Meet the Spring 2025 Recipients of UBC’s Partnership Recognition and Exploration Fund

This project description was provided by the project team on May 5, 2025.  

The Vancouver Folk Music Festival is a BC cultural institution. It is a unique, community-based celebration internationally renowned for the diversity and quality of traditional and contemporary folk and roots music presented by artists from BC, across Canada and around the world. Now in its 48th year, the Festival continues to be one of the city’s most beloved, enjoyed and respected events. Each year, it draws tens of thousands of enthusiastic attendees to beautiful ʔəy̓alməxʷ (Jericho Beach Park), on the unceded and traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Multiple generations of families join friends and fellow community members to experience the music and culture of more than 40 international, national and local acts. Over the years, the Festival has played a key role in the development of artists on a regional, national, and international level. 

The Society is deeply committed to upholding the values of Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (JEDI&A) in all festival activities. We uphold this through: 

• A year-round JEDI&A committee to ensure an equity lens is integrated into the festival. 

• A volunteer accessibility committee that creates a uniquely accessible festival event, a model emulated by festivals across Canada. 

• Complimentary tickets for equity-deserving groups, including Indigenous community members, newly-arrived immigrants, refugees, and guests of accessibility audience members; this community ticket program accounts for 15-20% of all tickets. 

In light of significant recent developments in JEDI&A principles and evolving best practices, it is essential to critically assess and update our festival’s accessibility approaches to ensure we are meeting the needs of all community members. Conducting a comprehensive accessibility assessment will allow us to evaluate how our current practices align with contemporary JEDI&A standards and identify opportunities for meaningful improvement. The aim of our project is to assess the JEDI&A initiatives around our site during the 2025 festival weekend and in particular our accessibility services. The steps we will take include: 

Prior to the festival:  

• collaboratively define the goals and objectives of the assessment and design the method/survey.  

During the festival: 

• track activities around the Accessibility services, e.g. accessible viewing areas use, Accessibility tent, and American Sign Language interpreters offering; 

• collect feedback from the accessibility services users  

After the festival:  

• produce a report with recommendations 

The team of MOT students under Tal’s guidance would assist with the project design, conduct the accessibility assessment and produce the report. 

This project description was provided by the project team on April 1, 2025.  

The African* Youth Heritage Program (AYHP) is a foundational three-month initiative designed to empower African youth ages 14–25 in the diaspora, especially in British Columbia, through cultural education, artistic expression, and leadership development. The program promotes identity, belonging, and pride in African heritage while equipping youth with essential life skills to support their successful integration into Canadian society. Though centered on African heritage, the program is inclusive and open to all youth in BC regardless of race, gender orientation, sexuality, or ability. 

We propose the following activities: 

Cultural Workshops: 

One interactive workshop will be held, focusing on an aspect of African heritage such as music, dance, language and poetry, artwork, or culinary traditions. The aim is to increase cultural awareness and understanding among youth by connecting them with the richness of African history, languages, and traditions. These workshops will be participatory and dynamic, allowing youth to not only learn but to express themselves creatively and build a deeper sense of identity. 

Mentorship Program: 

We will establish a mentorship network that connects participating youth with local BIPOC community leaders, elders, and professionals. This initiative is designed to strengthen intergenerational ties, offer guidance and inspiration, and build stronger community connections. Mentors will provide personal support and insights that encourage youth to pursue their goals while staying connected to their heritage. 

Leadership Training: 

One leadership development session will be offered, focusing on essential skills such as cross-cultural communication, teamwork, and problem-solving. Through interactive learning and group activities, participants will build confidence and a sense of agency that will help them thrive academically, socially, and professionally in Canadian society. 

Resource Guide: 

We will develop a culturally relevant resource guide containing practical information and tools for African youth navigating life in Canada. The guide will include sections on education, mental health, community involvement, and career planning, helping youth access available support while remaining grounded in their cultural identity. 

