The Chapman and Innovation Grants offer UBC students the opportunity to create and carry out a meaningful project in partnership with a local not-for-profit community organization. Browse the grant winners and their stories below.
Alissa is working with the Good Night Out Vancouver Association (GNO) to pilot a project to reduce the occurrence of homophobic and gender-based violence in Vancouver. They aim to launch a promotional campaign and a text-based reporting system that allows reporting of criminal and non-criminal harassment and safety concerns to better understand where and when incidents occur. By the end of the project, the data provided by this system will help GNO determine if this is best reporting service and how to best offer targeted interventions.
Sashka has partnered with the Sumas First Nation to monitor the on going quality and quantity of their traditional water ways. They're interested on how agriculture, mining, and climate change impacts their local streams. Together, they'll be utilizing open-source technology to collect and analyze data that will improve water stewardship policies in the area and protect remaining waterways for a more sustainable future.
A former recipient of the Connect to Community Grants - Shawna is expanding her work with the Surrey School District to implement after school programming for inner city youth. Their workshops, presentations, and resources packages aim to help inner-city students achieve their academic, professional, and personal goals. Due to the success of these programs, Shawna is also looking to expand them into additional schools in Burnaby and Vancouver.
Minnie is working with Aquafit for All & Building Life After Stroke Together to improve physical activity and social connections for stroke survivors in Vancouver. By adapting existing aquatic exercise programs, they hope to bring their programming to a group of individuals who are often underserved in Vancouver.
Tina is a 2nd year Science student working in partnership with the Youth Mental Health Association (YMHA). Through a series of workshops, they are introducing mental health wellbeing to elementary schools across East Vancouver. By exposing young students to the basic concept of mental health and wellness, Project Integrate aims to reduce the stigma associated with mental health and increase the awareness of services available to youth who may be encountering mental health issues.
Zeba is a 2nd year Science student working in partnership with the Vancouver Brain Injury Association (VBIA) in creating a series of educational workshops for youth, teachers, and parents to raise awareness of brain injuries. Utilizing both existing and new programming, Zeba aims to bring VBIA’s knowledge of brain injuries into the classroom in fun and innovative ways. While also creating spaces for parents and teachers to come learn more about the misconceptions of brain injuries and the resources available to those impacted by it.
Vivian is in 1st year Medicine, working with the Portland House Society (PHS) to lower the barriers between housing and those who need it. By creating a series of documented interviews Vivian and PHS want to paint a better picture of the individuals who access their services. PHS aims to use these interviews to not only inform their own services, but to give the shelter clients an opportunity to share their own experiences in highlighting the barriers that they face when accessing shelters and other services.
Working with the Social Diversity for Children Foundation, Abigail is putting on a one day event to bring together youth living with disabilities and UBC’s music community to promote disability justice and youth empowerment. The one day event will use music as a transformative and powering tool for connecting with one another in meaningful and engaging ways.
Nicolas and Burnaby Moresports are putting together a full day soccer tournament to encourage the development of healthy habits and physical wellbeing among local immigrant families in the community. Along with the tournament, workshops on nutrition and various other games and activities are being deployed during the day as well to help participants create a healthier lifestyle.
In partnership with the Vancouver Helping Hands Foundation, Niki is setting up a pop-up shop to not only distribute essential hygiene items in the Downtown Eastside but also develop employment opportunities for the local population. The goal is to continue to expand on the pop-up shop model, increasing its reach, frequency, and effectiveness in improving access to essential hygiene products and employment skills for the local population.
Addressing the gap in knowledge of heart and stroke risk factors within the South Asian community, Simryn is working with the Heart and Stroke Foundation to expand their volunteer outreach program. By incorporating cultural aspects into interactive activities and promotional materials placed in local Surrey temples, Simryn hopes to better understand how centering culture and cultural spaces can increase engagement for groups often left out in health promotional opportunities.
Thanushi Eagalle is a UBC student completing her masters in Museum Education. Thanushi has partnered with The Edible Garden Project, the Intergenerational Landed Learning Project and a number of schools around the lower mainland and the North Shore to bring the Science to Art (START) Pop-up Museum for Science (Environmental) Education project to life. START is a traveling museum project that allows elementary and secondary school students to design and create exhibits through intergenerational collaboration with volunteers (Art Mentors), and teachers. The project aims to bring science and art together by creating exhibits that highlight local environmental issues and creates opportunities for students to express their scientific knowledge through artistic expression.
Iain Marjoribanks is a 5th year Arts student at UBC. Iain has partnered with the Musqueam Indian Band and the AMS Bike Co-op to significantly expand the Musqueam Bike Cooperative (MBC) during the summer of 2017. These expanded services will create opportunities for community members to access traditional territory, promote health, and support economic self-determination. They will also create new opportunities for UBC students to gain cultural competency skills, and to learn by working with community members. This project aims to help in the continued success of the MBC and work towards establishing themselves as an organization fully owned by the community.
Jasper Johar, Sophia Kim, Yasmeen Mansoor, and Ahmad Sidiqi are second year Medical students who are part of the Refugee Health Initiative (RHI). This team of Med. Students involved in RHI, have created a research project to discover - “What the resiliency factors and strengths are among a diverse group of newly-settled refugees in Metro Vancouver when working towards their goals of resettlement, and how do they compare to the resiliency factors and strengths utilized by refugees who have been settled in Canada for 5 or more years?” For this project the students have partnered with the Immigration Service Society of BC (ISS of BC) and will be conducting interviews with settlement agencies, physicians, school boards, and most importantly refugees to gather their stories and experiences.
