Transcript NH and Community Building:

NH and Community Building:
A Study of BWIN Project
INSPIRE 2014
International Neighbourhood House & Settlement Conference
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Miu Chung Yan, Ph.D.
Gojjam Limenihe, PhD Student
The University of British Columbia
School of Social Work
NHiMV Project
First systematic study of NHs in Canada
Four years, collaborative, funded by SSHRC
Research questions:
“How do neighbourhood houses, as place-based, multiservice, community-governed, non-profit organizations,
affect social equity, collective efficacy, and inclusion, based
on the cases of Metro Vancouver?”
Project Website: http://nhvproject.ca
What was BWIN?
Building Welcoming and Inclusive
Neighborhoods (BWIN) Project
A first collaboration of 14 (out of 15)
Neighbourhood Houses in Metro Vancouver
A 6-year pilot project funded by the BC
Government as a part of immigrant settlement
program
Three implementation phases with different
strategies:
Phase 1: 2008-2010
Phase 2: 2011-2012
Phase 3: 2012- March, 2014
Purposes of BWIN
Purpose: to explore the leadership role of NHs in
building local community capacity for promoting
welcoming and addressing social exclusion:
To make a difference in each community member’s
sense of well-being
Help the newcomers and established immigrants to
adapt and integrate in the community.
To generate new knowledge about inclusive and
welcoming communities.
To address racism and social exclusion by exploring
innovative approaches (BWIN Proposal document,
2008).
Purposes of this study
To understand how NHs conceptualize
community building and apply programmatically
To understand how BWIN helped the NHs to
integrate newcomers and long-term residents in
the community
Research Method
Qualitative research method
Content and Document Analysis/Review:
Annual reports
Policy documents
4 focus groups with all BWIN coordinators
(N=13) and EDS (N=13)
Key informant interview (1)
Document analysis
Three identifiable assumptions of the BWIN project:
1. An inclusive and welcoming community is
where people participate, cooperate and
accepting others.
2. NH is an effective mechanism (tool) to connect
people newcomers and existing residents.
3. Inter-organizational connection is an
important asset for building inclusive
community (BWIN, proposal document,
2008).
Phase 1
Objectives
Strategies
Activities (e.g.)
Output
1. Expand the
role of NHs
2. Engaged the
community
3. Improve
NHs
approaches
to wards
inclusion
4. Build
capacity at all
levels
5. Improve
collaboration
Community
outreach and
mapping
Senor and youth mentorship,
Multicultural family night,
Welcoming new comer dinners,
Community outreach programs
N(A):661
N(P): 39,021
NC=31,411
Community
Gatherings &
Cultural
inclusion
Multicultural community dinners,
workshops on financial literacy,
domestic violence, community
meeting s,( dialogues and forums )
N(A)=209
N(P): =77,722
NC= 61,070
Organizational
Capacity
Building
Workshops on cultural competency,
building NH for the staffs and
training for volunteers
N(A)=45
N(P): =2714
NC=1825
Collaborative
Planning
Partnership with with other
organizations (NGOs, governments
and businesses)
N(A)= 28
N(P) =1007
Volunteerism
and Leadership
Volunteer activities, community
N(A)=595
outreach, seniors multi-cultural
N(P): 4905
health project, children’s after-school NC=1464
program
Phase 2
Objective
Strategy
Activities (E.g)
Out put
Two way integration
Community potluck dinner,
dialogues, culture exchange
programs, intercultural health
workshops
N(A)= 322
N(P)=7223
NC=5040
Diversity workshops,
intercultural activities, skill
trainings
N(A)= 245
N(P)= 6700
NC=2410
Strengthening
collaboration and
networking
Intercultural planning table
meetings, research
partnerships,
N(A)= 329
N(P)=6543
NC=2200
Facilitating
community
development issues
related to immigrant
settlement and
integration
Community education on anti- N(A)= 294
racism and anti-discrimination, N(P)=21370
Community healing
T(NC)=1052
(storytelling/dialogues),
Workplace rights workshop
1. Building
cohesion and
discriminatio
n
Building skills &
tools for facilitating
2. Connecting
welcoming
newcomers
communities
3. Engaging
both
newcomers
& longterm
residents
Phase 3
Objective
Strategy
Activities (E.g)
1. Connecting
newcomers
Outreach and
referral
Posters, proactive invitation to family
N(A):260
activities, newcomer referral to various N(P): 7,134
supports and services.
NC=3673
Fostering
inclusion and
participation for
newcomers
Annual volunteer recruitment and
recognition event, partnership
educational programs for newcomers,
training and educational programs for
newcomers on access to service
Bringing
together
newcomers and
long-term
residents
Cultural connectors, welcoming
N(A):370
newcomers dinners, community
N(P): 9100
cultural dinners, welcoming new
NC=4633
neighbors events, weekly meetings to
exchange personal and cultural stories,
recipes and food.
2. Building
collaborative
programs
3. Capacity
building for
newcomers
4. Mainstreaming
newcomer
focused
programs
Out put
N(A):554
N(P): 7805
NC=3112
Summary
In the six years,
108, 022 new immigrants for the different programs
34, 600 long-term residents.
3,317 Different programs
7,624 Volunteers were trained and participated in
BWIN
A vast number of programs were organized
to address ‘needs’ (settlement, skills, social and
intercultural understanding etc.)
to facilitate interaction, exchange, and dialogue
to extend and strengthen inter-organizational
collaboration
to foster volunteerism among residents
How did the NH’s staff articulate BWIN?
Key questions:
What is a welcoming and inclusive community?
What is community building in NH setting?
What did they do to achieve what they articulated?
What challenges did they face?