By blending cultural enrichment with personal development, this program aims to empower African youth to confidently navigate life in Canada while maintaining pride in their unique backgrounds and traditions. 

*Please note that we intentionally use the term African to describe youth of African descent. 

This project description was provided by the project team on May 15, 2025.  

In keeping with UBC’s Strategic Plan, we are interested in pursuing excellence in research, learning, and engagement to foster global citizenship and advance a sustainable and just society across British Columbia, Canada, and the world. Additionally, we are invested in decolonizing education and providing teachers, teacher partners (mentors), and faculty/field advisors with opportunities to learn more about equity, Indigenous education, and rural/remote education through a series of three online professional panel sessions. We intend to continue to provide opportunities to learn from each other and the presenters. This will be the third series of webinars since 2022 planned and orchestrated by our small volunteer working group. Our goal is that, by providing ongoing professional development to our field/faculty advisors and mentor teachers, we will directly benefit attendees and, at the same time, positively impact the experience of the teacher candidates/students in our teacher education programs. 

Faculty/field advisors work on behalf of the post-secondary institution to support, mentor and coach teacher candidates during their school-based practicum, which is a required part of the teacher certification process. As such, ongoing professional learning and conversation opportunities for faculty/field advisors (who are based all over BC) are critical for them to be able to support teacher candidates in increasingly diverse and complex classrooms. To date, we have held sessions on mentoring, difficult conversations, Indigenizing curriculum, Gen AI, and fostering productive triad relationships (FA, mentor and teacher candidate). Whether FAs are in urban areas or remote/rural contexts, these conversations have allowed for a rich sharing of ideas and experiences. 

For the next set of online sessions suggested topics are: Gen AI (strategies for use, exploring equitable and accessible approaches to Gen AI), Indigenous perspectives in education, and effective mentoring practices. 

This project description was provided by the project team on May 13, 2025. 

In partnership with UBC student Taylor Schepella, this initiative will support the development of three culturally sensitive focus groups with program participants across DTESNH. The focus groups will explore how neighbours want to be engaged in governance, what kinds of roles or structures feel accessible, and what barriers exist to participation. The results will shape the foundation for a Neighbourhood House Advisory Council (NHAC), envisioned as a permanent community advisory body that can co-lead strategic direction alongside staff and board members. 

This project builds on reciprocal engagement by integrating academic inquiry with grassroots knowledge. Kerry will support the project design, analysis, and facilitation as part of her undergraduate honours research, while DTESNH will lead recruitment, logistics, and community-facing implementation. The funding will be used to cover honoraria for focus group participants, light refreshments, printed materials, and outreach support. 

By working closely with UBC, this project improves community access to academic research methods and teaching tools while grounding them in lived experience. At the same time, Kerry’s involvement supports applied, ethical research learning in real-world conditions—centering communities who are often excluded from governance and policy-making. 

This collaboration contributes to equity, well-being, and inclusive governance in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and will result in a publicly shared community report to inform DTESNH’s first Strategic Plan (2026–2031). Most importantly, it advances a shared model of co-creation that values community leadership and sustainable relationships with the university. 

This project description was provided by the project team on May 13, 2025.  

Free Verse seeks to bring the voices of incarcerated writers to the Vancouver community through a public presentation of their writing in an effort to build personal accountability through self-reflection and self-expression among those incarcerated, and build empathy and understanding among those outside. Our intention is to create connections between the community outside and the writers inside, to increase among the non-incarcerated an understanding of life inside and the systemic influences that lead to incarceration. For those inside, to provide a positive experience of accomplishment and self-worth. This project also seeks to lay the foundation for long-term field-building in arts and corrections. 

Objectives: 

• To provide a structured series of writing workshops in partnership with local correctional institutions. 

• To empower incarcerated writers to express their stories, identities, and reflections through poetry. 

• To archive and, with consent, showcase selected writing through UBC Library platforms (e.g., digital exhibitions, zines, chapbooks) 

• To promote awareness of social justice, carceral literacy, and community-based arts through post-program events (e.g., public readings, panel discussions). 

