Call For Research Interest Poverty Reduction in Kingston

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 Call For Research Interest Poverty Reduction in Kingston

Poverty reduction became a priority in the city of Kingston starting with a Mayor’s Task Force on Poverty in 2007. In the early part of 2011, a series of community engagements were held to develop goals and objectives.

Background is available on a Poverty Reduction Plan being facilitated by the City of Kingston and the United Way Serving Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington. The plan has five focus areas: housing, skills development and employment, community supports for education, social services and community supports and health.

Overcoming poverty in Kingston will take the entire community’s involvement. This call for research interest is aimed at faculty, students and other researchers and comes at time when a sense of collaboration, the need for change and community interest is forming in the community. We now have an opportunity and great need for scholarly investigation around the complexities of developing community based initiatives to address this enormous challenge.

Example of research areas are unlimited and could include:

• Urban features that contribute to health and health inequalities
• Poverty reduction projects that engage with those living in poverty
• Root causes of poverty – the role of recreation among children in building their sense of self
• Links between risk reduction strategies (needle exchanges, sexual health clinics) and poverty reduction
• Kingston’s urban landscape vs. the lack of affordable housing
• Attitudinal barriers to mixed-income housing neighbourhoods
• Access to health care as a cause of poverty – in an academic health sciences centre community
• Educational divide: issues that contribute to varied levels of education by Kingston neighbourhood (e.g. in Alwington, 82% have university education; compared with Rideau Heights at 8% with 32% of its residents without a diploma or high-school certificate).

Research is also needed to build networks with other communities tackling the challenge of poverty reduction.

For further information to enable your research interests, please contact:
Bhavana Varma, 613-542-2674 ext. 2,  bvarma@unitedwaykfla.ca
Lanie Hurdle, 613-546-4291, ext 1231, lhurdle@cityofkingston.ca

Source: Queen’s University