Stephanie Lim is completing her graduate degree in Education and has partnered with the BC Food Systems Network (BCFSN, est. 1999). The BCFSN has convened an Annual Gathering (BCFSNG) for nearly two decades. These Gatherings bring together partners from across BC to share knowledge and build relationships needed to collectively advance food justice and progressive food policy in a time of climate uncertainty and growing food insecurity. The 2017 Gathering will take place July 14-16 at UBC Farm in partnership with UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems, on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Musqueam people.
The project will support the formation of a youth advisory committee (May-July) to work with BCFSN staff to create youth-centered space at the 2017 Gathering for collective visioning and work around issues such as zero hunger, food and culture, and sustainability. This supports and connects emerging and future leaders of BC’s food movement who are critical to sustaining and carrying on the work of food systems transformation.
Winnie Bao is a second year science student and Reading Week volunteer. She has partnered with the Collingwood Neighborhood house on a project called Renfrew-Collingwood Food Stories. This project was a success when the first volume of Renfrew-Collingwood Food Stories was created in 2015. This spring Winnie and the Collingwood Neighborhood House will begin working on the second volume of this book and the Connect to Community grant will enable them to collaborate again with youth, ages 13-25, to create and publish this second volume. The book will be based on youth’s collective stories of family, memory, identity, and food.
Kacey Ng is a third year Sociology student that is part of Partners in Practice which is a student-research group. Kacey, in combination with Partners in Practice, will conduct an evaluation survey of Vancouver Out in Schools programs. This organization educates students in BC on issues of homophobia, transphobia and bullying. As an educational outreach initiative, they seek to raise awareness and advance the safety of learning environments for all youth.
Kacey and her partners hope to work with this community group to assess the effectiveness of their school outreach program provided to various schools across Greater Vancouver. By understanding the effectiveness of the program, they can draw knowledge on how to empower Millennials to create safer and more inclusive communities.
Kristen Eng is a science student at UBC who has partnered with the Aquafit for All Association to pilot a new program in Vancouver called Aqua Vision. Aqua Vision aims to provide aquatic exercise opportunities for those with vision loss in Vancouver. Adults with visual impairments are much less likely to engage in physical activity and Aqua Vision’s classes will provide opportunities for older adults with visual impairments to exercise in a safe and comfortable environment.
Alex Fung is a third year science student who is passionate about raising awareness of diabetes in Asian communities. He has partnered with the Canadian Diabetes Association to deliver two three hour community outreach sessions/workshops to increase community awareness, knowledge, and skills relating to the prevention and management of diabetes in Chinese and Punjabi communities. Each Escape Diabetes: Diet & Exercise (EDDE) session will have information, activities, and presentations in Chinese or Punjabi and they will target seniors in each community who are most at risk of developing Diabetes.
Kaityln Fung is a Sociology student who has partnered with the Still Moon Arts Society to run an Indigenous Arts and Culture Youth Workshop Series. The goal of the workshop series is to engage as many youth as possible in the Renfrew-Collingwood area and to educate youth about what it means to be present on indigenous land, and how they can engage with and lead the work of Reconciliation. This project aims to bring together all types of people within the community such as 2 Secondary Schools, 3 Non Profit Organizations, 3-4 Indigenous Artists and Facilitators, 30-50 youth participants, and 15 volunteers.
In partnership with the Alzheimer Society of BC, Rachel Holmes has created The “Keepsake” Project, which seeks to reconnect individuals with dementia back with the greater community. The Project will be a one day event that showcases the artwork of people with dementia. Rachel aims to bring to the forefront the identity of people who suffer from dementia rather than being defined by the diagnosis itself. Entry to the event will be by donation, with all proceeds going to Alzheimer Society BC. Its intention is to celebrate these interesting and brave individuals, promote healthy self-expression, and raise awareness for dementia.
Quinn Hou has partnered with the Vancouver based social enterprise Today’s Generation, and the UBC club Agape Street Missions to bring awareness to homelessness, and remove the stigma and blame attached to it. The project is called I am homeless, But Not Because . and it will showcase individuals stories to thousands of people in the UBC community over seven days in March. The stories collected will aim to shift participants’ perspectives and attitudes towards homelessness, and in turn, replace their disassociation from the community with meaningful and humanizing interactions.
Shawna Narayan is working with the Community School Partnership to bring inner-city high school students workshops to prepare them for the challenges they will face at University. These Life After High School Workshops will take place at six different schools within the Surrey school district and will cover five key topics: dealing with financial stress, learning about post-secondary education, preparing to enter the workforce, searching for quality volunteer opportunities, and caring for yourself. Shawna aims to connect high school students with post-secondary students in a partnership that encourages personal, academic, and professional growth, through the use of these engaging workshops
Girl Code is a program that aims to encourage confidence, optimism, determination and empowerment for youth, specifically young girls. This program was created by Julianne Nieh, who is a first year student in the Sauder School of Business. With the Connect to Community Grant Nieh will expand her program and host a conference, made up of workshops and speakers, to inspire young girls by surrounding them with mentors and peers all with the goal of empowering young girls to have confidence in themselves.
Niki Oveisi is a second year science student who has partnered with the WAI Foundation, to create a project called Breaking Barriers and Building Opportunities for Syrian Refugees. The project aims to provide more opportunities for this group of recent migrants learn conversational English, and to help them build connections in the community. With the WAI Foundation the project will develop English language study packages for the children of Syrian refugee families, and will offer the adults language classes.
Contact the Centre for Community Engaged Learning about community-based opportunities, programs, and resources.
