Research Shop Projects

In 2023, the Grey Bruce Local Immigration Partnership (GBLIP) partnered with the Research Shop, part of the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) at the University of Guelph, to conduct their Immigrant Survey 2023. The Immigrant Survey is a collaborative project involving 12 Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs) across Canada. Each LIP conducted a similar survey in their own region to better understand their community, the needs of newcomers, and the impact of their collective work. The primary objectives of the Grey Bruce Immigrant Survey 2023 were to: 

In 2023, the Huron County Immigration Partnership (HCIP) partnered with the Research Shop, part of the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) at the University of Guelph, to conduct their 2023 Immigrant Survey. The Immigrant Survey is a collaborative project involving 12 Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs) across Canada. Each LIP conducted a similar survey in their own region to better understand their community, the needs of newcomers, and the impact of their collective work.

The Research Shop at the University of Guelph and members of the Perinatal Mental Health Coalition of the Waterloo Region collaborated to better understand the use of perinatal mental health screening tools for pregnant, expecting, and new parents/guardians in the Waterloo region. The Perinatal Mental Health Coalition helps new and expecting parents within the Waterloo region receive the mental health supports that they need, throughout all stages of pregnancy and post-partum life.

The aim of the Sexuality and Access Project 2023 is to promote crucial conversations around sexuality supports and sexual health within the attendant care service dynamic for both attendant service users (any individual who uses personal care services) and service providers (personal support workers, facility providers, family members).

This report presents the findings of research conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in partnership with Community FEWD. The aim of this research was to 1.) document the early-stage impacts of the program and 2.) gather feedback from the community and Community FEWD volunteers to inform the future development of the program.

This report was prepared for, and in partnership with Community FEWD. The aim of this research was to 1.) collect demographics of community members utilizing this program to help inform potential funding partners; and 2.) follow up from the 2022 survey on program feedback from community members to help inform program development.

Read the report: Community FEWD Program: One Year Evaulation

This report presents the findings of research conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in partnership with the Grey Bruce Local Immigration Partnership (GBLIP). The aim of this research was to provide a snapshot of the experiences of discrimination faced by racial minorities, immigrants, and Indigenous residents in Grey and Bruce Counties. The results of this project may be used to generate local knowledge and build community capacity around diversity and inclusion.

This report presents the findings of research conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in partnership with the Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership (GWLIP). The aim of this research was to provide a snapshot of the experiences of discrimination faced by racial minorities, immigrants, and Indigenous residents in Guelph and Wellington County.

This project was conducted in collaboration with Hope House, a non-profit organization in Guelph offering services and programs that challenge the stigmas surrounding poverty. One such program is the Food Market, a choice-based pantry serving working and non-working individuals and families.

This report was prepared for, and in partnership with, Barbara Salsberg Mathews, a former professional mime artist, and a person with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Barbara has developed a program, Mime Over Mind: Retrain the Brain, which teaches the principles and concepts of mime to help improve the quality of life of participants. This project aimed to explore the personal impacts that participants and support personnel experienced during the Mime Over Mind Workshop series.

This report presents the findings of research conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in partnership with Huron County Immigration Partnership. The aim of this research was to provide a snapshot of the experiences of discrimination faced by racial minorities, immigrants, and Indigenous residents in Huron County.

Read the report here: Snapshot of Discrimination in Huron County

Compass Community Services (CCS) provides a range of mental health and social support services to the Guelph–Wellington community and the surrounding area. One unique, free service offered by CCS is the TeleConnect program, an outbound call service providing emotional support, socialization, wellness checks, medication reminders, motivation, and assistance with accessing resources to isolated community members on a daily basis. Most referrals for TeleConnect come from health care providers who are unable to provide the level of support required by clients.

This PowerPoint was prepared for, and in partnership with Hope House. Hope House is a nonprofit that offers programs and services that challenge the stigmas of poverty and facilitate skill development for long-term self-sufficiency. The aim of the project was to develop a list of qualitative research methods that would be practical to implement and appropriate for program users to support Hope House with program evaluations. 

This short report presents the results from an evaluation conducted by the Research Shop of a campus food market on campus at the University of Guelph. The Campus Community Market Pilot Project was a six-week, student-led initiative that aimed to bring local, healthy food to campus. It was supported collaboratively by The Arrell Food Institute, the U of G Sustainability Office, the SEED, and the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute.

