Trent Community Research Centre

The purpose of this project was to evaluate a housing network within the Durham Region (Durham At-Risk Housing Network) by comparing it to other similar networks, identifying the impact the network has had on its members, their clients, and any improvements that could be made to better suit its members. A literature review was conducted to determine the existence of similar housing networks, while surveys were administered to the members to determine the network's success and possible improvements. It was determined, that the network is successful from the perspective of its members, as 95% of the networks members use the information presented to them during the meetings at least once per month and 91% agreed that they were a member because it improved their work. It was demonstrated that 55% and 25% of participants either agreed or strongly agreed that their clients had benefitted from their participation in the network. The Durham At-Risk housing network has been extremely beneficial to its members in providing information about resources available to the homeless, thereby positively impacting the member's clients. Members would find it beneficial to determine topics of discussion, broadening the scope of the Durham At-Risk Housing Network (DARNH) to all aspects of homelessness, increasing the frequency of the meetings, increasing the number of organizations in the network, and creating an online forum to increase the amount of inter-organization communication to facilitate change.

The goal of this report is to research post-secondary campuses and cities that have implemented a $15 minimum wage, as well as campaigns and concrete strategies for doing so. Guided by this research, it will propose the best approach to implementing a $15 minimum wage at Trent University and in Peterborough. The methodological approach used to address the research questions raised in this particular study will be to acquire and analyze data through the completion of a comprehensive literary review of previously available and related knowledge, as obtained from primarily academic, government and university website documents. Successful movements toward a $15 minimum wage as experienced in the City and County of San Francisco, the City and State of New York, and the province of Alberta are analyzed. Successful movements toward a $15 minimum wage the in post-secondary institutions of the University of Washington, the University of California, and York University are also analyzed. From this research, the most important aspects of a successful $15 minimum wage movement are identified, and a general model to approaching a $15 minimum wage has been created. It is recommended that moving forward in campaigning for and/or implementing a $15 minimum wage in Trent and Peterborough, that this general model be considered as a guide. It is also recommended that further research be completed on the effects of a $15 minimum wage on the Trent University and Peterborough Economy, prior to implementation

This paper explores the divestment from fossil fuels movement, which is a recent socioenvironmental movement aimed at pressuring Canadian universities and colleges to dissolve current investments, stocks, or bonds in the fossil fuel industry. This divestment campaign took place at Trent University from 2012-2015, but was unsuccessful in their lobbying for full fossil fuel divestment. As this is a recent movement at Trent, this paper aims to collect data on how to best survey the level of knowledge and support Trent students have for the divestment campaign. The specific research questions investigated are: What is the best method of collecting data to determine if Trent students support divestment from fossil fuels? What is the best method to engage students with the divestment from fossil fuels movement? The methods used to answer these research questions involved implementing and testing four different types of data collection: online surveys, focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and opportunity sampling. After analyzing all of the data collected, a methodology was developed which will be used by Part II of this project to survey the widest student population possible, and to break into previously untapped student demographics.

The purpose of this project was to gather the collected data, organize it into an effective series of documents, and analyze it for significant trends. One of the documents generated consists of two spreadsheets. The first contains all of the biker and pedestrian numbers collected to enable an easier comparison of the numbers from each location. The purpose of the second spreadsheet is to estimate how many bikers pass through each of the locations in a day, a week, a month and a year, based on how many were counted in the two hour blocks.

This community-based research project evaluates the Trent Vegetable Gardens (TVG) and the effectiveness of their community outreach and educational programming. The current project is Part 2 of a three-part project, of which Part 1 was completed in 2016. The purpose of this project is to conduct an impact assessment of current educational programming at the TVG, which will identify strengths and weaknesses of the garden and ways to improve its experiential learning and outreach strategies. The methodology used for this research project consists of email surveys, which were distributed to past and present garden participants. Four groups of TVG participants including, community gardeners, regular/drop-in volunteers, workshop participants, and service placement students were surveyed and sent group-specific surveys. The purpose of the survey was to indicate by what degree TVG participants are satisfied with their experience and what they are looking to gain out of garden programming and participation. Overall, we found that participants were pleased with their involvement with the TVG and were enthusiastic about sharing their suggestions, which demonstrates the positive community dynamic within the TVG and the success of current programming. After evaluating participant feedback from workshops and other experiential learning opportunities at the TVG, we offer recommendations on how the Trent Vegetable Gardens (TVG) can improve educational programming within the context of their mandate. Our recommendations include new events and programming at the gardens, better advertising, and new partnerships. Part 3 of this three-part research project can apply our findings and conduct further research on key concepts.