Pandora’s Collective Brings: 

• Expertise in literary arts facilitation, especially in community and non-institutional settings. 

• Strong experience in trauma-informed teaching and workshop leadership. 

• Existing relationships with correctional institutions or nonprofits working in prisons. 

• Poets, writers, and mentors experienced in working with marginalized voices. 

Proposed UBC Library Contributions:  

• Research Support & Curation: Provide curated literary and writing materials from collections (e.g. zines, anthologies, how-to guides on poetry, memoir, storytelling). Create research packets on prison writing, trauma-informed pedagogy, and carceral studies for workshop facilitators. 

• Digital Access: Develop custom LibGuides or digital booklets tailored to the workshop series. Offer limited access to open educational resources (OERs) or public domain literature relevant to prison writing. 

• Space & Infrastructure (Pre/Post-Incarceration): Archive or digitize writings (with consent) to preserve and amplify voices from inside. 

• Training & Pedagogy: Facilitate trauma-informed and anti-oppressive training for facilitators in partnership with experts. Share best practices on privacy, ethics, and working with marginalized populations. 

• Grant & Administrative Support: Assist with PRE grant reporting, budget tracking, and outcomes assessment. Connect with faculty or student researchers for potential collaboration or documentation. 

• Space and Resources: Provide access to library meeting spaces for training, planning, and debrief workshops. Allocate archival or digital support to document and share the work, with participant consent. 

• Material and Logistical Support: Offer printing services for workshop materials, chapbooks, and anthologies. Support access to research tools and resources for workshop facilitators and volunteers. 

• Program Visibility and Engagement: Promote the series via UBC Library newsletters, website, and social media. Co-host a public event showcasing outcomes (e.g., poetry reading, panel, exhibition). 

• Partnership Development: Liaise with faculty from UBC’s Creative Writing, Education, Nursing, and Law programs to engage interested students or researchers. 

This project description was provided by the project team on May 6^th, 2025.  

JustUs Street Outreach Society, a new non-profit organization, will partner with UBCO’s School of Nursing to benefit those living unhoused and involved in sex work on Kelowna’s streets. We will provide direct, empathetic outreach based on respect and culturally-sensitive understanding. 

Growing sustainably, collaborating to serve immediate and long-term needs, and filling gaps in the community, we will be a resource and support for those who have been systemically marginalized. At the same time, this partnership will provide nursing students with research and teaching experience as well as hands-on, experiential learning experiences. We will provide leadership opportunities, training, and experiential and educational growth for these students, while directly benefiting both those on the streets and the larger community. 

Together, we will: 

• Design assignments for NRSG 432 Community Capstone Project that benefit JustUs Street Outreach and the marginalized population it serves 

• Plan and host a Community Education Night for the unhoused and sex work communities that feature practical health-oriented learning sessions (such as on foot care and wound care), led by nursing students at a community centre on Kelowna’s “main strip”; these will also combine social activities, free pizza, goodie bags (including hygiene items), and arts and land-based activities (in collaboration with UBCO Creative Writing) in a relaxed setting welcoming for all 

• Collaborate on Sensitivity Training, led by JustUs Street Outreach 

• Create social media posts, information campaigns, and events to raise consciousness among the public 

• Listen to the needs and voices of the unhoused and sex work communities to co-create meaningful, culturally-sensitive, and adaptable programs that make a real difference 

Ultimately, this partnership will benefit the social, emotional, and physical health and wellbeing of Kelowna’s unhoused and sex work communities, alongside benefitting UBCO students’ learning, the cultivation of empathetic and sensitive care in future health care practitioners, and the wellbeing of the greater community.

This project description was provided by the project team on May 22, 2025.  

