11. B. Integrated Group

Example: Participatory Research

The Black Homeless Initiatives Project (B-HIP), The Meeting Place .9 Several members of the Meeting Place Drop-in helped to develop and carry out a research project. They researched the needs of Black people in Toronto who are homeless or underhoused. They hoped to find ways that drop-ins and shelters could better serve Black people who were homeless. This was the first time these issues had been researched in Canada.

Six drop-in members met in a group every week with Libby Zeleke, a drop-in worker and the B-HIP coordinator. The member/researchers were paid an honorarium. They talked, wrote about, and analysed their experiences of homelessness and racism. They also learned about group process, systemic racism, and qualitative research. Every second week, they met with advisors from community agencies. The member/ researchers helped to identify key issues, draft a research survey, and carry out research interviews. By the end of the project, they had interviewed more than two hundred and fifty people in drop-ins, shelters, and on the street, spoken with agency staff, and held focus groups.

Member/researchers came to the group with different levels of education and different kinds of life experience. All of these had to be juggled in the group process. The research process took over a year, and during this time, some researchers dropped out, or left for periods of time. Nonetheless, BHIP participants did feel pride and ownership in this important work.


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