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Felicia Mings joins the Art Gallery of York University as its new curator

Felicia Mings is the AGYU's new curator FEATURED image
Felicia Mings is the AGYU’s new curator FEATURED image

Felicia Mings will join the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU) as the gallery’s new curator. Mings comes to the AGYU from the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was the academic curator in the Department of Academic Engagement and Research.

Felicia Mings
Felicia Mings. Image: The Art Institute of Chicago

A key aspect of Mings’ curatorial practice is interpreting and presenting modern and contemporary art of Africa and the African diaspora, as represented by two recent exhibitions she co-curated for the Art Institute of Chicago: “Malangatana: Mozambique Modern,” 2020, and “The People Shall Govern! Medu Art Ensemble and the Anti-Apartheid Poster,” 2019. Mings co-edited the accompanying exhibition catalogues. The Medu catalogue includes writings by herself and other key contributors such as Antawan I. Byrd, Khwezi Gule, and Ashraf Jamal, among others. During her tenure at the Art Institute of Chicago, Mings provided leadership on several initiatives that fostered new approaches to training emerging museum professionals and artist and student engagement with the museum’s collection, including the Andrew W. Mellon Summer Academy and Undergraduate Curatorial Fellowship Program (2014–20) and the MacArthur Foundation International Connections Fund project “Curatorial Practice, Equity, and Exchange: A Dialogue Between Cape Town and Chicago” (2018–19).

Mings joins the AGYU’s curatorial team in the role of curator on April 12. She will work with Jenifer Papararo, and in collaboration with all AGYU curatorial staff. Mings’ focus on the intersections of curatorial practice and community-based arts education will be essential in AGYU’s evolution.

“I’m thrilled to be returning to Toronto at this time in my career and this transformative moment in the AGYU’s history,” says Mings. “It is an honour to join an institution that has long been invested in questions of how we can bring people together through contemporary art, to advance dialogue on global issues, histories, and ideas, with an eye toward their resonance with local communities. I look forward to contributing to the vibrant art community in Toronto and Canada more broadly.”

Mings’ accomplishments include independent exhibitions and educational programs such as “Intimate Encounters, Blanc Gallery,” 2018; “Body and Soul,” the Gene Siskel Film Center, 2015; “What We All Long For,” SAIC’s Student Union Galleries 2014; “Fine Color,” a series of short films for the Chicago Home Theater Festival, 2014; and the “Youth Film Club” at the Rebuild Foundation’s Black Cinema House, 2013. Mings has also been a part of the inaugural teams at The Council of Educators of Toronto and Nia Center for the Arts, both non-profit organizations working to enhance socio-economic opportunities for youth, and, respectively, educational attainment and access to the arts.

Born and raised in Canada, Mings earned her MA in visual and critical studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her honours BA in art and art history from the University of Toronto and Sheridan College.

Live YouTube event celebrates Black History Month, Feb. 26

Feet forward, head turned backward, the Sankofa bird reflects on the past to build a successful future
Feet forward, head turned backward, the Sankofa bird reflects on the past to build a successful future. Image: Government of Canada

A live virtual event to recognize the 25th silver anniversary of the national declaration of Black History Month in Canada will run on YouTube from noon to 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 26.

The event, titled Black History Month (BHM) Rooted & Resilient, also celebrates the United Nations (UN) designation and proclamation that the decade from 2015-24 is dedicated as the international decade for the people of African descent.

The event is searchable on YouTube as “BHM Rooted & Resilient.”

A live virtual event to recognized the 25th silver anniversary of the national declaration of Black History Month in Canada will run on YouTube from noon to 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 26.This virtual celebration will be packed with candid personal stories of Black Canadian trailblazers including Jean Augustine (first Black Canadian woman elected to parliament, former MP, and educator) and Rosemary Sadlier (former president of the Ontario Black History Society, OBHS, and Order of Ontario recipient).

As well, it will highlight a greater calling for global amplification, recognition and implementation of the United Nations (UN) proclamation that the decade 2015-2024 be The International Decade for People of African Descent. The UN cites that, “There is a need to strengthen national, regional, and international cooperation, in relation, to the full enjoyment of economic, social, cultural, civil, and political rights by people of African descent, and their full and equal participation in all aspects of society.”

