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For more information on WIRA research projects and publications, click here. Building the Economy on Community Capacities: the Spence Neighbourhood The Capacity Inventory Project has contributed to Community Economic Development in the Spence Neighbourhood by identifying the assets that are a foundation for employment, training, trading and new enterprise in the Spence Neighbourhood. The Objectives of the Project were to identify capacities of residents of the Spence Neighbourhood; to develop a system connecting the capacity of residents and community-based organizations to organizations and businesses that need workers with those capacities; and to determine the most appropriate organization to host the capacity inventory database. Overview of Project Download overview in PDF format Section 1 is the Community Report, which emphasizes the importance of providing information to the 312 residents of the Spence Neighbourhood who contributed their time to this research. It states what has been learned about the capacities that exist in the Spence Neighbourhood, and provides a snapshot of the neighbourhood that shows there are many talented people in the area with valuable skills, experience and gifts. Download community
report in PDF format Section 2, the Comprehensive Report, provides a detailed account of the method and results of this action research project and attempts to contribute to the growing understanding of community–based development. Download
comprehensive in PDF format
Housing Intervention and Neighbourhood Development: Harnessing Change in West Broadway Casual observation in Winnipeg’s West Broadway neighbourhood suggests that community development interventions have been influential. Many houses have been renovated and the appearance of many street faces in the neighbourhood indicates physical improvement. This suggests movement towards the attainment of a stable and mixed neighbourhood. However, at the same time, anecdotal evidence also suggests that in some respects, neighbourhood revitalization may have led to resident turnover rather than, or as well as, to improvement in the lives of residents. Report 1: Census Analysis and Views of Key Informants and Residents on Neighbourhood Change This report examines neighbourhood conditions in West Broadway, housing market activity, and perceptions of residents and key informants. It aims to identify recent changes and to assess them in relation to neighbourhood dynamics such as gentrification, disinvestment and stabilization. Download report in PDF format
Report 2: Housing Interventions and Market Responses The housing interventions undertaken over the period from the late 1990s to the early 2000s are described, and the relationship between this work and unassisted market activity is explored. Download
report in PDF format
CUexpo2005 Conference Final Report
From September 15-18, 2005 the Winnipeg Inner City Research Alliance
hosted
CUexpo2005 Community-University Research Partnerships: Leaders in
Urban Change. The conference sought to strengthen the understanding
of, and support for, action–oriented research initiatives
involving collaboration between University and community partners.
Rooming House Tenant and Landlord
Cooperation: a Pilot Project Over a one year period, the Institute of Urban Studies and the Spence Neighbourhood Association, with funding provided by the Winnipeg Inner City Research Alliance (WIRA) developed an innovative program titled: Rooming House Tenant Landlord and Community Cooperation (RHTLCC). The goal of this project is to work with rooming house owners, tenants and the general community to devise a set of community based standards that would make rooming houses the best possible option for those most in need of affordable housing. This program can also help the neighbourhood take a step forward in improving an individuals rental options in a neighbourhood where there is a shortage of quality rental units. Download
report in PDF format
Enhancing Cultural Capital:
The Arts and Community Development in Winnipeg This research highlights the contribution that community-based arts organizations are making in Winnipeg ‘s inner city. The project reveals that there is not only a wealth of artistic and cultural resources in the inner city, but that these resources make an enormous contribution to building community capacity, energizing community-based revitalization efforts, educating young people, improving our public spaces, and invigorating local economies. Through a broad-based consultation process, including a case study of the arts scene in Minneapolis Minnesota, the project provides a basis for an enhanced integration of arts-based policies and programs aimed at supporting inner city communities. Download
report in PDF format
Transportation and Affordable
Homeownership: A Feasibility Study of "Transportation-Savings Mortgages" This study examines the appropriateness and feasibility of adopting a relatively recent type of mortgage product to the Winnipeg market, which for this report is being called the "Transportation Savings Mortgage" (TSM). In the United States, such products include Location Efficient Mortgages and Smart Commute Mortgages. TSMs are designed to promote locational decisions on the part of homebuyers that favour residential districts close to public transit, shops and services, generally in central areas. The rationale behind TSMs is that, owing to more convenient access to transit, shops and services, central city locations ought to make car-lite or car-free lifestyles more viable than outer suburban locations. Such lifestyles permit a homeowner to accrue substantial financial savings in transportation costs that may then be applied to one's mortgage. Transportation Savings Mortgages are being studied in this report as a means of promoting home ownership in Winnipeg communities targeted for investment in local and provincial revitalization programs. Download
