Based on the KW Local Immigrant Partnership Community Action Plan, this study examined newcomers and immigrant service providers (IPS) strategies and programs, which have the potential to respond to the three core areas identified in the Community Action Plan: settle, work, belong.
What was our approach?
We adopted a gender, precarity and resilience perspective (both individual and institutional) to explore how newcomers to KW cope with settlement and change. This project examined the resilience of ISPs, immigrants themselves and KW communities, and considered the impacts of gender, levels of precarity and category of entry. We examined which strategies, resources, networks (online and offline), motivations and obstacles contributed to, or impeded resilience. Gender is an important cross-cutting factor for resilience as it has structural, community and cultural implications (Hennebry et al., 2017). The concept of precarity is useful for understanding structural barriers that limit coping and adaptability for newcomers and ISPs.
Knowledge mobilization, Community outreach (throughout)
- Community outreach was enhanced by posting information/updates on team activities through project website and social media.
- Findings were shared through various (in)formal meetings and presentations to local communities, governments, stakeholders and public at large (organized in collaboration with community partners; started March 2018).
- Technical reports (April-June 2018): At least 2 technical reports useful to all Partnership team members and made available to the public on project website:
- Report presenting policy discourse analysis;
- Report presenting governance structures analysis.
- Policy briefs (April-June 2018): One or more policy briefs were posted on project website.
- Academic conferences (March-Dec 2018): Presentations at local/national conferences throughout spring, summer and fall 2018, including:
- Congress of FHSS
- Annual meetings of Canadian Political Studies Association
- Canadian Sociologists Society
- Canadian Association of Geographers
- Metropolis 2018
- ACFAS 2018 among others.
- Peer-reviewed publications (summer-fall 2018): We released 2 peer-reviewed articles:
- Article with findings of policy discourse analysis;
- Article with findings of governance structures analysis
Principal Investigators:
- Jenna L. Hennebry, jhennebry@wlu.ca
Co-investigators:
- M. Walton-Roberts (IMRC-WLU) (Co-investigator)
- M. Skuterud (UW) (Collaborator)
- A. Ferrer (UW) (Collaborator)
Community Partners:
- Tara Bedard (LIP) (Community Co-Chair)
- Lucia Harrison & Ana Luz Martinez (KW Multicultural Centre)
- Shelly Campagnola (MCRS)
