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

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

Vancouver has a long history of property speculation and development that actively displaces people from affordable rental units and community spaces, contributing to wide-spread housing precarity and homelessness. In response to these pressures, the Downtown Eastside Community Land Trust (DTES-CLT) is working to protect properties from the private market. Community Land Trusts (CLTs) are “community-run organization that own, develop and manage land and buildings to benefit the local community” (Auger, 2024).  As part of DTES CLT’s ongoing efforts to advance community-led housing solutions, they have been awarded the CMHC Research and Planning Grant to develop a Vancouver-specific version of the Multi-Unit Residential Acquisition (MURA) program. This initiative builds upon the successful model implemented in Toronto, which has helped preserve more than 1,000 rental homes through non-profit acquisition and management. By adapting this program to Vancouver’s unique housing landscape, the DTES-CLT aim to protect at-risk rental housing and ensure long-term affordability for community members. 

Planned Activities 

The project will involve in-depth research and policy development, working closely with key stakeholders, including non-profit housing providers, Indigenous organizations, and municipal partners. UBC Community Engagement funding will help support the travel and accommodation of Joshua Barndt, a leading expert in community land trusts and affordable housing acquisitions. Joshua will help to develop financial modeling and project planning tools tailored to the Vancouver context. 

A central component of this initiative is an in-person workshop on pro forma financial modeling for community land trusts (CLTs). Pro forma models are critical tools for budgeting, feasibility assessment, and long-term strategic planning in housing projects. However, financial planning is often perceived as an exclusive domain of experts, limiting broader participation in decision-making. To address this, Joshua will lead a workshop designed to democratize financial knowledge, ensuring that DTES CLT members, including board members and community organizers, can effectively engage in housing project planning. The workshop will offer practical, hands-on training, building participants’ skills in using financial models for collective visioning and governance. 

Project Goals and Community Benefits 

The ultimate goal of this project is to establish a sustainable, community-centered MURA program for Vancouver, creating a pathway for non-profits and land trusts to acquire and preserve rental housing. By equipping local organizations with the necessary financial and strategic tools, we will strengthen their capacity to lead housing initiatives and advocate for policies that prioritize affordability and tenant rights. For DTES CLT and its partners, this initiative will provide essential knowledge and resources to support their ongoing housing efforts.The Balanced Supply of Housing (BSH) is a SSHRC-CMHC funded research group at UBC’s Allard School of Law. BSH collaborates with non-profits and academic researchers to conduct community-based research on housing supply in key Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. A key partner is the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust (PNLT), a leader in Canada’s Community Land Trust (CLT) movement. CLTs remove properties from the private market to promote community ownership, land stewardship, and affordability. Since 2015, PNLT Executive Director Joshua Barndt has led the acquisition of 85 properties, preserving 205 affordable rental units. 

Now in its sixth year, BSH has expanded its research on CLTs nationwide. Dr. Kuni Kamizaki, an Assistant Professor at UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning, is a key contributor. With over a decade of experience in community-based research, he previously worked with PNLT while at the University of Toronto. Since moving to Vancouver in 2023, he has collaborated closely with the Downtown Eastside Community Land Trust (DTES-CLT). Together, Joshua and Dr. Kamizaki have strengthened the CLT movement across Canada, documenting its successes to create a lasting foundation for future community-led housing initiatives. 

This project was provided by the project team on May 30, 2025. 

The project location is in the Riley Park Learning Garden. The Learning Garden addressees the community need for a garden space that focuses on our decolonization work with the local Indigenous Nations and has space for co-creation, connecting and gardening for place-based nature, food security and environmental groups. It is 250m² space—much smaller than the Community Garden. It aims to bridge the scientific realm with the stories of the land as shared by the Elders. The Native Plants will demonstrate the end-to-end offering of planting, growing and eating or making jams, salves etc as used by the First Nations. The need to redesign the Learning Garden was identified as previous design of the space had limited access as the beds were on the ground, and also was not in compliance with VPB guidelines for Gardens as it was enclosed by a chain link fence.  Working with the Urban Ethnographic Field School (UEFS) students, we have identified deliverables for community engagement and outreach that they will “launch” and implement at the Hillcrest Festival and also strategies we can implement beyond the course term.  

The project improves community access to to UBC students, teaching and learning resources as part of their course partnership with the LMNHS. LMNHS has partnered with UBC for over 25 years. We have partnered with faculties including LFS, UEFS, Directed Studies and Soil Management. 2025 is the 10th year of partnership with the Urban Ethnographic Field School course as a community partner. The academic requirements of the UEFS program is aligned with the vision and work of LMNHS. 

LMNHS has been a critical partner for the Urban Ethnographic Field School, and has hosted five to six students out of each 28 student cohort for the past ten years. During this time, students have worked on a range of projects under the outstanding leadership of the team at LMNHS, related to urban gardening, community building and development, and food security. The co-ordinator at LMNHS, Joanne MacKinnon, is expert in working with students and supporting their engagement with community. In addition to supporting students in the Urban Ethnographic Field School, she also worked with UBC’s Kerry Greer to guide the UBC-Science Po Dual Degree students in a community engaged project over two cohorts. We have a long standing, mutually beneficial relationship that is among the longest lasting and most dependable of organizations that the Urban Ethnographic Field School works with. 