This project was conducted by CESI's research shop in collaboration with Hospice Wellington, a charitable organization that provides support and care to individuals who are living with life-threatening illnesses or experiencing grief and bereavement. The project focuses on Hospice Wellington’s art therapy program. 

The summary was prepared for and in partnership with the Guelph Community Health Centre (CHC). The Guelph CHC provides health services and community programs to help address inequities in healthcare. The aim of the project was to evaluate a survey from staff regarding their learning interests and needs to help inform the creation of an Anti-Oppression training. The Guelph CHC designed and distributed the survey to their staff, while the Research Shop analyzed those findings and prepared them in a summary.

This report presents the findings of research conducted by CESI's Research Shop in partnership with members of the Guelph Advocates group who are part of a committee of Campaign School organizers in Guelph, Wellington, and Oxford counties. The purpose of this research was to develop a comprehensive list of resources to support participants of the campaign schools and those generally interested in becoming involved in politics. A literature review was conducted cover

This report was prepared for, and in partnership with the Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership (GWLIP). This project aimed to understand the challenges and opportunities around the “digital divide” and digital literacy for newcomers accessing settlement services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This evaluation was prepared for, and in partnership with, Art not Shame, a Guelph-based, not-for-profit, community-engaged arts organization that serves youth and young adults across Ontario.

This complex, community-engaged project was conducted in partnership with the Guelph Chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), and includes initiatives from both the Research Shop and the Community Engaged Teaching and Learning (CETL) program. 

On Monday, March 8th 2021, CESI marked International Women's Day by hosting a webinar in collaboration with the Guelph chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), the Zonta Club of Guelph, and Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis. 

This report was a collaborative project at the University of Guelph involving the Research Shop, the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), and an undergraduate course in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph. CFUW Guelph is the local chapter of the CFUW national organization that is dedicated to women's advancement and gender equality.

This report presents the findings of research conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in partnership with The Men’s Homelessness Committee of the Town of Orangeville. The objective of this research was to conduct a needs assessment of the social services available to men experiencing homelessness in Dufferin County and identify areas for potential development.

This report presents a literature review on barriers and facilitators to nutritious foods and the findings of a qualitative study conducted in partnership with Our Food Future. Interviews and focus groups were used to better understand the subjective experiences and aspects that influence nutritious eating patterns of residents living in Guelph-Wellington.

This report presents the findings of a survey conducted by CESI's Research Shop in partnership with eMERGE Guelph to better understand the perceived incentives and barriers to purchasing electric vehicles in Guelph. The purpose of this research is to better inform eMERGE’s initiatives that promote renewable energy technologies, and more specifically electric vehicles.

This report presents the findings of a program evaluation conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in collaboration with the Better Ballot Campaign (BBC). The goal of the BBC is to positively influence the political climate by promoting civil discussion and debates. The program evaluation engaged with candidates, voters and volunteers to assess the successes, challenges and lessons learned to explore potential future directions for the campaign. In addition, a case study examined how the Better Ballot Campaign took shape in Dufferin-Caledon in 2018.

This report presents the findings of an environmental scan conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in collaboration with the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy. The goal of the project was to conduct interviews and background research to determine the regulations, guidelines, requirements and programming associated with withdrawal management centres across Ontario.

Read the report: Environmental Scan of Withdrawal Management Centres in Ontario.

This report presents the findings of the program evaluation for The Mural Project conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in collaboration with Art Not Shame. The purpose of this project was to evaluate The Mural Project, which created a digital mural to bring people together, encourage creativity and better understand the impact of the pandemic on a range of individuals. A survey was distributed to participants to better understand the successes and lessons learned from the six-week workshop.

As the organization approached its 15th year in operation, the board of the Guelph Enabling Garden (GEG) collaborated with CESI’s Research Shop to complete an evaluation of the garden and the GEG horticultural therapy programming. The evaluation engaged program participants, volunteers, and other garden users as a means to assess how well the needs and priorities of these groups were being met by the current horticultural therapy programs, events and structure of the physical space.

This report represents the results of a mixed-methods study that aimed to learn about the experiences of International Students at the University of Guelph. It is the second part of a series that seeks to highlight strengths and gaps in the supports available to International Students who choose to study in Canada. Both projects were in collaboration with the Guelph Wellington Local Immigration Partnership. The first report focuses on insights from service providers.