report cover in PDF format Download
report in PDF format
"There are No Banks Here" September 2005 Download
report in PDF format
Urban Dakota and Dene Quality
of Life Indicators Project: Phase 1 This project is a response to the need to raise awareness of First Nations peoples' unique life experiences and perspectives, to develop tools to accurately assess First Nations well-being, and to use these tools to advocate and make meaningful changes to policies, programs, and services that affect First Nations peoples. This report documents activity undertaken in Phase I of two phases in the overall project. Phase I involves the preliminary identification of Quality of Life indicators and development of both an urban Dakota and an urban Dene Quality of Life survey. These preliminary indicators demonstrate that the uniqueness of these two First Nations cultural groups have a profound impact on their perspectives of their quality of life. Download
report in PDF format
A Profile of Income Assistance
Recipients in Winnipeg's Inner City This study examines the experiences of welfare recipients with the welfare bureaucracy in the city of Winnipeg. For many inner city residents some form of income assistance is a vital part of their overall income and necessary for basic subsistence (food and rent). Consequently, the decisions of welfare officials are tremendously significant for these individuals and the traetment they receive at the hands of those officials helps structure their attitudes about the state, their conception of their place in society as citizens, and their own sense of self-worth and self-esteem. Through a series of structured interviews with welfare recipients, this study attempts to provide a picture of the nature and experience of those inner city residents who make use of the welfare system. It documents who these people are, the types of problems they experience with the welfare bureaucracy, their understanding of the welfare system, and the need for improved advocacy programmes to better enable them to navigate the system. Finally, it provides a glimpse at what welfare recepients understand to be the barriers and obstacles they face in moving away from welfare and into paid employment. Download
report in PDF format
Beyond a Front Desk: The Residential
Hotel as Home The Single Room Occupancy Hotel (SRO) has become an important form of affordable housing in the City of Winnipeg. The majority of these hotels were built in the early 1900s and lack modern conveniences. In Winnipeg, approximately 1000 people reside in the seventeen hotels that are scattered throughout the downtown. Presently, these persons are without tenancy rights, regardless of the fact that many have lived in the same hotel for years. Drawing on a sample of 80 residents, key informant interviews, and a site visit to the skid row district of Los Angeles, researchers examined the importance of these hotels as places people call home. The findings suggest that there is some level of attachment to the hotel but the surrounding community remains an integral part of a unique “neighbourhood” which to residents is a loose connection of street activity, frequenting the soup kitchens and missions, and spending time in the hotel lounge or lobby. Ten recommendations to improve residents’ quality of life are offered, ranging from providing basic rights to developing management-training programs. Download
report in PDF format
Shared Responsibility: Building
Healthy Communities in Winnipeg’s North End This project was a partnership between academics at the University of Manitoba, Department of Family Social Sciences and the North End Housing Project. Our study explored the perceptions of inner-city residents and service providers to represent their ideas about building healthy communities. We found that there is a range of issues associated with the lack of affordable housing within inner-city neighbourhoods that are rich in social capital. The challenges of overcoming multiple barriers cannot be overcome alone. Community building requires strong informal networks within the community that provide stability by sharing resources. Many inner city residents and agencies are working toward building healthy communities by changing the broad conditions in which they live. This research highlighted the need for shared responsibility in building healthy communities. Download
report in PDF format
HOUSING FOR ASSISTED LIVING IN INNER-CITY
WINNIPEG: By Michelle Owen and Colleen Watters People with disabilities in Winnipeg who have complex health and housing needs have limited housing options. Younger adults with disabilities, for example, are inappropriately placed in personal care homes with seniors when the cost of supporting a person in his or her own home exceeds the cost of supporting him or her in an institutional setting. Over the last decade, the Housing for Assisted Living (HAL) Committee, a working group in Winnipeg composed of member organizations, has been seeking a solution to this problem. The HAL Committee recently identified a building at 340 Princess Street in the Logan area adjacent to Winnipeg's Inner City Exchange District as most structurally suited to meet its stated objectives. This report describes the findings of the Housing for Assisted Living in Inner-City Winnipeg research project that examined a variety of social issues related to the development of the building at 340 Princess as an assisted living housing facility for adults with disabilities between 18 and 55 years of age who have complex health and housing needs. This facility will provide a range