It is the vision of Winston LaRose “Mr. Jane & Finch” (executive director, Jane & Finch Concerned Citizens Organization, JFCCO, and community leader) to showcase the rich legacy of local grassroots community activists and leaders by leveraging the theme Rooted & Resilient. For LaRose, launching the Black History Month virtual program symbolizes the start of a Black History Year celebration that will end February 2022.

Along with Sadlier, LaRose and Augustine, the YouTube LIVE celebration will showcase riveting conversations and interviews with Canadian celebrities and professional athletes, including Paul Jones (Toronto Raptors broadcaster), Mark-Anthony Kaye (Los Angeles Football Club), Cynthia Appiah (Olympic bobsled hopeful), the Basement Gang (Toronto dance trio with over 2.8-million TikTok fans) and Jamal Campbell (Toronto Argonaut and Jane & Finch ambassador). This talented ensemble will share their personal experiences on how they stayed rooted and resilient through their respective journeys.

Well-known host Gwyn Chapman (senior advisor, City of Brampton, Black African and Caribbean Social Cultural & Economic Empowerment and Anti-Black Racism Unit) along with Ray Gover (All-American, University of Kentucky Football alumni and motivational speaker) will host the virtual event.

The program will also feature presentations and special performances from: MP Judy Sgro (MP for Humber River-Black Creek); York University’s President and Vice-Chancellor, Rhonda L. Lenton; York University Vice-President Equity, People & Culture, Sheila Cote-Meek; Dr. Maurice Bygrave (co-founder Caribana and dentist); Teni Odetoyinbo (York Lions women’s soccer captain), Jaxon Hume (York Lions dual sport athlete in football and track & field); Bolu Sings (13-year-old singer and songwriter); Highly-Favoured Blake (Nekesha Blake is a healthcare worker that provides a special tribute to all the frontline workers); Ballmatics powered by QSLA; Annet and The Planets; Edo Royal Troupe; and special video tributes.

For more information on the virtual celebration, visit yorkulions.ca/BHMRootedandResilient or subscribe to @BHM Rooted & Resilient on YouTube.

Black History Month Rooted & Resilient Celebration is organized by the Jane Finch Concerned Citizens Organization (the JFCCO) PROJECT and JF-ECI Initiative, and made possible by the stewardship of Elder Winston Larose and his Jane and Finch Concerned Citizens Organization, driven in conjunction with the Athletics & Recreation Department at York University and in coalition with many local community organizations & leaders.

Annual Sociology Lecture explores Trump as a vector for pandemic denialism, Feb. 25

Featured illustration of the novel coronavirus

The 2021 Sociology Annual Lecture will explore how former United States President Donald Trump served as a vector for pandemic denialism and the anti-lockdown revolt.

The lecture will place on Thursday, Feb. 25 from 5 to 7 p.m. via Zoom at https://yorku.zoom.us/j/99114826970?pwd=U0pLNXJHRVVMTWV0MjJCV3ZnclNNZz09.

Presenting this year’s lecture will be Mike Davis, a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Riverside.

In his lecture abstract, Davis writes that the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 across the United States is an unnatural disaster that has turned nursing homes into morgues, essential work into Russian roulette, and hospitals into viral infernos. The mainstream news media across the world has blamed this on the incompetence and indifference of the Trump White House, but Davis contends that the reality is more sinister.

Donald Trump at a MAGA rally
Trump’s campaign rallies eschewed social distancing and the wearing of masks. The former president led the denialism and downplayed the dangers of COVID-19

Since the beginning of armed anti-lockdown protests at state capitols last April, Trump instigated and inflamed a national backlash against basic public health measures, while simultaneously spreading massive amounts of misinformation and medical nonsense across the Twitter-sphere and through Fox News. His campaign rallies eschewed social distancing and the wearing of masks, as per Trump’s own example. As a result, the rallies became emblematic super-spreader events. It has been reported that some of his stricken supporters continued in their pandemic denialism until the moment of their death.

Mike Davis
Mike Davis

For millions of others outside the Trumpian bubble of anti-science and biblical literalism who faced a ‘Sophie’s choice’ between income or health, the president remained the most convincing ‘jobs’ candidate. Many small business owners who were threatened with mass extinction chose economic survival over public safety. Davis will argue that Trump weaponized the pandemic, and despite the economic disaster caused by his own policies, netted 74 million votes in the November election.

Since Trumpism exports its DNA to authoritarian and racist movements throughout the world, anti-masking and anti-quarantine protests have grown to mass proportions in parts of the United Kingdom, Central Europe, Brazil and elsewhere. Davis will show that like climate and electoral denialism, epidemiological denialism is now an integral part of the repertoire of the far right in many countries.

