CCBR supported Food Banks Canada in strengthening its capacity to meaningfully, equitably, ethically, and sustainably design and facilitate a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) to support evaluation, program design, research, and advocacy efforts.

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.

The Centre for Community Based Research collaborated with the KDE Hub to support the Youth Substance Use Prevention Program (YSUPP) by contributing its expertise in community-based research, capacity-building, and the development of training tools.

CCBR supported academics from the University of Waterloo with research design, implementation, analysis, and reporting as a consultant, coach, and team member. The pilot project, led by Conrad Grebel University College, paired dialogue with community-based research to design, conduct, and evaluate multiple forms of dialogue on the University of Waterloo campus, in the context of rising polarization, anger, and ideologies motivated by fear.

CCBR collaborated with the Halton Suicide Prevention Council (HSPC) to gain a better understanding of suicide prevention needs in Halton. The HSPC project Working Group was composed of community agencies and volunteers knowledgeable in the field. They have embraced a community-based approach to determining their organizational priorities, to address suicide awareness, prevention, intervention, and postvention.

The purpose of this project was to propose an evaluation framework for Reception House Waterloo Region. This framework was based on two of its flagship programs (i.e., Refugee Assistance Program – RAP, and Client Support Services - CSS). Combined these two programs offer a range of supports to Government Assisted Refugees (GARs) within the first two years of their arrival.

CCBR and partners sought to understand racialized newcomers' settlement experiences, particularly regarding ICTs. Through three phases, stakeholders engaged via interviews, focus groups, and case studies. Findings highlight mixed ICT experiences and persisting challenges, prompting recommendations for flexible service provision and capacity building for the settlement sector.

The Centre for Community Based Research and The Knowledge Development and Exchange Hub (KDE) will work collaboratively to develop a series of events and resources on community-based evaluation to be hosted on the KDE hub website, providing support for its funded projects in promoting the mental health and well-being of Canadians.

The Supporting Peer Work project is a community-guided research project that explores the employment experiences of peer workers in “low barrier” social service agencies in Toronto throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The project aims to support agencies to break down structural barriers to equitable employment and learn from the transformative practices of workers with lived expertise.