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

This project aims to connect seniors from diverse cultural backgrounds with UBC Okanagan students through storytelling and dialogue. By creating spaces where elders can share personal narratives around migration, identity, resilience, and community life, the initiative fosters intergenerational learning, cultural preservation, and deeper social cohesion. Activities will include storytelling workshops, oral history interviews, and collaborative creative outputs such as digital exhibits, podcasts, or community showcases.

The need for this project emerged from conversations with local cultural organizations, senior support groups, and student-led initiatives focused on social inclusion. Many seniors—especially those from immigrant and racialized communities—expressed a sense of social isolation, as well as a desire to pass on their experiences to younger generations. At the same time, students and community organizations voiced a growing interest in engaging more deeply with the lived experiences of elders to better understand local histories and cultural diversity.

This initiative directly connects community members with UBC Okanagan’s teaching and learning resources. Faculty and students from disciplines such as anthropology, history, and media studies will participate in the co-design and facilitation of storytelling workshops, drawing on university expertise in oral history and community-based research. The project will also create publicly accessible materials—such as digital archives or podcast series—hosted on UBC-affiliated platforms, ensuring community members and organizations can benefit from the content long-term.

Through this collaboration, students gain hands-on experience in ethical storytelling, cultural sensitivity, and knowledge mobilization, while community partners gain access to UBC’s academic and technological resources to help document and celebrate their stories. The initiative supports UBC’s commitments to community engagement, equity, and inclusive excellence.

Key Benefits

• Seniors experience social connection, recognition, and enhanced mental wellbeing.
• Students build empathy, cross-cultural understanding, and research skills in a real-world setting.
• The wider community benefits from the preservation and celebration of diverse cultural histories and intergenerational knowledge sharing.

These stories, especially from elders who may not be with us in the future, will be recorded and preserved as invaluable community assets for generations to come. OCCA Communities has been partnering with the Community Service Learning Program at UBC Okanagan since 2021. We have worked together on several short-term projects to engage student volunteers in events and activities with OCCA’s programming. Projects are designed to provide experiential learning opportunities for students while helping to advance the goals of OCCA and their members. These have been both curricular (in partnership with a faculty member, the project is embedded in coursework) and co-curricular (not part of a course, open to any UBC student) projects. We aim to strengthen this partnership and potentially create a more long-term project with the proposed initiative which will engage UBC student volunteers throughout the academic year, and beyond. 

This project was provided by the project team on May 27, 2025.

This project, led by UBC student Bridget Fan Ying Bi in partnership with grassroots group Chinatown Together, documents the oral histories of low-income Chinese seniors living in Vancouver’s Chinatown. These seniors—many now in their 80s, 90s, and even 100s—are long-time residents and key community activists who have resisted the gentrification and displacement of their neighbourhood. While they are recognized as carriers of Chinatown’s intangible heritage, their first-person stories remain largely undocumented by major cultural or academic institutions.

This project addresses a clear community-identified need. For years, Chinatown Together has worked closely with these seniors through intergenerational cultural programming. Through this ongoing work, it became evident that while there is growing public interest in Chinatown’s history, the voices and lived experiences of the people most affected by recent changes—low-income immigrant elders—are missing from public and academic records. As several elders have passed away in recent years, there is a time-sensitive need to preserve these histories now.

The interviews have already been conducted. We are now seeking support specifically for the translation phase of the project. This final stage is crucial to ensuring the content is accessible in both Chinese and English, and can be widely shared and archived at UBC cIRcle. It includes translating interviews and adding subtitles, editing the footage for clarity and accuracy, and preparing bilingual transcripts for use in public and academic settings.

The final oral histories will be made accessible in multiple ways: through a bilingual public-facing website, social media, and YouTube; through archiving agreements with UBC cIRcle; and through community public events. These materials will be free to access and will serve students, teachers, researchers, and community members.

This project will directly improve access to UBC research, teaching, and learning resources in the following ways:

• It will create a bilingual educational resource that can be integrated into UBC classes in history, cultural studies, Asian Canadian studies, geography, urban planning, and community-initiated storytelling.
• It will support community-engaged learning, providing future students with a model for ethical, collaborative research and documentation.
• It contributes to a more inclusive public record by centering marginalized voices typically left out of institutional archives.

By preserving and publishing the stories of Chinatown’s seniors, this project builds bridges between UBC and local communities and ensures that elder knowledge, activism, and lived experience are not lost but made accessible for generations to come.UBC master’s student Bridget Fan Ying Bi has been a committed volunteer with Chinatown Together, a grassroots group that organizes cultural events and supports low-income seniors in Vancouver’s Chinatown. The partnership grew from shared involvement in community-based projects and deepened over the past year through Bridget’s ongoing volunteer work and her role as the lead producer of the Chinatown seniors oral history recordings. Chinatown Together regularly collaborates with organizations like the Yarrow Society, which provides direct support to the very seniors whose stories this project aims to preserve.

The relationship was further strengthened through Bridget’s participation in a UBC Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies (ACAM) course, where she produced a short oral history documentary featuring a Chinatown senior. The film was later screened at the Museum of Anthropology. Building on that foundation, Bridget and Chinatown Together launched a broader effort to document oral histories from dozens of low-income Chinatown seniors—particularly those who have played active roles in community organizing and resistance to gentrification.

This ongoing relationship reflects shared goals: to preserve and amplify seniors’ lived experiences, foster intergenerational memory, and strengthen reciprocal ties between UBC and the Chinatown community through ethical, grassroots collaboration.

This project was provided by the project team on May 29, 2025. 