Early and appropriate nutrition is essential for recovery after a child is admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Parents are rarely, if ever, consulted regarding their family feeding values prior to receiving nutrition through a feeding tube and there is often a  knowledge gap of what this entails. Specifically, enteral nutrition (EN), a special formula provided through a tube to the stomach, provides benefits that can enhance patient outcomes. There are several different types of formula that can be selected. Interruptions due to patient perceived comfort contribute to malnutrition risk and poor long term outcomes. Using co-design principles with families, clinicians, and decision-makers, we aim to minimize interruptions in nutrition care for these highly vulnerable children. 

Our idea of success is to standardize EN practices, incorporate and empower family values, and optimize nutrition delivery which will in turn promote faster recovery and improved outcomes for critically ill pediatric patients. This project aims to demonstrate the benefit of incorporating co-design methodology into nutrition guideline development, allowing families to have a heard voice in the care of their loved ones. 

This project description was provided by the project team March on 23, 2025.  

On April 16th we will be hosting a Queer Zine Workshop at the Laurel Packinghouse. This is a free event where participants can learn about how to make zines (an underground and DIY art form integral to pre-internet queer and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities since the ‘70s; they are self-published, small-circulation “magazine” that can cover a wide range of topics, including personal narratives, art, poetry, politics, and more). The event will include a brief history of zines, considerations for zine-making in regard to copyright, intellectual property, and Indigenous Knowledges, as well as time for people to create their own zines. Supplies will be provided during the workshop by UBCO Library and Kelowna Museums Society. 

This will be followed by a Queer Zine Fair at the Laurel Packinghouse on June 5th. The fair will showcase and celebrate zines created by 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals and/or focusing on 2SLGBTQIA+ themes. Queer artists, writers, and creatives can sign up for free to sell, trade, or give away their zines. It will be followed by an open-mic. 

Zines are an iconic part of queer history, and queer history is part of Okanagan history. But very few objects have been retained from the Okanagan’s queer history in general, let alone zines. By supporting zine fairs and creation in the Okanagan’s queer community, Kelown Museums Society can help create and promote publications of the queer experience in the Okanagan, here and now, and connects its people that way. 

This project description was provided by the project team on May 22, 2025.  

This project proposes the creation and public display of a large, bilingual (Chinese and English) visual window poster to honour the Sing Chong laundry—an unassuming yet historically significant building in Nelson, BC, and the last physical remnant of what was once the largest Chinatown in the BC Interior. Currently home to Kootenay Co-op Radio, the building sits in silence where a vibrant, resilient Chinese-Canadian community once thrived. This poster will serve as both a commemorative monument and a public pedagogical intervention, illuminating racialized, gendered, and minoritized histories that have been systematically marginalized and nearly erased from local memory. 

The community-identified need for this project emerged through ongoing dialogue with Chinese-Canadian descendants and cultural advocates, Chinese-Canadian researchers, and members of Nelson’s Kootenay Co-op Radio. Despite the significant presence of Chinese migrants in the history of Nelson’s development, no culturally relevant public education space exists to recognize their presence or to narrate their complex stories of migration, labour, exclusion, and belonging. The absence of visible cultural recognition speaks to a broader pattern of institutionalized neglect and amnesia—this project intervenes by reclaiming space for memory, dignity, and cultural continuity. 

The poster will be grounded in linguistically and culturally sensitive research, drawing on specific archival and oral histories of Chinese-Canadian life in Nelson, with a particular focus on the Sing Chong laundry. Its design will reflect the aesthetics and cultural expressions of that community, rendered in both Chinese and English to honour the linguistic diversity of diasporic identity and to ensure accessibility for different audiences. This project is a collaboration between a Chinese-Canadian community activist (a UBC alumni who is now leading a community organization), a UBC-based Chinese-Canadian cultural studies scholar,  in partnership with the board and staff of Kootenay Co-op Radio, who have formally agreed to support this initiative. 

Beyond its visual impact, the project serves as a powerful example of how UBC research and teaching can be translated into meaningful, community-rooted public knowledge. Through the collaborative creation of the poster, and through related community workshops and storytelling initiatives, this project mobilizes academic expertise to foster local cultural awareness and intergenerational learning. It brings the university into conversation with the community, not as an outsider, but as a respectful partner in the shared work of historical reckoning, cultural repair, and trust-building. 

