicked problems.

“Wicked problems”are very difficult to solve due to their complex, contradictory, changing or cross-cutting nature (Weber & Khademian, 2008). Health inequities for example, are described as “wicked” because they appear intractable and unsolvable. We believe that moving knowledge to action is one way we act on our values.

How do you enact your values?