More about Mike Davis

Davis was named a Macarthur Fellow in 1998, he was also honoured for distinguished achievement in nonfiction writing this past fall by the Lannan Literary Foundation. Davis is the author of more than 20 books and more than 100 book chapters and essays in the scholarly and elite popular press. His scholarly interest spans urban studies, the built environment, economic history and social movements. Perhaps his best-known book, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles (1990) was named a best book in urban politics by the American Political Science Association and won the Isaac Deutscher Award from the London School of Economics and has been translated into eight languages. Davis is Distinguished Emeritus Professor of creative writing at UC Riverside. He is the author of Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World (2000). His most recent books are The Monster Enters: COVID-19, Avian Flu and the Plagues of Capitalism (2020) and Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties (with Jon Wiener, 2020).

The lecture will also be available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCauiLsziDOLtUTdWPt2qwKA and on Facebook at https://bit.ly/2YIsW4g.

Schulich partnership with City of Toronto wins EDCO Award of Excellence

ecommerce online shopping FEATURED

A program involving 100 students from York University’s Schulich School of Business has just won an award of excellence from the Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO). The ‘Innovation in Community Resiliency (Urban)’ award was granted to the ShopHERE program, an initiative designed to help small businesses struggling due to the impact of COVID-19.

The award was granted to project partners, the City of Toronto and Digital Main Street (DMS), during the 64th annual Evolve ON Conference & Showcase. As part of the partnership, 100 students from Schulich’s MBA, master’s and undergraduate programs gained paid summer placements and were assigned to help Toronto’s local retailers and artists move their businesses online.

“The role of Schulich’s students in the Digital Main Street ShopHERE initiative was one of the great Schulich success stories during a challenging and unforgettable year,” said Detlev Zwick, Schulich interim dean. “We are proud of what they accomplished. By using their skills and expertise, our students were able to help small local businesses move their business online and stay afloat during the pandemic lockdowns.”

A panel of professionals from the fields of economic development, marketing, advertising and tourism judge the entries by using a scorecard to evaluate:

  • the objective of the initiative and its success;
  • target audience being assisted;
  • initiative’s estimated ROI; and
  • initiative becoming a model of best practice for the industry.

Funding for ShopHERE was provided by the City of Toronto and Magnet, a social innovation platform with a mission to accelerate inclusive economic growth in Canada. The placement program was supported by a number of community and corporate partners, including the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas, Shopify, Google, Mastercard, Microsoft, Facebook, eBay, Ritual, Trufan, eShipper and Snapchat.

Schulich’s participation in the project was led by the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

York research community invited to Critical Social Science Perspectives in Global Health, Feb. 24 and 25

FEATURED Global Health

The Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research invites York University community members to join the discussion on critical social science perspectives in global health research at the second annual “York Faculty and Researcher Workshop on Critical Social Science Perspectives in Global Health.” The event is a free, workshop held over two days on Zoom. It will take place Wednesday, Feb. 24, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., and Thursday, Feb. 25, from 2:30 to 4 p.m.

Participants should register their interest in attending at https://www.yorku.ca/dighr/event/critical-social-science-perspectives-in-global-health/ by Monday, Feb. 22.

Participants will discover, share, and engage with members of the research community at York University from a variety of disciplines to develop new insights, collaboration and research opportunities. The purpose of the workshop is to discover, share, and support critical social science perspectives in global health research that is taking place, or is planned at York University, and that contributes to the themes of the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research.

The workshop will seek to enable and support a critical social science with global public health that engages directly with global public health actors to transform public health, while remaining committed to social science theory and methodology. While the definition of what constitutes critical research is quite broad, it usually involves the use of critical theory with social justice aims.