The goal of this project was to highlight significant achievements in women’s rights in Canada over the past 100 years. Researchers created a series of posters to be displayed at the 2020 International Women’s Day Event being held in Guelph by the Canadian Federation of University Women, Zonta, and Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis.

This evaluation was prepared for, and in partnership with, Out On The Shelf (OOTS), a queer library and resource centre in Guelph, Ontario. This project aimed to evaluate OOTS programming and processes. Evaluation activities were carried out from October 2019 to February 2020 and consisted of a program participant survey, board member and volunteer focus groups, a graffiti wall, and attendance tracking.

East Wellington Community Services (EWCS) collaborated with the Research Shop to better understand the recreational, leisure, and personal development needs and interest of youth in and around the Town of Erin, as well as the barriers to participation. Data was collected through surveys distributed to local youth and parents of youth. The results will help inform EWCS’s decisions regarding the structure, programming, and launch of the new drop-in centre.

The year 2019 marked the 10th anniversary of the Research Shop, one of the five programs through which the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) fulfills its mandate to support and carry out community engaged scholarship. At the Research Shop, staff and graduate students work with local and regional organizations to design and carry out projects that address community research priorities.

This report was prepared for the Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington. It shares the findings from an evaluation of the Rural Emphasis Campaign, which aimed to create a dialogue around the issue of and solutions for rural youth homelessness in Wellington County. Specifically, it reports on data collected through surveys which examined the extent of awareness for youth vulnerability in the community, the effectiveness and impact of the campaign, and ways to improve the campaign’s presence within the community.

This report was created by the Research Shop for Community Living Guelph Wellington (CLGW)’s Campus Friends (CF) program. Following a mentorship-style format, CF connects University of Guelph student volunteers (mentors) with adults who have a developmental disability (students) to promote successful individualized student-based campus experiences. This project aimed to determine the extent to which Campus Friends is currently meeting its intended goals and to explore opportunities for ongoing improvement.

This resource document was prepared by The Research Shop for the Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington (CRC). It offers information about the potential impacts of physical distancing and isolation on the wellbeing of children and teens during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes recommendations to support them, as well as links to a number of relevant resources. It also looks at some pre-pandemic predictors that may put children and teens at an increased risk for adverse experiences during and post-COVID-19.

This summary offers key highlights of Research Shop activities from January - December 2020. It includes data on the number of students employed, community partner organizations, partnered research projects and overall outputs. It gives a snapshot of more traditional, quantifiable metrics and outputs that demonstrate the overall reach and potential impact of the Research Shop.

Read the Research Shop's key 2020 metrics.

This research was conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in collaboration with the Theatre of the Beat (TOTB), a not-for-profit theatre company. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the TOTB Restorative Justice Theatre Program, which works with incarcerated persons at the Grand Valley Institution for Women. From May 2018 to April 2019, a variety of tools were used to assess the perceptions of the program amongst facilitators, inmates participating in the program, audience members for the theatre performances, and prison staff.

This project was prepared for, and in partnership with, Family Counselling and Support Services for Guelph Wellington's Breaking Free Program. The Breaking Free program is a psycho-educational group program for youth ages 13-18 that have been considered high-risk of using abusive behaviours in relationships.

This project was prepared for, and in partnership with, the University of Guelph Student FoodBank. The Guelph Student FoodBank provides students with access to emergency food and anti-poverty resources. This project provides a snapshot of the self-reported food security of student patrons in June 2020.

Read the report: University of Guelph Student FoodBank: A Snapshot of Student Food Security and Wellbeing

This project is the second part of a collaboration between the Research Shop and the Canadian Federation of University Women and Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis. Its primary goal was to build on the findings from the Library for All project, which aimed to engage community members, and women in particular, in the planning process for the new Central Library in Guelph.

This annotated bibliography brings together summaries of academic literature on creative and arts-based methods that can be used to engage youth in research. It was compiled as the first phase of a project conducted in collaboration with the Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington.