of on-site support services for people with disabilities within an integrated setting. This report concludes with a series of recommendations aimed at addressing the issues raised by the study participants, particularly access to community services (especially grocery shopping), accessibility, safety, and the future development of assisted living housing in Inner City Winnipeg, the Exchange District and beyond. The study findings will be particularly relevant to members of the Housing for Assisted Living Committee, researchers, organizations providing housing-related services and supports to people with disabilities, community groups, housing developers, the Exchange BIZ and the Downtown BIZ, the CentreVenture Development Corporation, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (Government of Canada), the Province of Manitoba, Provincial Health Authorities, the City of Winnipeg and policy makers involved in developing future housing options to meet the needs of people with disabilities within inner-city Winnipeg and the wider community. Download
Report with maps in PDF format Download
Report without maps in PDF format
Finding Our Way Home: Housing Options in Inner City Winnipeg for People with Disabilities who are Dying By Deborah Stienstra and Rhonda Wiebe This project encompasses three pertinent social issues: the lack of safe, affordable, available and accessible inner city Winnipeg housing; the lack of supports available for people living in the core area experiencing end of life transitions; and the barriers encountered by people with disabilities. Each of these issues stands on its own as an important topic for research. Merging these three streams not only compounds issues but also brings forward new concerns that have, according to our research, never been identified before. Download
Report in PDF format
New Report:
COOPERATIVE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT:
WINNIPEG In 1999, the Cooperative Business Development:
Winnipeg Pilot Project was established. This Project is designed
to foster the development of business cooperatives and other cooperative-like,
community-based, entrepreneurs and businesses. The Project is intended
to strengthen the internal human capacity of entrepreneurial groups
and to encourage the sharing of mutual help and benefits within
the cooperative community. This final report discusses issues concerning
the target population, and structural, administrative, and service
delivery that arose during Project implementation. It also identifies
the impacts of the Project on: (1) client businesses; (2) business
owners, employees and neighbourhoods; and (3) those who participated
in the administrative and service delivery processes.
Mentoring
Inner city Youth in Transition to Independent Living The WIRA project "Mentoring Inner city Youth in Transition to Independent Living" is nearing completion. Watch for the final report. A number of articles and reports have already resulted from this project. Download a list of Mentorship articles here. Two of these published articles are available here: Mentoring: One Pathway to Aboriginal Talent Development
Male Reading
Teachers: Effects on Inner-city Boys Eighteen inner-city first and second grade boys participated in our pilot study on the effect of sex of reading teacher on boys' attitudes toward and performance in reading. Each boy participated with either a male or a female research assistant in a 22-week Paired Reading intervention using texts shown to be of high interest to boys. Findings suggest that these contexts yield significant increases in boys' reading performance, sense of physiological well-being while reading, and their sense of reading progress regardless of the sex of their reading teacher. Findings yield insights into issues of gender and reading achievement in inner-city boys. Download
Report in PDF format
Building Community
Capacity in Winnipeg's Inner City: Exploring the Learning and Resource
Needs of Volunteer Board of Directors in Non-Profit Organizations This study explores elements that support the
participation, learning and •Exploring the knowledge, skills and attitudes
required for non-profit Download
Community Summary in PDF format Download
Full Report in PDF format
The Rise of
Fringe Financial Services In Winnipeg's North End: Client Experiences,
Firm Legitimacy and Community-based Alternatives This report documents research undertaken on fringe financial services -pawnshops, cheque-cashing firms, pay-day lenders, rent-to-own firms, tax refund advancers, finance companies and 'white-label' automatic teller machine- in Winnipeg's North End over the past year. The report explores client experiences with fringe banks, it examines the issue of fringe bank legitimacy and it develops a model and provides a preliminary feasibility assessment of an alternative model to fringe banks for low-income people. The research project, rooted in a community-identified issue, has generated a significant understanding of the social and economic impacts of fringe banking in the North End. The research methods included interviews with clients and key-informants, sample transactions and outlet follow-up and focus group discussions. The research objectives were threefold: to understand the motives and experiences of North End fringe bank clients; to determine if fringe bankers overcharge their clients; and to develop a model, and complete a pre-feasibility assessment of a consumer financial services outlet that could offer an alternative to existing fringe banks. Download
report in PDF format Download
the appendix that accompanies report in PDF format Download the map that
accompanies report in PDF format