This 2021 workshop builds on the Dahdaleh Institute’s inaugural 2019-20 Workshop on Critical Perspectives in Global Health. In 2019-20, an open call to York University faculty and researchers yielded 14 Five Minute/Two Slides presentations on perspectives and avenues for this work, with five presenters subsequently receiving seed grants of $5,000 CAD each to enable and support their further critical social science research in global health. The five 2019-20 recipients were:

  • Sadia Malik, assistant professor, Department of Economics, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) – “From Territorial Security to Human Security: The Role of Public Health in National and Global Security Frameworks.”
  • Marina Morrow, professor and Chair, School of Health Policy and Management, Faculty of Health – “Centering Human Rights in Global Mental Health: Service User Approaches.”
  • Jack Rozdilsky, associate professor, School of Administrative Studies, LA&PS – “Working to Close the Gap in COVID-19 Response Generated Demands in a Canadian First Nations Context.”
  • Adrian M. Veins, associate professor, Faculty of Health – “The Need for a Critical Perspective on the Ethical Dimensions of the Global Humanitarian Response to COVID-19”
  • Christina Hoicka, associate professor, Faculty of Environment and Urban Change – “Advancing a just and democratic healthy renewable energy transition in Canada.”

York University faculty and researchers are once again invited to join the discussion on critical social science perspectives in global health research. The 2021 workshop will include presentations from organizing committee members Professor Marina Morrow; Professor Eric Mykhalovskiy, Department of Sociology; Professor Roger Keil, Faculty of Environment and Urban Change, and Dr. James Orbinski, M.D., director, Dahdaleh Institute. There will also be research updates from each of the five inaugural Seed Grant recipients. The workshop will also feature “Two Slides/Five Minutes” pitches on current or proposed research interests on Critical Social Science Perspectives in Global Health and an opportunity to network with colleagues and experts in the field. York Faculty and researchers are invited to prepare a brief Five Minute/Two Slides presentation on any research project – current or planned – which takes this approach.

Following the workshop, The Dahdaleh Institute will again offer five research seed grants of up to $5,000 CAD each, to support the development of further research in Critical Social Science Perspectives in Global Health. Recipients will be invited to present their seed grant work at a 2021-22 full day Dahdaleh Institute Workshop on Critical Perspectives in Global Health. Organizers hope this will encourage York faculty and researchers to develop grant proposals over the summer of 2021 for Fall Tri-Council (and other agency) grant deadlines.

New President’s Advisory Council on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion launches new speaker series

Vari Hall Winter Scene

The following is a message from York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton and Vice-President Equity, People and Culture Sheila Cote-Meek:

La version française suit la version anglaise.

Dear Colleagues,

The President’s Advisory Council on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) was created in November 2020 to provide advice and counsel on the development of an institutional Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategy for the University.

Chaired by Sheila Cote-Meek, vice-president equity, people and culture, the council will consult with York students, staff, faculty members and instructors on the planning and implementation of a new EDI strategy.

As part of its efforts to create a more equitable, diverse and inclusive community at York, the Council is organizing “Insights: A Speaker Series on EDI,” which will be hosted by Vice-President Cote-Meek. The speaker series is designed to inform and inspire community members to take action by provoking thought and conversation about Equity, Diversity and Inclusion issues.

Naki Osutei
Naki Osutei

On Thursday, Feb. 25, the York community is invited to participate in the first featured event in the series, where Naki Osutei, associate vice-president, Social Impact Canada from TD Canada Trust’s Global Corporate Citizenship team, will speak about building a more equitable tomorrow.

Date: Thursday, Feb. 25
Time: 12 to 1 p.m.
Register in Advance: https://yorku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_c2DSBuhTShShUG3xGnJHrA

You can learn more about the event and the work of the Advisory Council here.

We look forward to continuing the important work we are doing through the Council and with our community members to make York a more diverse, inclusive and equitable place for all.

Sincerely,

Rhonda L. Lenton
President and Vice-Chancellor 

Sheila Cote-Meek
Vice-President Equity, People and Culture

Nouvelle série de conférences du Conseil consultatif de la présidente sur l’équité, la diversité et l’inclusion

Chers collègues,

Le Conseil consultatif de la présidente sur l’équité, la diversité et l’inclusion (EDI) a été créé en novembre 2020 pour fournir des conseils et des orientations sur le développement d’une stratégie institutionnelle d’équité, de diversité et d’inclusion pour l’Université.

Présidé par Sheila Cote-Meek, vice-présidente de l’équité, des personnes et de la culture, le Conseil consultera le corps étudiant, le personnel et le corps professoral et le corps enseignant sur la planification et la mise en œuvre d’une nouvelle stratégie d’EDI.

Dans le cadre de ses efforts pour créer une communauté plus équitable, plus diverse et plus inclusive à York, le Conseil organise l’événement “Insights : A Speaker Series on EDI,” sous l’égide de la vice-présidente Cote-Meek. Cette série de conférences a pour but d’informer et d’inspirer les membres de la communauté à passer à l’action en provoquant des réflexions et des conversations sur les questions d’équité, de diversité et d’inclusion.