ʔəm̓i ce:p xʷiwəl (Come Toward the Fire) is an annual Indigenous-led event, returning for its fourth year on September 20-21, 2025. Presented by the Chan Centre in partnership with the Musqueam Indian Band, this family-friendly gathering takes place in advance of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The event celebrates Indigenous creativity, culture, and community through music, food, storytelling, and song, and aims to remove financial barriers by offering tickets at no cost to all who wish to attend. 

Daytime programming unfolds in the outdoor plaza adjacent to the Chan Centre, featuring musical performances by local and national Indigenous artists, artisan vendors, workshops, artist roundtables, and film screenings by Indigenous filmmakers in the Chan Centre’s RBC Cinema. Culinary offerings from food trucks will also be available. The celebration continues into the evening with a ticketed concert inside the Chan Centre’s 1200-seat concert hall, showcasing a diverse lineup of Indigenous performers from Musqueam and communities across Turtle Island (North America). 

Produced in close collaboration with the Musqueam Indian Band, the Chan Centre works closely with Musqueam representative Odette Wilson to guide the event’s programming and ensure meaningful inclusion of Musqueam artists, speakers, and culture. This year, the event deepens its community engagement through a renewed partnership with returning host and artist Manuel Strain. Manny will not only host but also create a backdrop informed by the knowledge from Musqueam elders, while mentoring Musqueam youth through participation in the collaborative art-making process. ʔəm̓i ce:p xʷiwəl (Come Toward the Fire) is an ongoing collaboration and relationship between the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts and the Musqueam Indian Band, rooted in a shared desire to create more visible and meaningful space for Musqueam voices on campus. Now in its fourth year, the festival emerged from a recognition that Indigenous representation—particularly Musqueam, on whose land UBC is situated—was not reflected as fully or prominently as it should be in the university’s public programming. 

Through regular dialogue and co-planning with Musqueam representatives, the festival has evolved into a vibrant cultural gathering that brings Indigenous artists, knowledge keepers, and youth together with students, faculty, and the wider public. The event weaves together music, film, workshops, and conversation to foster connection, learning, and celebration. 

This partnership continues to grow in scope, with new initiatives such as youth art mentorships and artist residencies (Elisapie last year) that deepen community involvement. At its core, ʔəm̓i ce:p xʷiwəl reflects a commitment to respectful collaboration and the co-creation of experiences that honour Musqueam culture and support broader efforts toward reconciliation and inclusion at UBC. 

This project was provided by the project team on May 7, 2025.

Background:

• Very little research has been done on local nursing school curriculum when examining cultural safety and humility content since the 2015 TRC Calls to Action.
• The bulk of the current literature focuses on nurses and health professionals already in the work force and the requirement to take cultural safety training
• Current nursing curriculum is very imperial, colonial and research states that education has to move beyond superficial efforts and have more genuine involvement, engagement and collaboration with neighboring FN communities. Traditionally knowledge within Indigenous cultures is passed through oral story telling with a focus on relationality and connection.

Overview:

• Through a one-day event, hosted in the Musqueam Cultural Centre, this project aims to to build collaboration between neighboring First Nations communities, bringing in Elders, culture, and inviting nursing educators to share their experiences teaching this content as it currently stands in their educational facilities.
• The information sought for this project will focus on educators’ experiences on teaching and incorporating Indigenous Cultural Safety and Humility content and the outcome is aimed at resource sharing between schools, improving current curriculum, highlight gaps and where improvements can be made for future nurses entering the program.
• This project will blend Indigenous research methodologies (sharing circle, passing on oral histories, inviting newcomers to our territory, sharing culture and traditional foods with them, with support and encouragement from our Chief and Council).
• In our traditional ways, we make sure to treat our invited guests with respect, and share our cultural teachings with them as well as be sure that they do not go home with empty bellies (food is a way of connection, medicine, teaching).
• The participants are nursing educators from UBC Vancouver, UBC Okanagan, Trinity Western University, and the University of Victoria.
• Being in community is also to not have power differentials; with the genuine intent to help improve Indigenous health in the long term by providing insights to needed changes within nursing curriculum.

Agenda:

• Welcome to territory, invited in to cultural pavilion in Musqueam and share a meal while building relationships and sharing experiences
• Guided questions led by Crystal (MSN thesis student; and member of Musqueam)
• After the meal participants will move into a more structured sharing circle with guiding questions (semi structured interview/discussion circle)

Research team will be: Crystal Point, Dr. Helen Brown (Thesis Advisor), Dr. Lydia Wytenbroek and Elisabeth Baily (Thesis Committee Members) and include inviting the educators into community and participate in land based co learning activities including Coast Salish protocols and culture.

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

About La Boussole and the Francophone Community

La Boussole is a key community organization supporting Francophone individuals in Vancouver experiencing poverty and social isolation. Many in this community face significant barriers to employment, social participation, and accessing essential services due to limited English proficiency. For Francophones living in poverty, these challenges are compounded by a lack of access to language learning resources, experiences of marginalization, and the daily stress of precarious living conditions. Linguistic insecurity—feelings of anxiety, self-doubt, or fear of judgment when speaking English—often results. This insecurity can undermine self-esteem, reinforce isolation, and limit opportunities for integration and advancement.

Workshop Overview

This workshop is designed for Francophone community members who experience linguistic insecurity in English-speaking environments. The session will raise awareness about the roots and impacts of linguistic insecurity, provide practical strategies for managing language anxiety, and offer targeted English practice to build confidence and fluency in everyday situations.

