The Pedagogies of Community Engagement partnership gathers community-engaged (CE) facilitators and academic researchers facilitating participatory action research, popular education, and/or community arts and cultural production in communities across Canada to explore approaches to community-based facilitation. This 3 year partnership grant worked towards developing a network of community-based facilitators across Canada.

The Centre for Community-Based Research partnered with the McMaster Collaborative for Health and Aging (McMaster University), Thrive Group Centre of Excellence in Healthcare Innovation, and older adult partners on several initiatives to support academic-organizational partnership development in the health and aging sector including but not limited to: organizational database development, an internal tool to assess research requests, and a full-day event to support the training of researchers and trainees in building more meaningful and sustainable research partnerships with organizations in the health and aging sector.

CCBR will be working with the Chatham-Kent Local Immigration Partnership (CK LIP) to develop their Community Plan. We also intend to co-create an Impact Statement to clearly articulate and communicate the LIP’s vision to all interest holders. This work will integrate anti-racist and GBA+ approaches to planning and communication.

CCBR conducted an evaluation of the Harm Reduction Community Care Project to understand how this collaborative initiative supported harm reduction workers and their communities. Through document review, surveys, focus groups, and interviews, CCBR examined the project’s impacts, strengths, and challenges. The findings helped identify ways to enhance future programming and strengthen community-based harm reduction efforts.

CCBR worked with MCCs (Mennonite Central Committee entities) across Canada to review local peacebuilding programs. In this research project, we identified common themes and learnings across this shared program and offered recommendations for its strategic development.

The Centre for Community-Based Research (CCBR) collaborated with Dr. Hema Ganapathy-Coleman from University of Toronto to design and deliver three interactive online training workshops for six to seven research assistants. CCBR led the development and facilitation of these workshops to strengthen their skills in community-based research methods, focusing on in-depth interviewing, ethnographic observation, qualitative data analysis, and strategies for acting on findings and sharing knowledge with communities.

The Centre for Community Based Research (CCBR) worked with the Municipality of Brantford to develop the Brantford Immigration Partnership’s (BIP) 2026–2028 Community Plan. CCBR led a collaborative process involving research, community engagement, and workshops with Council members to co-create a renewed vision statement, priority action areas, and intended outcomes  to guide LIP’s future work, supporting inclusion and belonging in Brantford. 

CCBR partnered with University of Toronto researcher, Dr Rishi Krishnamoorthy and their team, to help co-design and facilitate cellphilm workshops (short videos made on a phone) with South Asian youth on their experiences as science learners, as part of the South Asian Youth Learning in Science project.

This needs assessment in partnership with the Huntington Society of Canada investigated the unmet needs in Huntington disease (HD) related health care services across Canada, to better understand the needs of minority and hard-to-reach populations and inform next steps in the development of multidisciplinary Centres for HD CARE (Clinical and Research Excellence).

CCBR led a summative evaluation of JVS Toronto’s pre-arrival program, which has supported 10,000–12,000 individuals over the past five years. The evaluation assessed the program’s long-term outcomes and provided recommendations for improvement, while also revising the evaluation framework to incorporate GBA+ considerations. This work was carried out in collaboration with JVS Toronto’s Steering Committee, included both quantitative and qualitative data collection through client surveys and focus groups.

Reception House partnered with the Rohingya Centre of Canada and CCBR to conduct an evaluation of Rohingya Clients' post-exit experiences, after leaving the Client Support Services (CSS) Program. Funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the CSS Program provided intensive case management to Government-Assisted Refugees (GARs) for 12 to 24 months, based on individual needs.

CCBR partnered with the Community Alliance for Accessible Treatment to collaboratively design and conduct an evaluation of the Rainbow Resilience Program. The Rainbow Resilience Program addressed the critical health equity needs within 2SLGBTQ+ immigrant and refugee communities impacted by HIV/HCV with the intention of understanding and addressing gaps in sexual health services in Ontario. CCBR also provided coaching on research and evaluation to strengthen CAAT’s capacity to promote the health and wellbeing of people living with HIV (PHAs) who are facing access barriers related to their precarious status in Canada.