Read the report: PAR and CER with Youth

This report presents the results of analyses of the 2016 and 2017 Active Transportation data collection efforts by the City of Guelph’s Sustainable Transportation Program. This program tracked active transportation (i.e., the number of people wheeling and walking) at various times and sites throughout the city. Results in this report will help inform the City of Guelph’s future policy and planning design decisions.​

A literature review was conducted in collaboration with the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition, the Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination, and HIV/AIDS Resources and Community Health-Guelph. Its primary goal was to identify best practices for engaging and compensating people with lived experience who provide work for community organizations.

The evaluation of the Targeted Walk-In Service program (TWIS) was conducted in collaboration with Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington (CMHA-WW). This evaluation is made up of two components; a key informant interview study and a literature review. The key informant interviews were conducted with TWIS service providers to explore their insights regarding service delivery of the program and the implementation of client satisfaction surveys.

This project is a follow-up to the first phase of a program evaluation conducted in collaboration with Focus on Nature in 2018. The aim of this second phase of the program evaluation was to identify what volunteers gained out of their involvement with Focus on Nature, why they continued to be involved, and why they might discontinue their volunteering commitment.

This literature review was conducted for the Old Growth Forest project at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre. It aimed to develop a deeper understanding of how ecological restoration and conservation programming can lead to changes in individuals' attitudes, feelings, knowledge and behavior. It will be used to inform the development of a program evaluation for the Old Growth Forest project.

Access the report: Indicators of Ecological Behaviour Change

The Research Shop is one of five programs through which the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) fulfills its mandate to bring together community and campus skills and resources to directly support and carry out community-engaged scholarship and develop others' capacities tto do so. At the Research Shop, staff and graduate students work with local and regional organizations to design and carry out projects that address community research priorities.

The impacts and experiences of community engaged research and community-university partnerships can be challenging to share via traditional research and knowledge dissemination methods.

This report was created in response to a request by Victim Services Wellington to examine victims' service use and referrals for Victim Crisis Assistance Ontario (VCAO). The project aimed to highlight the current state of affairs with respect to victims' service use, and better understand the policies and practices that may help increase the number of people using and being offered support by VCAO. Researchers conducted a literature review and a survey of VCAO sites across Ontario.

This report presents findings from a literature review of participatory approaches to engage youth in cannabis awareness messaging initiatives. Findings will be used to inform the creation of a local youth-targeted cannabis messaging initiative in the Guelph-Wellington area as well as of a toolkit for the Wellington-Guelph Drug Strategy.

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the impacts of a one-day nature photography workshop for students conducted by Focus on Nature. Surveys collected feedback from 154 students to assess what they learned from the program and how their participation affected their sense of connection to nature. Surveys also looked at the experience of volunteers involved in the program. The report is accompanied by a 1-page infographic summarizing the main findings of the survey.

This project summary offers a short description of a project undertaken by the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute in collaboration with local consulting firms. Researchers produced an annotated bibliography and a literature review for the Nishnawbe Aski Nation in order to inform community-based food system planning and evaluation processes within four remote Ontario First Nations communities.

This literature review aims to generate a better understanding of current approaches and best practices for peer support models for harm reduction services. It shares guiding principles and considerations for integrating peers into harm reduction programs, and presents an overview of peer programs developed in North America, Europe, and Australia. It is hoped that findings will be used to inform the creation of a peer support program at the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy.

This project was conducted to gain a better understanding of how individuals who struggle with hoarding can be better supported by local services and organizations within the Wellington-Guelph area. The Research Shop at the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute led focus groups, online surveys and consultations, and identified several barriers to accessing supports and resources. The report and the accompanying infographic summarize these findings and the recommendations made to the Wellington Guelph Hoarding Response.

This infographic was developed for Family Counselling and Support Services for Guelph-Wellington, and the Canadian Families and Corrections Network. It represents the typical journey of an adult offender when going through the Canadian criminal justice system. It then compares this journey to the process followed when guiding an adult offender through restorative justice and compares costs and outcomes of each process. It concludes that restorative justice is more than six times more cost-effective than traditional criminal justice.

These fact sheets were created to support the City of Guelph Older Adult Strategy. They consolidate key points from existing literature around affordable housing in Guelph as well as alternative housing options. They are intended as positioning documents to encourage the City of Guelph to further investigate age-friendly alternatives.