This is more than a poster. It is a gesture of remembrance. A public reclaiming. A space of mourning and pride. And, most importantly, a beginning. 

This project description was provided by the project team on May 15, 2025.  

Lu’Ma Native Housing Society provides social housing to Indigenous individuals in Vancouver. Reflecting the organization’s values, tenants are referred to as “participants,” acknowledging their active engagement in their journeys toward health, well-being, and community connection through Lu’Ma’s housing initiatives. 

Despite this, many participants face significant barriers to mobility due to the unaffordability of public transportation. These financial constraints limit their independence, access to essential services like medical appointments, and opportunities to engage with the broader community and cultural spaces. Participants have shared experiences of being denied access to public transit due to an inability to pay fares, further deepening their social isolation and eroding their dignity. 

These transportation barriers intersect with broader systemic issues, including racism, colonial legacies, and socioeconomic exclusion, disproportionately affecting Indigenous community members. The resulting mobility inequities hinder participants’ social inclusion and limit their access to opportunities fundamental to health, well-being, and self-determination. 

This project directly addresses these challenges by enhancing community access to UBC’s research, teaching, and learning resources. By supporting transportation access, the project will enable participants from Lu’Ma Native Housing Society to attend programs, events, and initiatives at UBC, fostering opportunities for learning, cultural engagement, and social participation. It will also allow participants to experience the campus environment without the financial burden of transportation costs, supporting broader inclusion and equity goals. 

As a graduate student, Catherine Liao has built meaningful relationships with the Lu’Ma Native Housing Society through her research. This project embodies a commitment to reciprocity, recognizing that knowledge exchange must be mutually beneficial. This initiative strengthens the university’s research, teaching, and learning mission by facilitating community members’ access to UBC through direct engagement with underserved communities. It provides valuable opportunities for UBC students and faculty to learn from the lived experiences of Indigenous community members, fostering critical reflection on social determinants of health, mobility justice, and urban inequities. Ultimately, this project bridges academic resources with community-identified needs, advancing a research and education model rooted in equity, respect, and meaningful community partnerships. 

This project description was provided by the project team on May 12, 2025.  

Sasiwala will be the first knowledge-sharing gathering that brings together Kwiakah First Nation members and co-researchers from UBC working together as part of an interdisciplinary, Kwiakah-led regenerative forestry project. Sasiwala means to “paddle out to meet other canoes” in Kwak’wala and encapsulates the intention behind the gathering: to embed, at the core of our work, the idea of having “one foot in each canoe”; of Kwiakah knowledge systems and Western Science guiding us side-by-side through the waters of the research process. This gathering is identified by the Nation and co-researchers as a critical step to undertake before we start our work. 

Sasiwala will take place over the course of two days on June 11th and 12th. The first day will take place at Thunderbird Hall in Campbell River, where much of the community is based, and will consist of short presentations (by researchers, community members, and invited speakers), breakout group discussions, and whole group discussions. The second day will involve sharing stories and being on the land together as we gather on Kwiakah First Nation’s Core Territory. Participating community members are provided an honorarium, and their transport to and from the difficult-to-access Core Territory is covered. Through this gathering, the Nation hopes to not only prepare UBC co-researchers to enter their land-based field research in a good way, but to also begin re-asserting Kwiakah presence on their rightful homelands, where access has primarily been restricted to logging companies over the past century.  