This guide is a no-nonsense, easy-to-read booklet offering practical suggestions to encourage tenants & landlords to work cooperatively for the betterment of both parties. Hard copies of the guide are available at the West Broadway Neighbourhood Housing Resource Centre at 185 Young Street (at Broadway). Call Rico at 783-1995 to obtain copies. Or you can download a PDF version by following
the link below: http://www.winnipegcommitteeforsafety.org In Voices from the Margins: Experiences of Street-Involved Youth in Winnipeg we sought to hear the voices of street-involved youth. We wanted to give them a forum through which to tell their stories. We wanted to know: How they came to be involved with the street? What their lives were like at that point in time? What things made life on the street easier or harder? What might facilitate their transition off the street and keep them off? A key feature of this study is that it was conducted from the perspective of street experienced youth. We interviewed twelve young people who had been involved with the street at some point in their lives. Their stories highlight their personal struggles to survive and transcend the harsh realities of the street. The data for this study come from their narratives about their experiences. In addition, four former street youth served as research interns who assisted in the development of the research project and with interviewing. Overall, what we learned from our interviews with street youth is that homelessness is not a choice that they make freely or easily. Many youth perceive that they have no other alternative to leaving home. Youth become homeless because of the failure of multiple systems, including family, school, community, child protection agencies, and youth corrections systems. They become alienated from these systems that normally keep youth anchored in mainstream society. Serious gaps in services, or problems with how services are provided allow many youth to fall through the cracks of the social safety net. Once on the street, their focus becomes solely on the present - make money, get food, find shelter. The longer they remain on the street, the harder it is for them to leave. The street has a gravity of its own. Yet, the youth we interviewed had a strong desire to reach the milestones of adulthood sanctioned by society. They dreamed of having meaningful employment, education, homes, cars, and families. What these youth needed were supports and guidance to help them make those dreams a reality. It was evident that no progress toward larger goals was possible while they were locked in a daily battle for survival on the street. The youth in our study stressed that they wanted to leave the street on their own terms. They wanted control over their own lives and destinies. Their successes and failures give us a blueprint to restructure the ways in which we address the issue of youth homelessness. What emerges from our interviews is an understanding that society has failed these kids. The systems meant to offer support, such as family, school, community, and child protection agencies, failed to identify them as high-risk youth and provide adequate supports. In many cases, the child protection system did not adequately intervene when these kids were experiencing family conflict, neglect or abuse. They quickly learned that the only people on whom they could rely were themselves. We believe that youth should not be placed in this precarious position. These systems have to change in order to address the needs of youth at risk. Thus, we believe that the problem of youth homelessness is one that can be resolved. It is our hope that this information can be used on many different levels. At the community level, an understanding of the plight of street youth can help residents make connections with street kids; thereby strengthening their social ties and fostering community cohesion. Service providers can use this information to develop youth-oriented services that more effectively reach out-of-the-mainstream youth and address their needs. Policy makers can use the recommendations generated from this study to develop policies to prevent youth homelessness, provide support to those on the street, facilitate the process of getting off the street, and ensure that youth do not return to the street. Our goal is to bring the voices and experiences of street youth to key decision makers in order to ignite social change to improve their lives. Download
in PDF Format Also a result of the research for the Voices from the Margins project is the Winnipeg Street Youth Survival Guide. This is a practical guide that youth on the street can use to make links that will assist them in their struggles. Download
in PDF Format
The expiry of the Winnipeg Development Agreement on March 31, 2001 threatens to bring to a close Winnipeg's unique twenty-year experience with tri-level funding for inner-city revitalization. To allow this to happen, precisely at the moment that real gains are beginning to be made in Winnipeg's inner city, would be a mistake. This study, initiated by the Urban Futures Group and funded by the Winnipeg Inner City Research Alliance, concludes that there are grounds for being cautiously optimistic about Winnipeg's inner city. It is true that the inner city continues to experience high levels of poverty and associated problems; however, in many places real improvements are beginning to be made. This is the case where genuinely community-based organizations have emerged in response to local needs, and have been successful in securing reasonable levels of funding. This approach does not produce instant results. But when community-based solutions are adequately funded over time, neighbourhoods and communities can be gradually turned around. This report, based on interviews with representatives of 100 organizations, most of them community-based, inner city organizations -- involved in health, education and training, and community economic development, and working with families and children and youth -- calls for the creation of a new tri-level agreement targeted at Winnipeg's inner city. In doing so, it draws upon the experience of those organizations, as expressed in the interviews, to make recommendations that will lead to significant improvements in the administration of a proposed new, long-term, tri-level agreement. (April 2002 | 30 pp.) Download