This research was conducted to assess the value and overall effectiveness of the Ontario Municipal Energy Managers Community of Practice, founded by the City of Guelph. The report summarizes the results of surveys and interviews conducted with members of this community of practice in order to better understand ways in which this group could be improved and expanded in the future.

This report was completed for Farm and Food Care Canada. It analyses six case studies from various initiatives in order to better understand what facilitates the diffusion of innovation and pro-environmental behaviours. Doing so, this report also identifies predictors of behaviour change and popular theories of behaviour change and discusses general trends and potential obstacles for organizations trying to promote environmentally friendly behaviour.

The MiC conference organizers and the Guelph Lab partnered with the Research Shop to prepare materials for the conference that would be used to enable attendees to see themselves as “innovators,” and encourage discussion among attendees surrounding their respective experiences with and perspectives on innovation. The community partners identified a need for conference attendees from diverse professional backgrounds to be able to identify different kinds of innovation in order to recognize their work as innovative. 

This report presents findings from a literature review of programs in North America that provide fresh produce in convenience stores. More specifically, this review sought to identify programs that utilized convenience stores as a channel through which to provide fresh produce and healthier food options at more accessible and affordable prices in lower-income neighbourhoods that were situated within food deserts. The main goal of this report was to contribute to the development and expansion of food access programming led by The SEED, a community food project based out of Guelph, Ontario.

This report was developed for the Guelph Community Health Centre. The needs assessment looks at addressing food insecurity in the Grange Hill East neighbourhood of Guelph through a mobile food market. There is evidence that mobile food markets have been successful in increasing food access, particularly fruit and vegetable intake. Most participants of this community-based research project indicated at least some interest in attending a mobile food market. There were clear findings with respect to participants' preferences for the form and function of the mobile food market. 

These three highlight sheets were created in order to help the Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership mobilize the findings and recommendations from its 2016 Immigrant survey report. They present key data on immigrants' 1) basic needs and belonging, 2) employment, education and training, and 3) access to services. The Local Immigration Partnership is using these visual summaries both as hand-outs and large-scale posters in order to share highlights from the report with a variety of stakeholders.

This report presents the results of a needs assessment conducted in partnership with the East Wellington Community Services and the Rural Seniors Advisory Group. The main objective of the project was to understand the needs of older adults (50+) in East Wellington in order to inform future service improvements and allocation of funds received by the Ontario Seniors' Secretariat in the region. A survey was conducted to assess respondents' participation in activities such as social activities, volunteering, health and wellness, support groups and educational activities.

This summary provides an overview of a project conducted for the Toward Common Ground collaboration as part of a broader effort to identify indicators and measures of wellbeing for individuals in Guelph and Wellington. The Research Shop researched key indicators of wellbeing and compiled the results in a single document serving as a comprehensive source of data on measures of wellbeing in our community.

This project was conducted in partnership with the Guelph Chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women. It was conducted to inform the Federation's programs to support women in Guelph-Wellington in seeking public leadership roles and running for political office. The report builds on a literature review produced by the Department of Political Science at the University of Guelph. It shares findings from 16 interviews and 3 focus groups looking at obstacles and motivations for the participation of women in politics, as well as possible solutions and supports.

This report summarizes the findings from a needs assessment conducted for Community Justice Initiatives (CJI) of Waterloo Region, a non-profit organization offering restorative justice services. Through a focus group and individual interviews with members of various sectors, organizations and businesses, researchers collected information about the need for mediation services in Guelph-Wellington. The report also discusses possible obstacles to the implementation of such a service. 

This report reviews and compares five "peer parenting" models in place in Canada, focusing on their goals, strengths, limitations, resources, and approaches to volunteer training. It was produced to support the development of a volunteer peer parenting program by the Early Years program at the Guelph Community Health Centre.

This report was prepared for the Children's Foundation of Guelph and Wellington's Food & Friends Program. It shares the findings from an evaluation of student nutrition programs in Guelph, Wellington and Dufferin, which will be used to inform, support, and enhance programming moving forward. Specifically, it reports on interviews and surveys which examined the opinions and experiences of students using these programs, as well as of program coordinators, in order to better understand the value and benefits of universal nutrition programs.

This report was prepared for the Guelph-Wellington Poverty Taskforce to inform the creation of an ID Bank for homeless and vulnerable clients. It summarizes information gathered through interviews with with four ID banks in Ontario and provides an overview of the monetary, operational and logistical requirements needed to initiate and maintain an ID Bank.