Objectives

• Understand how linguistic insecurity affects communication, identity, and integration.
• Develop strategies to manage language anxiety and build resilience.
• Practice English in a supportive, non-judgmental environment.
• Foster a sense of community and mutual encouragement among participants.

Structure ( in-person )

Introduction: Understanding Linguistic Insecurity

• Define linguistic insecurity and discuss its effects.
• Group sharing of personal experiences and challenges.

Identifying and Managing Language Anxiety

• Explore emotional and social causes.
• Self-assessment: Identifying personal triggers and strengths.

Building Linguistic Security

• Techniques for managing anxiety and negative self-talk.
• Role-playing common scenarios (introductions, small talk).

English Confidence Skills Lab

• Structured speaking practice with supportive feedback.
• Focus on clarity, pronunciation, and spontaneous speaking.

Reflection and Next Steps

• Group debrief and resource sharing for ongoing practice.

Expected Outcomes

Participants will gain greater self-awareness, practical tools for overcoming linguistic insecurity, and increased confidence to use English in daily life, supporting their integration and well-being. La Boussole has been the primary field site for my doctoral research, where I have conducted ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews over the past several years. Throughout my thesis, I have focused on the lived experiences of Francophone individuals facing poverty and social exclusion in Vancouver, with a particular emphasis on issues of language, identity, and access to resources. My regular presence at La Boussole has allowed me to build strong relationships with community members and staff, gaining a deeper understanding of their daily realities, challenges, and aspirations.

In addition to my academic work, I have been volunteering at La Boussole every week. This ongoing commitment has enabled me to contribute directly to the community, whether by assisting with events, supporting language programs, or simply offering a listening ear to those in need. My volunteer work is driven by a genuine desire to give back to a community that has welcomed me and generously shared their stories and experiences for my research. I am deeply committed to supporting La Boussole’s mission and to helping create opportunities that empower Francophone individuals to overcome barriers and thrive in Vancouver.

This project was provided by the project team on May 27, 2025.

Youth are one of society’s most important resources, and essential to our collective resilience. Research that can promote youth wellness while illuminating pathways for asserting their inclusion in decisions and programs about them are high-priority, high-impact entry points for advancing Canada’s Youth Policy and an accelerant for thriving across contexts, populations, and generations.

Our proposal builds on ten years of community-engaged, youth-centered, upstream, and interventional youth wellness research, consolidating empirical evidence with strong community-academic partnerships to strengthen multi-sector community capacity to respond to and uphold youth public participation in civic engagement as essential to resilient and thriving communities. Guided by CLARITY Youth Council and Collaborative members, CLARITY has begun creating a youth-led micro-documentary film. This dissemination product features stories of resilience that bring evidence to life. Youth were invited to deeply grapple with emerging CLARITY findings about the role of connection, belonging, and social climate in cultivating community-based resilience. Their reflections include agreements, disagreements, and/or expansions upon the findings in 3-5 minute, storied videos. Production of this micro-documentary included four undergraduate Media Studies students from the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, who worked collaboratively with the CLARITY Youth Council. In April 2022, we hosted a preliminary film screening with diverse youth and advisory members. We are now in a position of having amazing footage, but needing additional editorial support. We would use this grant to finalize this incredible community-driven knowledge mobilization product.

We intend to create a companion teaching and learning guide for community partners, university partners, and high schools to use alongside the documentary to spark reflective and reciprocal dialogue around the different dimensions of community resilience with the goal of promoting the re-imagining of youth suicide prevention as a community-level effort while sparking ideas for future collective action. These resources will also serve to advance research that shifts the gaze of youth suicide prevention work further upstream, providing a foundation from which future research can work to demonstrate the value, nuance, and impact of investing in cultivating community-based resilience. We also plan to engage the broader community of Kelowna, to draw awareness to the importance of social climate. We will have a community-facing public release of the film, and will then make it available for anyone interested in advancing community dialogue about youth suicide prevention. The CLARITY Collaborative is a community-based partnership, where research serves and responds to youth- and community-led calls for action related to suicide prevention. It began as a community based research project, funded through the KGH Foundation and a local family, in response to the loss of a young person due to suicide. The initial hope was to bring community partners together, in conversation and action, to learn about how we can work toward upstream prevention of youth suicidality. Now, ten years later, CLARITY is a community partnership and collaborative. Among CLARITY efforts to understand what communities could do to promote wellness and prevent youth suicidality were a series of community consultations that led to conduction of a scoping review and critical interpretive synthesis of literature. We then completed deliberative dialogues with youth and caring adults, which identified three core concepts that constitute community-based resilience (connection, belonging, social climate). Our work is responsive, youth-led, and focused on building community-level resilience and focuses on transforming community-led research through youth- and equity-centered governance.

Merging more than a decade of insights, evolving results, expertise and networks across three distinct programs of youth-led, community-driven, equity-focused and action-oriented research on the upstream determinants of mental health and wellness, the CLARITY Collaborative brings together a regional youth-led suicide prevention research program in the Interior Region of BC. CLARITY findings point to community resilience and equity as promising upstream entry points for advancing youth wellness, wherein experiences of equity are common determinants across the interrelated concepts of youth civic participation, youth wellness, and community resilience.

This project was provided by the project team on May 31, 2025.