Naki Osutei
Naki Osutei

Le jeudi 25 février, la communauté de York est invitée à participer au premier événement de la série. Naki Osutei, vice-présidente associée, Impact social (Canada), de l’équipe de responsabilité sociale à l’échelle mondiale du Groupe Banque TD, parlera de la construction d’un avenir plus équitable.

Date : Jeudi 25 février 2021
Heure : 12 h à 13 h
Inscrivez-vous à l’avance :
https://yorku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_c2DSBuhTShShUG3xGnJHrA

Vous pouvez en apprendre davantage sur l’événement et sur le travail du Conseil consultatif ici.

Nous nous réjouissons de poursuivre le travail important accompli par le Conseil en collaboration avec les membres de notre communauté afin de rendre l’Université York plus diverse, plus inclusive et plus équitable pour tous.

Sincères salutations,

Rhonda L. Lenton
Présidente et vice-chancelière 

Sheila Cote-Meek
Vice-présidente de l’équité, des personnes et de la culture

YSpace fireside chat features Vincenzo Guzzo from CBC’s Dragons’ Den

YSpace

On Monday, Feb. 22, York University’s YSpace is presenting an exclusive fireside chat featuring entertainment mogul Vincenzo Guzzo, aka ‘Mr. Sunshine,’ investor on CBC’s Dragons’ Den and president and CEO of Cinémas Guzzo.

The event will take place online from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and is free to attend.

Vincenzo Guzzo
Vincenzo Guzzo

The fireside chat will include an opportunity for audience members to ask questions. The chat will be followed by a rapid-fire pitch session featuring six ventures from YSpace’s Food & Beverage Accelerator program. After their three-minute pitches, Guzzo will have five minutes to ask questions and provide his feedback.

Guzzo is a movie industry titan based in Montreal, where he lives with his wife and five children. The brash businessman recently became a central Canadian media figure as the newest Dragon on CBC’s Dragons’ Den. His eccentric style and quirky demeanor have made the popular show must-watch television in its 13th season. When he’s not moonlighting as a Dragon, Guzzo is the formidable president and CEO of Guzzo Cinémas, Quebec’s largest chain of independent movie theatres. A naturally savvy entrepreneur, with a diverse portfolio of businesses, Guzzo’s business empire now includes multi-theatre cinemas, restaurants, a construction company, an e-commerce gourmet food platform, charitable foundation, and Mr. Sunshine, his personal fashion brand. His outspoken nature, business acumen and personal insights has connected him with audiences across the globe.

Register for this exclusive fireside chat through Eventbrite.

Lassonde’s K2I Academy launches Helen Carswell STEAM Program for Black and Indigenous Youth

Bergeron Centre

This month, the K2I Academy in the Lassonde School of Engineering welcomed 25 Black and Indigenous students from the York Region District School Board (YRDSB) to participate in a 14-week paid research program. The high school students will work on research projects related to engineering, computer science, earth science and/or atmospheric science under the guidance of undergraduate research assistant mentors, supervised by Lassonde faculty. Each student that participates in this program will receive a secondary co-op credit.

K21 High school students meet their student mentors and faculty at the Lassonde School of Engineering
K21 Academy high school students meet their student mentors and faculty at the Lassonde School of Engineering during a virtual meet and greet on Feb. 10 to mark the start of the 14-week program

All research projects are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and are focused on making a positive social impact. In this program, Black and Indigenous youth will gain research experience in engineering and technology fields and they will have the opportunity to network and connect with research faculty and industry professionals. In addition, this innovative program gives undergraduate mentors an opportunity to develop their leadership and research skills. Mentors will guide their team to learn about the engineering design process, computational thinking and the application of science and mathematics to solving real-world problems.

Justine Frampton, an undergraduate student in the Atmospheric Science program, is one of the program’s undergraduate mentors this term and looks forward to developing her research and leadership skills over the coming 14 weeks. “Being a part of a program of such importance has been a very rewarding experience for me,” said Frampton. “Sharing the brilliance of STEM through inclusivity and creative engagement has not only made a difference to today’s youth but also aided in the development of my own self-discovery and growth.”

The program kicked off on Feb. 10 with a virtual opening ceremony.