What is a welcoming and inclusive community?
A welcoming and inclusive community should be:
 A safe environment
 Socially cohesive, a sense of community
 Openness and willingness among members to exchange
ideas, and work to minimize differences.
Our definition about what welcoming and inclusive community is not that
everybody agrees that there should be you know a recovery house in a street.
Instead, it is about people can come together, to create their stories, create
their solutions, the road to respect each other, give and take. (ED)
For me, it a sense of openness and the willingness to learn about each
other. I think it is where cultural competency achieved so that people who
are marginalized can able to participate and engaged. I also see inclusive
and welcoming neighbourhood when we offer bold opportunities for people
to participate in the development of a community. I think the important
thing is there is a sense of community where there is a room for world of
differences, when there is room for conversation, it is that sense of belonging
is a key. (ED)
Building welcoming & inclusive community
Building community:
•
•
It is not an overnight effect or a program or service
It is almost a philosophy embedded in all services a process of
establishing relationships (networking) and nurturing and
building a sense of belonging.
As one ED described, it is like gardening:
… like community gardening. When we thinking of how diverse and organic a
garden is, we are part of the community and we see our selves in the community
and I think philosophically and professionally, we are really committed that
cultural competency piece where when we are in training, we are in providing a
service, paying attention to our old biases, power structures and you know all of
that, there is that commitment because we all are in space together and it is not
in the space to provide services but it is in the space to be in community
development, I think whole focus is, we are talking about growing together,
growing with our community.
Components of building W & I community
Social Cohesion
Social Cohesion
Inclusiveness
Building
Welcoming & Inclusive
Community
Values diversity
Cultural Competency
Inclusiveness
NHs bring together diverse individuals and enabled them to
meaningfully engaged and a connected.
As an ED said,
I think what BWIN makes inclusive is, we define that we all
have a story to share. We all have something to contribute and
the coming togetherness, working together is about to share those
things we have, --the skills we have, stories we have, and I think
that this whole project helped us to put more on that the
forefront.
Values diversity
Participants articulated that diversity is achieved when there is:
 Promoting multiculturalism
 Bring together people from different cultural groups
 Working for minimizing the differences
A BWIN coordinator suggested:
I think the important thing is, when there is a sense of community
where there is a room for world of differences, working together to
develop mutual respect, and the willingness to learn about each
other. I think it is also when our diversity is to be seen as an
opportunity to reach out to each other rather than as a threat and
separating the community members whether it is in gatherings,
dialogue circles or multicultural events.
Social cohesion
Participants comprehend that social cohesion is about
the level of belonging and connectedness in a
community. It is also the road to building inclusive
community that BWIN contributed.
A BWIN coordinator noted:
If you assume that your world is like everyone else’s and if you have
no idea that two blocks down, it doesn’t make a healthier
community. I think, social cohesion is key. You know, you need to
live in harmony with each other. It is not about a program, it is
about living in the community and helping your fellow neighbors.
Cultural competency
Cultural competency is viewed as the major element in the
process of building welcoming and inclusive community.
One BWIN coordinator articulated that:
For me, it a sense of openness and working to dawn of stereotypes
that openness to the differences-- the willingness to learn about
each other, not that passive piece when the people are shut of each
other. Cultural competency is the step that punches to bring the
differences down. I think it is when there is a cultural competency
in the community, so that people who are marginalized can able to
participate and engaged. I think the important thing is building a
sense of community where there is a room for [the] world of
differences.
Impacts of BWIN on NHs
BWIN project helped to shift and lift the NHs work enormously
--philosophically and professionally and strengthen the NH
tradition of:
Building community.
Connecting newcomers with local residents
Proactively reaching out to engage members of the community
Meeting the needs in the community
Building capacity: promoting volunteerism, leadership
development
 Strengthening the NH movement by bringing all the NHs to
work together
 Building service network through developing partnerships
with other organizations





.
Challenges
1.
Tangible outcome vs. intangible process
The government pressure to tease out the specific measurable
outcome has been a challenge. To NHs, BWIN is an ongoing
process…
As an ED observes:
BWIN as inclusive frame work it help us to search for some
people who are not part of that community and try to contribute
and develop a sense of ownership. This is really the good part of
BWIN. However, they wanted to know where that 65 thousand
dollars were to go and each house has a different approach. The
focus on the number was very challenging. Government wanted to
see clean and something very specific counting's.
Challenges (2)
2. Scale of issue: Challenges to fully engage and work on antidiscrimination and anti-racism elements of BWIN
As one coordinator explained:
I think in terms of integrating and promoting the diversity BWIN did great job
but in terms of the harder and big issues like discrimination and anti -racism that
is more of a challenge. BIWIN didn't is not addressing that.
3. Funding: The phase-out of the project will greatly affect the capacity of
NHs in addressing the multifaceted concerns of the community.
One ED explained :
I think, we will forced to cut some of the programs or stretch our programs. It
definably affects our work because we might forced to mainstreaming some of the
programs to existing program. BWIN created a place of opportunity particularly
for the new comers and ‘socially excluded 'to be more engaged. Obviously, this
work more money and human resource.
Summary
BWIN reenergized NHs’ traditional mandate: to focus not
only in providing services but also building a welcoming
and gathering places where the ‘strangers calls them the
second home’.
It offered NHs resource to play a central role in promoting
inclusion
It offered NHs an opportunity to experiment a multicultural and
innovative approach of community building
It recognized and strengthened NHs’ role in bridging newcomers
with local residents, and helping them to establish functional ties
in the community.
What will happen?
No more BWIN or not more community building?
Can NH sustain what they achieved?
How can this traditional mandate be sustained without extra
funding?
Thank you!