This project addresses the community-identified need to better understand how older adults perceive aging and what contributes to their sense of aging well. Research has shown that both objective and subjective experiences of successful aging are closely linked to older adults’ quality of life and lead to better health and psychological outcomes. A positive view on aging is not only associated with increased well-being but also helps older adults navigate the transitions of later life with greater confidence and resilience.

The need for this project was identified through ongoing discussions with older adult community members who expressed a desire to share their experiences and to be heard in ways that inform both research and education. By exploring what shapes older adults’ experiences on aging, including cultural beliefs, social connections, physical health, and lived experiences, this project aims to support older adults in developing a more empowered and hopeful view of their own aging journey.

The initiative strengthens ties between UBC and the community by bringing together older adults and UBC graduate and undergraduate students in meaningful dialogue. Students will gain experiential learning opportunities, while community members will help shape the understanding of aging that informs UBC’s research and teaching. The project is led by the UBC IDEA lab, which is committed to co-creating research in collaboration with patient and family partners to ensure relevance and real-world impact.

As part of the project, we will share research findings with older adult communities through accessible presentations and workshops. These events will also disseminate teaching and learning resources developed through UBC research, helping to translate evidence into practice and further support community education. Ultimately, this project aims to foster reciprocal relationships, build understanding, and promote a more inclusive and strengths-based approach to aging in both academic and community settings.Our partnership with Burnaby Neighbourhood House (BNH) is an ongoing and evolving collaboration grounded in shared goals of community engagement, intergenerational connection, and creative outreach. This relationship began through mutual interest in promoting well-being among older adults and has since grown to include joint initiatives such as participatory events, research engagement, and student-led community activities.

Currently, the IDEA lab and BNH are co-developing a Flash Mob event involving older adults, UBC students, and community members to celebrate aging, social participation, and the joy of movement. Planning for events involves regular meetings, joint decision-making, and coordination on logistics, communication, and creative elements like music and t-shirt design. The partnership reflects a deep commitment to co-creation, with contributions from BNH staff, volunteers, and IDEA lab members ensuring the events are meaningful, inclusive, and fun.

This project is just one example of our active collaboration, which emphasizes reciprocal learning, cultural sensitivity, and capacity-building. It also offers UBC students hands-on experience working in community settings and provides older adults opportunities to share, express themselves, and connect with others in joyful and empowering ways.

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

The purpose of this primary care community-university project is to support providers, patients, and communities in implementing and expanding a new care connection guide for rural patients in the Kootenay Boundary- The Kootenay Boundary Primary Care Network (PCN). This online guide aims to improve patient navigation and coordination within our many communities, addressing a need identified by the Kootenay Boundary Patient Advisory Committee & Community (KB PACC). Additionally, this project aims to enhance communication among community health workers (also known as patient navigators), physicians, nurse practitioners, and allied health professionals based in various locations to ensure better outcomes for all in rural and remote communities.The project aims to leverage the lived experiences and insights of patients to improve how the community can access and benefit from UBC’s educational and research materials and to offer UBC students and practitioners real world training. We envision this through a number of avenues including, but not limited to:Participation in the Primary Care Network Operations Subcommittee. This is a new (one year) trial that was struck to enhance community input into PCN steering committee. From a UBC perspective, this is an excellent trial to understand how the many organizations and community and patients can have inputs to the overall PCN approach.The Nelson Medical Clinic, (part of UBC Faculty of Medicine’s teaching network) which provides educational experiences for UBC medical students. This program also allows students to engage in hands-on learning and patient care in a community setting, including rotations at the Kootenay Lake Hospital in Nelson.Shared space opportunities for the community as well as with other with other UBC programs (i.e Faculty of Education).Educational opportunities offered through the KB PACC for patient engagement and participation. We especially look for opportunities for those who are a part of team based care when a person is co-located in a rural environment with sometimes limited access to technology.We are always looking for synergies where we can either share resources, or if possible, collaborate on like-minded project between UBC and rural BC initiatives.  

This is a new community-university relationship. The KB PACC formed a relationship and partnership with KB Divisions in 2018. The KB PACC is a working group of the KB Collaborative Services Committee (CSC) (and I quote): “values its collaboration with patient partners. The reason all of us do our work is for patients, and patients need to have a voice in our discussions about health care. Patient engagement is important and valuable work”. ~ Dr. David Merry, Local Family Physician & CSC Co-Chair KB PACC.The KB Patient Advisory Committee is a key working group of the Kootenay Boundary Collaborative Services Committee (CSC) and are listened to and responded to by local health care leaders. The CSC is a multidisciplinary group with representatives from the Division of Family Practice, Interior Health, patients and First Nations, with a mandate to transform the regional and local health care system into an integrated system of care. Our committee provides input into decisions and discussions of the CSC and the programs + projects under its umbrella. We promote patient engagement throughout the Kootenay Boundary healthcare system. We are working to expand our input to include more community members’ opinions and concerns – to form a Patient Advisory Committee and Community (PACC). 
 
Dr. Karin Maiwald began partnering with the KB PACC late 2023 and has resided in the KB community since 1992. Dr. Maiwald is an Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Family Practice. She is a teacher for the UBC Kootney Boundary Family Practice Residency program. She supports residents in developing their scholarship question and in developing their project proposal, their writeup and presentation on an as needed basis. She currently supports providers, patients and communities to embed patients in quality improvement structures and governance, funding, capacity building and doing and using research. 

This project was provided by the project team on May 28, 2025.