The K2I Academy, an innovative ecosystem of STEM educators, thought leaders and partners is focused on bringing STEM experiences to youth, educators and communities through the lens of equity, diversity and inclusion. K2I Academy designs innovative programs that address systemic barriers to STEM post-secondary pathways, enabling students who are underrepresented in STEM, including women, Black and Indigenous youth, to explore and access various opportunities. It is committed to building sustainable programs that focus on equitable and inclusive program design that strives to diversify the STEM profession – kindergarten to industry.

For more information on the K2I Academy, email k2i@lassonde.yorku.ca.

The Helen Carswell STEAM Program was made possible due to a generous gift from the Carswell Family Foundation.

Helen Carswell was a registered nurse by trade who demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit. Most notably in 1974, Carswell co-founded Optech Inc. with her husband Allan I. Carswell. Today, Teledyne Optech is a world leader in high-tech lasers with systems on all seven continents, in space and on the surface of Mars.

Throughout her life, Carswell has been active in the arts, playing piano and the violin and singing for many years. She dedicated much of her community service and philanthropic affairs to supporting arts-based programs.

MFAc program fosters practical business solutions in collaboration with RBC

laptop webinar computer virtual

York University’s Master of Financial Accountability (MFAc) graduate students showcased creative business solutions and proposed a variety of best practices in a collaborative case study opportunity provided by one of the largest banks in Canada, the Royal Bank of Canada.

Amit Brahme, senior director, Newcomer & Cultural Client Segment, along with Lara Beauvais, senior manager, Performance Optimization & Early Talent Strategy, RBC, put together an opportunity for the MFAc students to partner with the bank and work on a live case.

Screenshot of MFAc students attending the online event with RBC

Beauvais, in her role of senior manager, brought a series of remote working challenges often faced by banking operations teams. The question presented to the students was: “How can incentives increase team engagement and productivity?”

Students were required to come up with a creative response to the clients’ needs, all while applying proven professional tools. Working in teams within time constraints, students tackled the difficult task of drawing up mechanisms that can set standards for better accountability and incentives.

Students enrolled in the course “Performance Measurement Systems” were given an opportunity to apply theory to practice. The course is led by Professors Amy Kwan and Marcela Porporato.

Amy Kwan
Amy Kwan

“Live cases are a form of experiential learning that help students deal with a client while still supported by classmates and professors,” said Porporato. “Interacting with corporate clients is not always easy; it is very valuable that students are put in the spotlight and realize they need to pay attention not only to the technical content of the message delivered, but also on how to deliver it,” Kwan added.

RBC’s partnership with the University brings together hands-on learning opportunities, helping students to understand and implement what they are learning in the classroom. At the end of the event, RBC managers agreed that the students’ work was worth exploring further.

The University intends to continue building on this relationship with RBC. Initiatives like this help polish communication and problem-solving skills which are critical in business environments. They also assist student mentors in reviewing the competencies and application of talents required in possible careers.

Making the Shift virtual event discusses how data infrastructure can support homelessness prevention efforts

youth homelessness

Making the Shift (MtS), a youth homelessness social innovation lab co-led by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness at York University, continues its “In Conversation With…” series on Feb. 19 at 11 a.m. with the third webinar, “Moving towards data for prevention in the homelessness sector.”

Michael Lenczner
Michael Lenczner
Matt Parker
Matt Parker

The event will feature guests Michael Lenczner, founding director of Powered by Data, Matt Parker, VP Innovation of HelpSeeker and Robyn Blackadar, president and CEO of PolicyWise who will discuss the importance of building and harmonizing data infrastructure in Canada to support homelessness prevention efforts and the immediate steps that can be taken to make this a reality.

Robyn Blackadar
Robyn Blackadar

Despite significant efforts and improvements in the advancement of data collection and integration, data infrastructure in the homelessness sector in Canada is not designed to support prevention efforts. Instead, it is built to respond to the immediate crisis of managing persons who are currently homeless. This webinar is an opportunity for researchers, service providers, advocates and policymakers to learn about the importance of moving towards data for prevention in the homelessness sector, and how we can leverage technology and data to better understand and prevent youth homelessness.

Audience members will also learn about the innovative research and knowledge mobilization work of Making the Shift at York U, a Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab with a mandate to make the shift from managing the crises of youth homelessness, to a focus on prevention and housing stabilization.

Register for the online event here.

Interested in learning more in advance of the webinar? Check out this Issue Brief on Administrative Data and the Making the Shift Research Agenda.