Course:LFS350/Projects/2015T2/ISSofBC

Project Summary

The Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia would like to better understand the needs and perspectives of newcomers to Canada with regards to food, nutrition, diet, and food security. Students working on this project will use focus groups to interview immigrants and refugees to identify the themes that should inform new ISSofBC strategies and workshops on nutrition, diet and healthy eating in Canadian context for newcomers. This project is especially relevant for students in the Global Resource Systems program or those majoring in food and the environment, food nutrition and health, or international nutrition and/or who want to learn more about community programming, qualitative research, and cultural components of healthy eating. For this project, you need to be comfortable conducting interviews with diverse and possibly vulnerable people, and capable of weaving together their stories to create an engaging and meaningful narrative. This project is a continuation from a Fall 2015 project.

Organization Information

Name

Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia

Mission

Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC) is the oldest not-for-profit immigrant serving agency in BC (formed 1968, incorporated 1972). With the mission of “Helping immigrants build a future in Canada,” ISSofBC's mandate is: to deliver educational, settlement and employment services, develop partnerships with local communities and to promote an integrated and equitable community. Today, ISSofBC is one of the largest multicultural immigrant serving agencies in Canada, serving over 30,000 immigrants & refugees annually. ISSofBC provides a wide range of services for immigrant clients including settlement in over 45 languages, ESL language classes, employment services for immigrants & employers, community connections, and targeted supports to children, youth, refugees and women. ISSofBC has over 400 staff located in 17 sites throughout Metro Vancouver, Squamish, Kamloops and Oliver, and over 1000 active volunteers.

Primary Contact

Name: Thea-Lynne Fiddick, ISSofBC Settlement Manager
Email: thea.fiddick@issbc.org
Address: 207-7355 Canada Way, Burnaby, BC
Phone: 604-395-8000 ext 1631
Website: www.issbc.org

Project Description

With support from the ISSofBC Settlement Manager and the LFS 350 teaching team, the student group working on this project will prepare questions for immigrants and refugees about their experiences with food, nutrition, diet, and food security in their country of origin and in the Canadian context. Students will then facilitate focus groups, attended by translators, at which they will ask their questions and collect the responses from groups of newcomers to Canada who attend ISSofBC programs. Based on the focus group results (contextualized within a review of relevant literature), students will identify the common themes among the experiences and prepare a report that ISSofBC can use for planning future initiatives and workshops to better support these populations at achieving food security.

Skills Preferred

Nutritional and food security knowledge (ideally with (or interested in) a cross cultural perspective)
Good communication skills, both written and spoken
Ability to work with diverse persons with limited English where patience and kindness is needed

Skills to Be Developed

Interview and qualitative data analysis skills
Cultural competence
Leadership
Problem solving
Application of nutritional and food security knowledge in a cross- cultural context.

Project Location

Project will take place at the ISSofBC office at the Edmonds Community Resource Center and several locations nearby. There are several buses that pass by the center that go to the skytrain at Edmonds in Burnaby and/or New Westminster.

Preferred Days of Week and Hours

To be determined, based on student availability.

Experiential Learning Opportunities

To be determined, based on student availability.

Expected Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Student will be able to...

Research and design a qualitative process for capturing participant stories and experiences on food security and nutritional health in a Canadian context for newcomers, including vulnerable populations with limited to no English language skills, that will be used by non-health care professionals for settlement workshops
Connect their classroom learning of concepts and theories with real life examples
Articulate personal and professional significance in the learning experience

Organizational Outcomes

ISSofBC will gain...

A better understanding of our clients/members knowledge of nutritional and health from a cultural perspective
A better informed understanding of assets in our organization and in our community
A better ongoing relationship with the university.