This project responds to an urgent, community-identified need for culturally safe, inclusive, and affirming healthcare education that reflects the lived experiences of Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour (IBPOC) and Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual (2S/LGBTQIA+) individuals. Youth served by our core community partner, This Space Belongs to You, a grassroots, IBPOC and 2S/LGBTQIA+-led organization in the southern interior, consistently report harm, dismissal, and exclusion in clinical spaces. Many avoid healthcare altogether due to prior experiences of stigma and violence. These gaps in care are not only interpersonal but systemic, deeply tied to how healthcare professionals are trained.

The need for this work was identified through multiple years of dialogue, relationship-building, and shared advocacy between UBCO faculty, community members, and This Space staff. In past workshops and education sessions, participants repeatedly asked for long-term, accessible training that does not place the burden of education on those most impacted. Building on this feedback, and guided by an approved CUES-funded initiative, our current project aims to co-create two video-based simulation modules that can be used in health education to build skills in cultural safety, affirming care, and equity-oriented practice.

PRE funding will support the final-stage development of a Canvas-based module for integration into the UBCO Nursing curriculum, particularly in NURS 313: Relational Practice – Cultural Sensitivity. The funds will be used to pay a graduate student with experience in curriculum design and support consultation with our advisory committee of IBPOC and 2S/LGBTQIA+ youth, healthcare providers, nursing alumni, and students. This group will co-develop module content including reflective prompts, and learning activities ensuring that it reflects community needs and is usable by both students and educators that will be integrated by the graduate student.

The project will improve access to UBC teaching and learning resources by:

1. Embedding community-developed knowledge into formal UBC curriculum
2. Making the modules accessible to other Schools within the Faculty of Health and Social Development, the Faculty of Medicine, and community organizations
3. Ensuring materials are free, open-access, and adaptable for use beyond UBC

In doing so, this project helps bridge academic and community spaces creating healthcare education tools for community, by community, with UBC’s resources leveraged to support real-world, equity-oriented change.The partnership between UBC Okanagan and This Space Belongs to You (This Space) emerged from a shared commitment to addressing systemic health inequities faced by IBPOC and 2S/LGBTQIA+ communities in the southern interior. Our relationship began when Meaghan, founder and executive director of This Space, was invited to present on affirming care for the Faculty of Health and Social Development. That initial collaboration highlighted a clear alignment in values centering lived experience, community leadership, and relational accountability in health education.

Since then, the relationship has deepened through continued conversations, joint programming, and the co-development of a CUES-funded project. Both partners are committed to transforming healthcare education by embedding community expertise into curriculum and ensuring future healthcare professionals are equipped to deliver safe, respectful, and affirming care.

This PRE-funded initiative represents a critical next step in our collaboration. It allows us to co-create foundational curriculum materials while further strengthening a relationship built on reciprocity, transparency, and trust. For This Space, the partnership offers access to institutional tools and networks. For UBCO, it provides a direct connection to community wisdom ensuring our teaching and research is responsive, grounded, and accountable.

This project was provided by the project team on May 14, 2025.  

This work is part of a larger book project, which is currently under contract with McGill-Queen’s Press. These funds will be used to host meetings in the summer of 2025 at Pictou Landing First Nation to allow Elders and community members to give feedback on the final manuscript of the book and its overall presentation. This collaborative approach will ensure that the publication coming out of UBCO will be meaningful beyond the academy and will be valued by PLFN. From the beginning of my relationship with PLFN, it was clear that they wanted to be a part of all aspects of the research process. These funds will be used to help engage the community in a series of meetings where they can provide feedback, and also identify gaps in the research and/or to provide more information. These sessions will help finalize a project in ways that will build better connections between PLFN and UBCO, so that we can continue this relationship in the future.  

The original (and ongoing) research for this book was done in collaboration with PLFN. This book was researched using oral history and work with the community to identify gaps in their knowledge of their history to make this book useful for community members. The research will also assist the PLFN government in efforts to pursue things like land claims or settlements. Alongside the book, I have also worked with PLFN to create a digital database that provides members of PLFN with access to all of the archival material collected during my research. This database helps improve PLFN’s access to research being undertaken at UBCO and provides a direct service to PLFN who can use this database for projects beyond the book.  

After consulting with a member of PLFN, they identified that I should try and hire a local youth to assist with the facilitation of these meetings. I am hoping to hire (using other research funds) a student at PLFN to assist in organizing these meetings, setting up recording devices and Zoom meetings, and to do some consulting with community members on the next steps in this project. Hiring a local student helps build capacity in the PLFN community, and helps contribute to the overall goal of this project by working closely with PLFN to make this book representative of their values and expectations of this project. I will provide the student with support and training, specifically as it pertains to consulting sessions with the community. This project has received ethics clearance from UBCO and Mi’kmaw Ethics Watch, and the student will be required to complete the TCPS2 Core Ethics training platform.  

These funds will be used directly in the hosting of these meetings. They will be used to purchase refreshments (coffee, sandwiches, snacks, etc. sourced locally at PLFN) for Elders and community members, and to provide a small gift or honoraria to Elders taking part in the sessions (typically, a UBC branded coffee mug with a Tim Horton’s Gift Card or something similar). As mentioned, I have additional funds available for this work – these will help supplement these existing funds to host more sessions with more community members.I have been working with PLFN since 2017 when I was doing my doctoral dissertation research at the University of Saskatchewan. After completion, I continued working with PLFN as a Post-doctoral fellow at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. During my work, I have aimed to engage Elders and members of PLFN in discussions about how best my research can represent community needs and values. Over the years, we have held community roundtables to gather and source information and seek guidance. I have given in-person and virtual presentations on various aspects of PLFN’s history (as directed by Elders and community members requests for more info on specific topics). I have also invited community members to co-present at conferences, presentations, and at events. Recently, Michelle Francis-Denny (a member of PLFN) travelled to UBCO to give a public lecture on her role as the Community Liaison in the Boat Harbour Remediation Project. While here, she met with UBCO students and faculty, which helped to strengthen the bond between UBCO and PLFN. Francis-Denny and I also are working on a co-published book chapter that will be featured in an forthcoming publication.  

