Dr. Calisto Mudzingwa and PhD Student Amarildo Ceka receive funding as part of UBC’s CUES Fund

This project description was supplied by the project team during the fund application process.

Kingdom Acts Foundation’s project, “Assessing and Enhancing Food Security Among New Immigrants: A Community-Engaged Approach,” aims to address the crucial issue of food security in new black African immigrant communities. The project’s primary objectives include mapping the food security landscape, developing community-informed, evidence-based interventions, and guiding policy recommendations to create sustainable solutions for these communities. To this end, we employ the Participatory Action Research methods and qualitative data collection tools, including collaboration with African immigrant community-based organizations to investigate and proffer solutions to the challenges and barriers they encounter in accessing local food systems and securing culturally specific foods. A key element of this undertaking involves the integration of cultural viewpoints, facilitated by sustained engagement and feedback obtained from community forums. The adopted approach ensures a holistic understanding of the diverse needs and challenges experienced by these new immigrants concerning food security. Kingdom Acts Foundation is unwavering in its dedication to understanding and actively improving new immigrants’ food security and well-being.

This project description was supplied by the project team during the fund application process. 

The MOSAIC SCOPE (Social and Civic Opportunities: Pathways to Equity) program is a part of MOSAIC’s larger vision of advancing an inclusive and thriving Canada. The SCOPE program will help to increase the participation of immigrants and newcomers in their local communities and to increase the diversity of local communities by including immigrant and newcomer voices in decision making tables such as governance boards, committees and advisory councils.  The SCOPE program provides vital engagement support that will guide the creation of online asynchronous civic engagement and community participation courses. Initially the focus will be on supporting the development of a module on Introduction to Board Governance. The module will entail the following sub-modules:  Responsibilities, obligations, and legal duties of board members Strategies for running good board meetings Interpreting financial statements Through four community engagement sessions, feedback from newcomers and community partners will be gathered to guide the development of the training modules. In addition to exploring the newcomer’s perspective, engagement sessions will also apply an intersectional lens that includes other diverse perspectives (e.g., LGBTQ2S, indigenous, persons with a disability, etc.).