This report explores practices and strategies that are used to design websites and social media marketing approaches for the purposes of fundraising. It reviews the literature on the subject to understand what brings individuals to donate, and identifies best practices for engaging donors and sharing success stories. It was prepared to inform decisions at St. Joseph's Health Centre in Guelph with respect to the design of fundraising websites and social media marketing approaches.

This report provides key findings from an online survey seeking to better understand the needs of the LGBTQ+ community of Guelph-Wellington. It was conducted as a component of a larger collaborative project at the University of Guelph involving the Research Shop, Out of the Shelf, and the Centre for Business and Student Entreprise (CBaSE).

This report explores the ways in which not-for-profit organizations serving the LGBTQ+ community deliver their services and programming, meet the needs of the community, and adapt to change and difficulties. It summarizes the findings from informational interviews with six not-for-profits across Canada in order to inform the decision-making processes of the Guelph-based organization Out on the Shelf as they undergo organizational restructuring.

This report was produced to help inform the sustainability planning of the North Wellington Coalition for Youth Resiliency over the long-term. It reviews the academic and grey literature regarding program sustainability practices, and shares some real-world examples of strategies that have been used to enhance the sustainability of programs. Finally, it provides some recommendations on which strategies may be most suited or useful for the Coalition, given its mandate and context.

This series of five fact sheets on learning disabilities was produced in collaboration with the United Way of Guelph Wellington Dufferin and the Learning Disabilities Association of Wellington County. It seeks to provide information on common learning disabilities, including dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia, as well as tips on how to help students who experience those challenges.

This report explores the contexts and emergent themes of food strategies that have been developed or are being developed in Canada, and how each theme pertains to the Guelph-Wellington context. It was created for the Policy Working Group of the Guelph-Wellington Food Round Table, who are currently developing a regional food strategy.

This report is a compilation of work conducted for 10 Carden in support of their ongoing expansion project. It identifies best practices and potential funding avenues for shared space/coworking organizations, and contains summaries of key documents related to social purpose real estate. It also provides insight on how several shared space/coworking organizations began and continued to operate through the results of several informational interviews.

One of a series of cases studies on rural social enterprises, this report shares information about the development, organizational model, successes, challenges, and outcomes of the Aron Theatre Co-Operative.

Prepared with community partners at the Guelph Community Health Centre, this literature review demonstrates why hope is critical in the treatment of individuals with complex needs and pinpoints the best practices and strategies for inspiring hope in these complex clients.

This report is a consolidated profile of the older adult (55+) community in Guelph organized based on the World Health Organization's Age-Friendly City Dimensions. It synthesizes local research and other sources of data to support the City of Guelph in a variety of activities related to priority setting, performance measurement and planning of public amenities, services, programs, and activities for older adults.

Prepared with community partners at the Guelph Community Health Centre, this literature review identifies promising practices that have been developed and used by community health centres, and other health and community organizations, to increase awareness of their activities and services in their communities.

This report reviews the evaluation mechanisms, including questions, indicators, and methods used to assess the effectiveness of community-based participatory research projects. It was produced to inform revisions to program evaluations led by the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute and the Research Shop.

This report provides an overview of the existing literature and evaluations of student nutrition programs (SNPs) and highlights the outcomes, indicators, methods, and results of the evaluations. Conducted as part of a larger program evaluation of SNPs in Guelph-Wellington by Food and Friends, it also provides a summary of the benefits and challenges associated with offering student-wide nutrition programs.

Prepared for the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy, this report explores clinical approaches in treating methamphetamine dependence, as well as the history of methamphetamine use and its effects on the body and mind. It is intended for use by frontline service providers and outlines suggested strategies to address dependency to the drug at various stages of the treatment process.

One of a series of rural social enterprise case studies, this report includes information about the development, organizational model, successes, challenges, and outcomes of the Fusion Youth Activity and Technology Centre.

The Community Engaged Scholarship Institute organized and hosted the workshop How to Build a Research Shop on May 26^th, 2015 at Algonquin College as a pre-conference workshop to the CUExpo.

Based on the results of three evaluation research workshops, this report outlines benefits of and barriers to expansion for the Ladies Who Lunch Program, run by the Centre Wellington Social Justice Group on behalf of the Centre Wellington Food Bank.