The obvious challenge that this research faces is that PLFN is in Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia), and I am in British Columbia. However, with funding opportunities like this, we are able to leverage technology (online meetings) and hire local students to help do more engagement to keep this relationship going. This funding will help facilitate this summer’s work, and help build a case for receiving major external funding (such as a SSHRCC Insight Grant or SSHRCC Research Partnership Grant) in future. 

This project was provided by the project team on May 14, 2025. 

The Student Research Corner x BC Organic Conference aims to link UBC student researchers to a network of over 300 people working across the food system, including farmers, ranchers, food processors, retailers, distributors, government, researchers, academics, consumers, and allied sector organizations. The biennial conference is the largest gathering of the BC organic sector and has historically included members of the UBC faculty.  

This strong history of collaboration between academics and the organic farming community has laid the foundation for an expansion of these connections. Faculty members representing sustainable agriculture programs have long championed the explicit involvement of student researchers in these settings. As a result, this year’s conference introduces a dedicated Student Research Corner that will facilitate a mutually-beneficial exchange of knowledge and networking between student researchers and food system actors.  

The Student Research Corner creates direct engagement between UBC student researchers and a community of BC organic farmers committed to sustainable and climate-resilient agricultural practices. By bringing researchers to a farmer-focused setting, the model reduces some of the barriers encountered by farmers relating to knowledge acquisition and application of research. Farmer-generated questions and feedback provide an opportunity for UBC student researchers to build knowledge translation skills and inform future research questions. The Student Research Corner takes place on day two of the conference (peak attendance) and will prominently display student research posters and slideshow presentations in a high-traffic area of the conference. The program includes dedicated knowledge-exchange time between students and members of the BC food system. 

The UBC-Organic BC partnership first started in 2017, brought together by the LiteFarm project. This project sought to work with diversified farmers in Canada to understand their visions for a farm management platform that would meet their needs. The project is still ongoing and counts with 476 users in BC. In addition, the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Organic Science Cluster administered by the Organic Federation of Canada, which Organic BC is a member of, is in its fourth five-year research cluster. Starting in 2009, and with each cycle, Organic BC has supported UBC researchers with letters of support, provided in-kind contributions through communications and committee participation, and connected researchers to farmers through knowledge transfer activities. As partners, UBC and Organic BC aim to support more BC farmers in adopting organic and regenerative agricultural practices and increase the reach of research knowledge transmission. 

This project was provided by the project team on May 30, 2025. 

Partners: The BC Recreation and Parks Association (BCRPA) (https://www.bcrpa.bc.ca/about-us/) is a non-profit organization that provides support, leadership, and training for over 3,000 fitness professionals, contributing to physical activity and health in British Columbia. The UBC Movement for All lab (m4a.kin.ubc.ca) works to provide accessible physical activity training to people with chronic disease and disability.   

Planned activities:  

The Partnership Recognition Fund would support our partnership with the British Columbia Recreation and Parks Association (BCRPA) to improve knowledge, resources, and skills for fitness professionals to support physical activity participation among people living with physical disability (PLWD). We aim to co-develop a train-the-trainer workshop to support BC fitness leaders in working with PLWD across two phases:   

Phase 1: Online continuing education credits  

This year, our lab and the BCRPA worked to assess training needs and co-develop training learning objectives to support their fitness leaders in working with people with physical disabilities. As outputs, we delivered a synchronous webinar to over 70 fitness leaders across British Columbia (all BC regions were represented amongst the registrants). We plan to expand this work with the BCRPA by hosting three online learning modules through the BCRPA website for fitness leaders to earn continuing education credits and expand their knowledge in inclusive fitness training. Ninety-three registrants have already signed up to receive the training, signaling a strong interest for the outputs of this partnership amongst their membership.  

Phase 2: In-person train the trainer workshop  

Building on the foundational knowledge the three online learning modules offers, we plan to co-develop an in-person train-the-trainer workshop that will be held at BCRPA’s annual flagship conference, BCFit. This workshop will train BCRPA Teachers of Fitness Leaders (TFLs) to implement this training for their staff, allowing for scale and sustainability of the activities completed as part of the PRE Fund.  

Proposed outcomes and benefits of all partners: The short-term outcomes from this work include improved knowledge and confidence in supporting safe physical activity for PLWD among BCRPA fitness leaders. Specifically, BCRPA fitness leaders and TFLs will benefit from access to education and training related to working with PLWD who may access their fitness facilities. Upon completion of the training, fitness professionals will earn Continuing Education Credits to maintain standing in their BCRPA Fitness Leader Registration. The long-term outcomes would be for PLWD living in BC to experience improved accessibility and knowledge of community recreation spaces and staff, respectively.Our partnership with the BCRPA began in September 2024, using an integrated knowledge translation process to co-develop inclusive fitness training. From the outset, BCRPA management, fitness leaders, people living with disabilities (PLWD), and disability researchers shaped the project’s focus, training content, and delivery. We consulted fitness leaders at BCRPA events and meetings to understand their current knowledge and learning needs, and connected with individuals with lived experience of disability, as well as disability organizations.  