We are hoping to invite an Indigenous facilitator to guide the first day’s conversations, on the strong recommendation of Dr. Jennifer Grenz, head of the Indigenous Ecology Lab at UBC. This allows all community members, invited guests, and co-researchers to participate fully in the event because the task of nurturing respectful and reciprocal discussion will be shouldered by a trained professional. As we start to build relationships and embark on this journey together, the facilitator will be indispensable in creating conversation and enhance the storytelling aspect of the reciprocal knowledge sharing. In addition to a graphic recorder, who will take visual meeting minutes, the Nation is inviting a videographer to film both days of the gathering. It is important to the community the learnings from the gathering are recorded, available, and accessible – to community members and co-researchers, some of who may be unable to attend – in multiple forms other than written. The videographer has the necessary skills to create educational videos from the knowledge shared and capture the unspoken truth: stories are told through more than words. 

We are seeking PRE funding to supplement the costs of the facilitator and videographer to be able to do this important storytelling work. Funding through a separate grant covers other costs of the event, but only partially covers the facilitator and videographer.

This project description was provided by the project team on May 6, 2025.  

This project strengthens relationships with Indigenous community partners to enrich UBC’s third-year capstone field course in Geographical Sciences (GEOS 309), held annually on Syilx territory near Oliver, BC. Field-based geoscience education often takes place on Indigenous lands, yet students may lack knowledge of the cultural histories, land rights, and ecological knowledges embedded in those landscapes. This project addresses the community-identified need for respectful, reciprocal engagement and deeper educational collaboration between UBC and local Indigenous communities. 

This need has been identified through ongoing dialogue with members of the Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB), including Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre (Nk’Mip DCC) interpreter cnúk (Jenna Bower), whose work in land-based education and UBC Okanagan course initiatives has helped shape our course activities since 2023. In past collaborations, community partners have expressed interest in meaningful student engagement, acknowledgement of local knowledge systems, and appropriate compensation for shared expertise. 

To respond, this project will sustain co-educational efforts initiated in 2023–2024, that were supported by a Advancing Community Engaged Learning grant. In May 2025, we will co-develop a tailored three-quarter-day student experience at the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre focused on Syilx place names, and cultural practices, modelled on our earlier visits and those being designed with other partners of the Nk’Mip DCC. The experience involves a guided cultural tour and ecology lesson at the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre, (~4 hours) to provide teachings about OIB’s history, colonial impacts and about flora and fauna on their Lands; and a snake ecology and safety workshop (1 hour). Additionally, during field camp, we will continue to collaborate with local landowners, conservationists, and FireSmart educators to provide students with regionally grounded perspectives on land use, fire risk, and ecological restoration, but those elements are not part of this application and will be supported by a separate set of funds from a Fellowship at the Centre for Community-Engaged Learning (CCEL) to Nina Hewitt. 

Project objectives include: 

• Building student and instructor understanding of Indigenous knowledge systems, cultural protocols, and colonial histories; 

• Expanding teaching materials based on Indigenous and local expertise; and 

• Co-creating learning experiences with community partners as co-educators. 

Deliverables include a community-engaged site visit, place-based learning activities, and reflection-based assessment using protocols that were developed in previous years for an Advancing Community Engaged Learning (from CCEL) application. We will also document the collaboration from student and instructor perspectives, and refine a set of field-based community engagement principles aligned with Community-Engaged Learning frameworks—focusing on reciprocity, reflection, and community priorities. 

This project improves community access to UBC resources through knowledge sharing, collaborative teaching, and financial recognition of community expertise. It fosters mutual learning by positioning students as respectful guests on the land, and community members as educators and knowledge holders. The outcome will be a richer, more inclusive field course that centres place-based learning and sustained relationships with local peoples and ecologies. 

This project description was provided by the project team on May 15, 2025.  

PRE funding would support the establishment of a new partnership between Talaysay Tours, Deer Crossing – Art Farm Society, and the UBC Comics Studies Cluster to create comics inspired by Talaysay Tours’ cultural and land-based tours.  

Talaysay Tours is owned and operated by Candace and Larry Campo, Shíshálh (Sechelt) and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Nation members. They are active in the Indigenous tourism and education sector, working to build the next generation of tourism and education employment by supporting cultural revitalization, land-based education and Indigenous reclamation in harmony with nature.  