This report is a review of existing literature on collaboration and community change and also contains an overview of models of collaboration and comprehensive community initiatives. It was compiled for Toward Common Ground, a large-scale community initiative, and builds on two previous reports from the Research Shop. 

This report provides an overview of the existing literature to help determine the impact of winter salt road run-off on the rivers, along with possible remediation methods. It was created for Wellington Water Watchers and explores alternatives to salt, community-engaged activities, and best management practices used in other communities that could be brought to Wellington County.

This report reviews existing literature on compassion fatigue and its effect on caregivers. Prepared for Hospice Wellington, it seeks to enhance understanding of compassion fatigue in hospice and palliative care, and help identify and effectively manage its symptoms for the benefit of both clients and caregivers. An executive summary and toolkit accompany the full report.

One of a series of rural social enterprise case studies, this report includes information about the development, organizational model, successes, challenges and outcomes of the Willow Springs Creative Centre.

This report summarizes and analyzes the programming information available on "The Pod Knowledge Exchange" website. It was developed to contribute to the development of The Seed Community Food Hub in Guelph Wellington.

This report highlights findings from a mixed methods study of the experiences of eating at the Evergreen Seniors' Community Centre. It offers preliminary insight into the experience of communal dining for community-living older adults.

This report provides a compilation of working models, central concepts, and promising practices related to environmentally oriented community hubs, designed to assist planners of the Yorklands Green Hub.

This report presents Student Nutrition Programs (SNPs) in Ontario that have advanced certain aspects of the Healthy Kids Strategy (HKS) recommendations and/or pillars of the Local Food Act (LFA). The case study examples and common themes that are discussed in this report demonstrate how the HKS and LFA priorities could be advanced, as well as how decision-makers and funders could better enable and support such programs.

This report is a comprehensive review of the withdrawal management literature. It was compiled for the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy (WGDS) in collaboration with various stakeholders in the Waterloo-Wellington region.

Developed in collaboration with the Ontario Edible Education Network, this report explores the type of information and research that is available on food education in Ontario. It outlines detailed information in support of food education as well as suggestions on how to fill the gaps in research on impacts of food education.

This rapid response report is a bibliography of relevant scholarly resources on eco-poetry, eco-literary theory, Indigenous theory, philosophy, and other related topics at the University of Guelph. It was used to inform the poetry writing element of the ReMediate community art project.

This report explores leading practices of engaging university and college students in municipal government for the City of Guelph. It provides a review and summary of information gathered from the websites of Ontario municipalities.

This report provides a brief overview of a selection of the current literature surrounding congregate dining programs.

This report outlines a collaborative project between IMAGEO artworks, Musagetes, and the Research Shop, aimed at exploring 'What is in transition?' in Guelph using dance-based research.

This report was developed and completed by the Research Shop with the support of the Guelph and Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination. This report explores furniture provision in Guelph and Wellington, the potential need for a Furniture Bank and propose recommendations for moving forward.

This report investigates solutions for an affordable multi-user document-sharing platform to meet the requirements of the Sustainable Local Food Systems Research Group.

This report, adapted from a presentation to the Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership (LIP), reviews major findings from the focus groups and interviews conducted by Guelph-Wellington LIP to understand the experiences of local immigrant entrepreneurs and provides key recommendations to better support local immigrant entrepreneurship.

Created in collaboration with the Organic Council of Ontario, this report examines existing research to compare the health benefits of organic versus conventional dairy products.

Carried out for the Wellington-Guelph Drug Strategy, this report investigates services users' experiences of getting to withdrawal management (detox) services through thematic analysis of survey data.

This guide was completed as part of a collaborative project co-led with Sustain Ontario, and is aimed at educators or community organizers who are interested in helping connect children and youth to good food.

Created in collaboration with the Organic Council of Ontario, the underlying premise of this research is the hypothesis that organic farming methods can support healthy soil systems, which in turn, produce healthy food without reliance on chemical inputs.

This report was created in partnership with the Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination (PTF), and examines the experiences and opinions of emergency food service users.

This report examines outcomes of integration in children services using a review of the grey and academic literature, as well as informational interviews conducted with four Ontario child welfare agencies.