in PDF Format
Between December of 2001 and April 2002, interviews were conducted with over 300 individuals in three Winnipeg neighbourhoods: Osborne Village, West Broadway and Spence. These interviews were largely conducted by community-based researchers - themselves rooming house tenants The partners involved in this study included the St. Matthew's-Maryland Community Ministry and the Spence Neighbourhood Association. The organization of the study was governed by a Steering Committee also including Winnipeg journalist Mike Maunder. (November 2002 | 76 pp) Download in WinZip
Format
Aboriginal
Education in Winnipeg Inner City High Schools This study investigates the educational circumstances of Aboriginal students in Winnipeg inner city high schools. The study is based on interviews with 47 Aboriginal students in Winnipeg inner city high schools, 50 Aboriginal school leavers, 25 adult members of the Aboriginal community, and 10 teachers, 7 of them Aboriginal. In addition, we conducted an extensive review of relevant literature. Responses by Aboriginal people to our questions about their experiences in school reveal the existence of what we have identified as a cultural/class/experiential divide between Aboriginal students and their families on the one hand, and the school system on the other. The life experiences and cultural values of many Aboriginal students and their families differ significantly from what they experience in the schools, which are run largely by non-Aboriginal, middle class people for the purpose of advancing the values of the dominant culture. The educational system marginalizes Aboriginal students, does not adequately reflect their cultural values and their daily realities, and feels alien to many Aboriginal people. The incidence of overt forms of racism- name-calling and stereotyping, for example- is shockingly high. Institutional forms of racism are common throughout the system. The face that schools present to Aboriginal students is decidedly non-Aboriginal: for example, there are few Aboriginal teachers, and little Aboriginal content in the curriculum. These characteristics suggest to us an educational system that continues to be overly Euro-centric and even colonial. Aboriginal students experience the divide between themselves and the school system on a daily basis, and much of what they experience in school is negative. Not surprisingly, many Aboriginal students resist and even reject this form of education. This is not the way in which this issue is generally understood. It is generally understood as being a problem of Aboriginal students failing in school, of their having a 'dropout' rate double that of non-Aboriginal students. But what follows from framing the issue as being Aboriginal students' failures in school is that it is the Aboriginal students who need 'fixing', and this inevitably leads back to the thinking that drove the residential schools, which is that Aboriginal culture is inferior, and that Aboriginal students must be raised to the level of the superior culture. This approach has simply not worked. Aboriginal people do not and will not accept these racist assumptions. They resist such assumptions, and thus resist schools. The evidence suggests that Aboriginal people want the education that is needed to enable them to participate fully in Canadian society and in their own self-governance, but they do not want to abandon what it is to be Aboriginal in order to do so. What Aboriginal people have said to us about the educational system is not that Aboriginal people should be forced to change in order to fit into and 'succeed' in school- this is what the residential schools attempted, unsuccessfully, to do- but rather that schools and the educational system generally need to change in order to better reflect the rapidly changing demographic and cultural realities of our community. Making such changes- significant changes- will be a challenge, but the benefits to all of us in doing so will be significant. The paper is concluded with recommendations that arise directly from what interviewees said. These are recommendations are reasonable and achievable and are necessary for beginning the process of change that needs to take place in our educational system. (December 2002 / ISBN 0-88627-299-8 / 62 pp) Download
in PDF Format
WIRA featured at Community-University Expo in Saskatoon The conference addressed themes in community-university research - partnership tools and models, overcoming challenges to collaboration, policy and advocacy, assessing partnerships - in a forum that provided a diversity of formats and opportunities for dialogue and exchange. Experiences, successes and challenges of WIRA were shared in a presentation. Also available is a plenary presentation by Tom Carter from the Community-University Expo Tools and Challenges to Community-University Research .This focuses on resolving conflict and making partnerships successful and sustainable. Download the presentation
in PDF Format
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McCluskey,
K. W., & Torrance, E. P. (2003). Mentoring: One pathway to Aboriginal
talent development. In K. W. McCluskey & A. M. Mays (Eds), Mentoring
for talent development (pp. 178-195). Sioux Falls, SD: Reclaiming
Youth International, Augustana College.