Talaysay Tours is comprised of Indigenous knowledge keepers from diverse backgrounds, including members of the Squamish, Haida, Tla-o-qui-aht, and Sechelt Nations. The tour company approaches training through Indigenous mentorship, supporting new team members through shadowing, teaching, and learning.  

Deer Crossing – Art Farm Society was founded by Chad Hershler and Sandy Buck (Metis) in 2009. It has since grown into a robust community-engaged arts organization that hosts and tours events, workshops, productions and collaborations year-round. Candace Campo is also a member of the Deer Crossing team, where she is an artist and the Art Farm’s Indigenous Arts Coordinator. 

Building on the success of the “Remember Comics Project” with the Homalco Nation, this new initiative will continue to explore the intersection of Indigenous storytelling, land-based education and the comics form. 

However, before we begin, it’s crucial that the team gets to know each other. Moreover, even though many of the Talaysay team are artists and run a successful online apparel store alongside the tour company, working in comics is new to them. PRE funding will support an initial relationship-building comics workshop, which will take place at Deer Crossing in January 2025 and provide artists with training in comic art.  

Over two days, the comics workshop will introduce the Talaysay Tours team to the basics of comic creation, focusing on storytelling techniques, panel design, and Indigenous approaches. It will be facilitated by Alina Pete (Cree), an Indigenous cartoonist and comics editor who was an artist on the “Remember Comics Project.”  

Moreover, the workshop will support the Talaysay Team team in identifying comic narratives for the pilot project necessary to secure further funding. The participants will produce short 8-12-page graphic narratives about their journey to become knowledge keepers, which will be used as evidence for funding applications. The final comics will be due on March 1, 2026 – before of the March 26 Short Term Grant deadline for the Canada Council of the Arts’ “Creating, Knowing and Sharing: The Arts and Cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples” competition and the May 1 deadline for SSHRC Connection Grants. 

This project description was provided by the project team May on 15, 2025.  

Ecole Peter Greer Elementary (PGE) is located in the unceded, traditional, and ancestral territory of the Syilx Okanagan People and is surrounded by many different waterways. The project brings together Syilx artists and storytellers to share captikʷł ,and different artforms to instill a sense of responsibility in restoring the waterways to prepare for the return of the salmon. Working with and alongside Syilx artists, Elders and Storytellers, students will have the opportunity deepen their respect and reverence for the Okanagan waterways.  

The project provides generous opportunities for creativity, experimentation, and expression. By emphasizing the connection to land, waterways, salmon, and captikʷł, the students will engage in various artistic mediums. From creating salmon-inspired artworks to preparing traditional salmon dishes, each artistic endeavor serves to honor the cultural significance of salmon and our relation with this place. By grounding the project in the Columbia River Basin, students gain a greater understanding of watershed dynamics and the interconnectedness with the land and water through the How Coyote Broke the Salmon Dam captikʷł.  

The co-creation of a school wide salmon banner acts as a center piece to welcome the salmon home. The project also includes a whole school assembly, open to the larger community—including Syilx community members, parents, school administration and district administration. This assembly will deepen our collective responsibility to tmixʷ/all living things and enlarge our understanding of siwlɬkʷ/water. 

This project seeks to help students to understand the importance of bringing the salmon back by creating partnerships with Syilx artists, Elders and storytellers, integrating art, stories and captikʷł and getting students onto the land. This project builds on the school’s commitment to live better in this territory and responds to call 62 of the Truth and Reconciliation to make age-appropriate curriculum on Indigenous peoples’ historical and contemporary contributions. All students will have the opportunity to share and connect their art with the wider PGE community and beyond through an exhibition. 

This project description was provided by the project team on May 9, 2025.  