Based on interviews with representatives from seven non-profit organizations in Canada supporting positive social change and/or social innovation, this report examines how these organizations work in innovative ways with respect to governance, membership, decision-making, and power sharing.

This report presents the results of a study on opportunities for farmer-food bank partnerships in Ontario. Carried out in collaboration with FarmStart, this study was undertaken in order to gain a better understanding of the current status of farmer-food bank relationships, and to identify key opportunities and challenges involved in building and strengthening partnerships.

Created in collaboration with Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, this report examines the current state of food security work in Dufferin County, including active stakeholders and the nature of work being carried out.

Rapid response research contributed to a Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination research profile that examines different furniture bank models, the impacts of furniture banks, and the need for a furniture bank in Guelph and Wellington.

This rapid response report prepared for the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy examines service providers' perspectives about barriers to clients “getting to withdrawal management services” and use of these services based on distance of client residence from the treatment facility.

Prepared in collaboration with FarmStart, this report focuses on settlement services for new Canadians in four municipalities in Ontario where there is significant potential for agricultural production: Durham Region, London and Middlesex County, Guelph and Wellington County, and Hamilton-Wentworth Region.

Prepared for the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy, this rapid response report investigates the question of whether youth and adult addiction services should be integrated or separated. An annotated bibliography is appended to the report.

Rapid response research contributed to a Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination research profile that examines the use of public parks in low income neighbourhoods, including availability, types, and quality.

Prepared for the City of Guelph, this report and its appendices examine policies, frameworks, and tools for community engagement from municipalities across Canada, Australia, the U.K., and the U.S.A.

This report reviews considerations underlying efforts for collaboration and integration in the field of social services including models of engagement, integration frameworks and challenges to integration.

This report summarizes the findings of a mixed methods developmental evaluation of a virtual learning environment (VLE) pilot program.

This workshop was aimed at those interested in creating and running Science/Research Shops or other community-based research offices to link researchers with civil society research needs. The workshop was led by Science Shop directors Henk Mulder (Groningen University, The Netherlands) and Norbert Steinhaus (Bonn Science Shop, Germany), who work with Science Shops around the world, and Linda Hawkins from CESI/the Research Shop at the University of Guelph. 33 participants attended from 11 Canadian universities, 1 American university & 2 foundations. 

This rapid response research for the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy addresses the ways in which programs and shelters in cities closer in size to Guelph manage harm reduction and/or needle exchange programs, as well as issues related to health and safety.

Based on a literature review, key informant interviews, and an online survey of collaboration needs and priorities among participating organizations, this report presents the highlights from the research findings, beginning with a definition of collaboration.

This review of the social science literature identifies successful and unsuccessful strategies for promoting community-level energy efficiency. It was conducted to identify best practices for promoting energy efficient behaviour at the community-level, as well as promoting recruitment/outreach to community-level energy efficiency programs.

This rapid response research brief for the Guelph Wellington Food Round Table provides a literature review and environmental scan of communication strategies used for promoting food security in Ontario, identifying methods that have been found to be useful.

This report presents the findings of a research team from the Research Shop on the emergency food service system in Guelph-Wellington. Strengths and weaknesses of the current system, local programs and services to improve food security, and best practices and new strategies in emergency food provision and food security are discussed.

This report discusses the process of integrating a sustainable food systems lens into Guelph's Official Plan. In partnership with the Guelph Wellington Food Roundtable, Research Shop interns conducted a literature review of sustainable and local food systems in order to gain a broader understanding of best practices in the policy realm. With these resources, a detailed set of policy updates were compiled and layered over the existing Official Plan framework (see Appendix I).

This short research brief was conducted for the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy Committee. Housing First is a strategy focusing on providing non-contingent housing to chronically homeless and the traditionally hard-to-house including individuals with mental illness and/or addictions. The following report outlines existing Housing First programs across the country, detailing their service delivery, depth and, where applicable, funding sources.

Resulting from a collaborative research project involving the Human Rights and Equity Office (HREO) at the University of Guelph and the Research Shop, this report examines the value of mentoring as a strategy for inclusion for racialized faculty members at Canadian universities.

The rapid response project gathered success stories from representatives of the working/action groups of the Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination. This report outlines the methodologies used in the project, summarizes the major themes that arose from the responses, and provides suggestions for the continued collection of this data in the future.