Our goal is to build a lasting partnership with the BCRPA, their fitness leaders, and the communities they serve. This collaboration has also led to new relationships with disability-specific organizations such as Spinal Cord Injury BC and the Arthritis Patient Advisory Board at Arthritis Research Canada.  

Our lab operates by the principle “nothing about us, without us,” using the Patient Engagement In Research Framework (Hamilton, 2018) to guide meaningful engagement. This includes shared benefits, training, honoraria, and fostering a respectful, equitable team environment. The BCRPA will continue to be active decision-makers throughout the project, from shaping project goals to dissemination. Our approach is grounded in both evidence and theory, as outlined in our published work (https://iktrn.ohri.ca/projects/casebook/, Vol. 4, p. 20). 

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

UBC has a long history with the Canadian Armed Forces with many past and active serving student, staff, and faculty. We would like to build on our existing relationship with the UBC Institute for Veterans Education and Transition (“IVET”) to support military-associated individuals and families on the Vancouver campus.  

Our partnership aims to fill a significant need in supporting the veteran and military-connected community at UBC, a demographic that faces unique challenges such as social isolation, difficulty in academic transition, and specific emotional needs. While the UBC Institute for Veterans Education and Transition (IVET) provides some level of support, our initiative adds a layer of community building that’s currently lacking. 

Our definition of personal growth includes mental health support and stress management, which are critical for veterans who may find the transition from military to academic life to be emotionally taxing. Professionally, we aim to offer skills training in areas such as resume writing, job interviews, and navigating the civilian job market.We are hosting events to bring together our military-connected community to learn more about our unique branch at a major academic center. The University of British Columbia Vancouver campus is a historic hub to veterans, active serving members and our bright future members. We strive to sustain and support an active community at UBC campus in order to create a vibrant veteran-friendly campus to support personal and professional growth. 

Our guest speakers range from the IVET Program, academic partners, senior military leadership, civilian liaisons, and more. We offer complimentary food and refreshments, raffle prizes for BC Lions and Whitecaps tickets and share more about our free parking program at UBC and our upcoming scholarship.  

The events we plan to host will not only serve as a meeting ground but will also serve as informational sessions. We intend to invite professors and researchers who are working on military and veteran-related subjects to share their findings. This will create a bridge between the academic community and the veterans, offering them better access to ongoing research and academic resources at UBC. 

The Legion branch at UBC aims to supplement the work of IVET by offering community support that can’t be provided in a purely academic setting. We are planning workshops in academic writing and effective study techniques tailored for individuals who have been out of the academic environment for an extended period. Additionally, we intend to offer peer mentorship programs where more experienced student-veterans can guide the newcomers, thereby filling a resource gap in personalized support. 

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

YWCA Single Mothers’ Support Group at UBC is a free peer-support group facilitated by trained leaders who are or have been single mothers; the group provides important companionship and community to women who are parenting alone while enrolled at UBC. The group meets twice a month, alternating between in-person and Zoom sessions. This program is unique from other single mother support groups because all participants are Masters or PhD candidates at UBC and they all face unique challenges associated with academic life while parenting alone.

During the meetings, participants come together to share resources and discuss a range of holistic topics that support their personal goals. Rather than working from a predetermined curriculum, the YWCA takes a flexible, client-centred approach to program delivery. The group collaborates on identifying the issues affecting them most, and this feedback informs the group’s activities and discussions.

Through this work, Single Mothers’ Support Group aims to achieve the following short-term goals:

• Create positive changes and transformational impact to single mothers’ health and wellbeing.
• Foster a sense of belonging and provide a safe space for single mothers to share their experiences, knowledge, and resources.

In the long term, Single Mothers’ Support Group aims to disrupt the pattern of disadvantage disproportionately experienced by single mother-led families. Our facilitator has identified several barriers experienced by single mothers, including access to legal and mental health supports, and housing affordability. Discussions have also focused on self-advocacy and supporting each other in obtaining necessary resources, such as childcare and financial assistance in the form of bursaries and grants, to supplement the costs associated with post-secondary education.

Single Mothers’ Support Group creates a safe space for members to voice their concerns and challenges with others who share similar struggle; their collaborative resilience helps them to devise action plans, share ideas, and support each other through hardships. By engaging in discussions and sharing resources, the group fosters a sense of community and alleviates the feeling of isolation among participants.

In addition, the group also motivates single mothers to work towards academic success. The “study buddy” group was created to help participants excel academically by creating mutual encouragement and accountability.

There is also a focus on self-advocacy and problem-solving, which in return, equips single mothers with the skills and confidence they need to navigate academic responsibilities and parenting duties effectively.

YWCA Single Mothers’ Support Group at UBC was established in 2017 and has been operating successfully since its inception. Prior to 2020, all group meetings were held at Acadia Park – UBC Student Housing facility. In 2025/26, we plan to meet twice a month, once in person at Acadia Park and once online via Zoom. With the valuable assistance of Emma Chartrand, Residence Life Manager at Acadia Park, we are able to foster meaningful conversations among single mothers in a safe and respectful environment.

We have also received significant support from Emma and the UBC staff. Their efforts in promoting the group among UBC students and assisting with new referrals during our intake periods have been instrumental to our success.