Soccer has the highest participation among team sports for adolescent girls in British Columbia, however lower extremity (thigh, knee, ankle) injuries are common with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears resulting in the greatest long-term burden. ACL injuries most commonly occur in adolescent girls, with girls twice as likely to experience ACL tears than boys. Exercise-based injury prevention programs have been proven in effectiveness trials to prevent up to two-thirds of musculoskeletal injuries, yet these programs are rarely implemented and sustained in real world settings. This research-to-practice gap persists because generic programs have failed to meaningfully engage with end users (club leadership, coaches, parents, and players) throughout the co-design and implementation process and lack adaptation for known contextual factors. This proposed project is part of a series of studies that will address the previous research shortcomings to reduce musculoskeletal injuries in girls community soccer.  

At a knowledge exchange event held in Feb 2025, our community partners highlighted their awareness of the potential value of injury prevention programs. However, coaches, parents, and players (n=68) highlighted numerous barriers to use of the currently available programs – lack of adaptability to context (e.g. player skill level, coach training, available resources); too time consuming; and not engaging or ‘fun’. This proposed community engaged research project will provide the opportunity for girl soccer players aged 10-17 years to participate in workshops to directly contribute to the co-design of an implementation plan by identifying key facilitators to their use of an injury prevention program. 

This project will use concept mapping: a valid and reliable approach that has been previously used successfully with adolescents.  It involves a series of sequential tasks: brainstorming, sorting, and rating. We will host a series of two in-person, interactive workshops (60min each) with each of 3 girls soccer teams (6 workshops total with girls aged 10-17 years; 20 players/team = 60 players). 

Workshop 1 (Sept 2025): 

Participants will brainstorm statements to the prompt: “Key ways to support us to use an injury prevention program as part of our regular soccer training would be…”.  Participants will be provided with sticky notes and pens to record and display as many unique statements as possible. After these workshops, the research team (including community partner members) will produce a consolidated list of unique statements and may also add additional statements based on best evidence. 

Workshop 2 (Nov 2025): 

Participants will sort  statements written on cue cards into conceptually consistent piles that they will also name. Each statement will be rated [Likert scale (1-4)] for perceived importance and practicality as a facilitator.  

Data will be analyzed using standardized concept mapping methods (e.g. multidimensional scaling, hierarchical cluster analysis.) The final facilitator results generated by community members will be mapped by the research team (with representatives from community partners) to the constructs of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. In this project, community partners (girls soccer players) will directly contribute to informing the next stage of this research program: to choose the implementation strategies that best support the use of an injury prevention program in girls community soccer. 

This project description was provided by the project team on May 20, 2025.  

This project responds to a community-identified need expressed by kinship caregivers who are part of Fairness for Children Raised by Relatives (Fairness), a non-profit, community volunteer-led organization. During a recently completed CUES-funded partnership between Fairness and UBC’s Centre for the Study of Services to Children and Families (CSSCF), caregivers emphasized the lack of training and support at the onset of their caregiving journey. Additionally, caregivers consistently voiced concerns about social workers’ limited understanding of the unique dynamics and challenges of kinship care, which impacted the quality and consistency of support provided. In response to this need, we are proposing a small PRE initiative to strengthen the work towards a CUES application. 

This PRE initiative involves gathering information and expanding community connections. Fairness will be hosting their annual in-person “The Gathering” this upcoming June. We would like to facilitate a World Café were kin caregivers will be guided in conversations about what training they wish they had received, what support they still need, and what they believe social workers should understand when working with kinship families. These kin caregiver-led dialogues will directly inform the development for a province-wide survey, co-developed with Fairness to further understand the training and support needs of kinship caregivers and their families. 

This PRE project also allows Fairness and CSSCF to begin building new connections with UBC’s Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT), UBC School of Social Work – Continuing Professional Development, and the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) Learning and Development. These are connections that Fairness would not typically have access to alone. By working together, we can explore how caregiver-informed training might be developed, delivered, and embedded in professional education for both caregivers and social workers. 

This project improves non-profit community access to UBC’s research, teaching, and learning resources by mobilizing the university’s institutional infrastructure in service of community-identified priorities. It strengthens the foundation for a future CUES proposal that will be focused on the co-creation and collaborative implementation of training with and by kinship caregivers.