New reports
Using experimentation to find out how best to serve jobseekers
Most Canadian provinces are transforming their employment services to better meet the diverse needs of jobseekers. Over the past four years, SRDC has worked closely with several provinces to review existing service models, pilot new approaches using randomized control trials or quasi-experiment designs, and evaluate programs and monitoring practices.
Most notably, Manitoba’s Department of Education and Training engaged SRDC to complete several projects to better understand what works for jobseekers, particularly those with complex needs. Together, these projects have supported the development of an effective range of employment services and identified promising employment service practices. (Read more about one of these projects: Motivational Interviewing)
Attracting international students in Francophone minority communities
SRDC just completed a research project on behalf of the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to explore ways to attract, retain, and integrate — socially, culturally, and economically — French-speaking international students in Francophone minority communities.
The study’s main findings highlight the need to support French-speaking international students in a minority setting by improving pre-arrival contact, offering additional English language training, and facilitating their access to the labour market.
New projects
Kids in kitchens for healthy eating
Many Canadian children are entering adulthood without sufficient knowledge to make healthy food choices. Moreover, rates of childhood obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes are increasing. Kid Food Nation is a nation-wide program that takes a hands-on approach to developing healthy eating habits among Canada’s youth.
The program — funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada and Corus Entertainment — will be delivered by the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. Featuring a curriculum and activities designed with input from multimedia food personality Tanya Steel, Kid Food Nation will also feature a national media campaign, recipe competition and gala event for children. SRDC will be evaluating the design, delivery and outcomes of the initiative, as well as estimating its social return on investment.
The goal of the project is to empower and educate kids, parents, and families to develop practical knowledge and experiences to plan, purchase and prepare healthy foods and snacks. The program will be offered in select Boys and Girls Clubs across Canada.
News release from the Public Health Agency of Canada
News from SRDC
Latest from the BC Centre for Employment Excellence
Read February’s edition of the BC CfEE newsletter to find out about new free webinars on best practices in the provision of employment services and recent additions to the Centre’s Knowledge Clearinghouse featuring evidence on the impact of youth employment programs.
BC Centre for Employment Excellence launches training information map
Greg Lockwood, stakeholder coordinator for the BC Centre for Employment Excellence, introduced the PD Map for Career Development Practitioners at the Cannexus conference in January. The Map is a new tool highlighting training and professional development opportunities for career practitioners in BC. The interactive Map displays location-specific training information of interest to the career development community. It was developed in partnership with the Spatial Information for Community Engagement Lab at the University of British Columbia Okanagan.
The Centre’s presentation on the PD map is available here. The link to the live Map can be found here.
The BC Centre for Employment Excellence, a division of SRDC, serves as a knowledge clearinghouse and research hub for the career development and employment services sector in BC.
Cannexus, organized by the Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling, is Canada’s national career development conference. The 17th annual conference took place January 23-25 in Ottawa with over 1,000 attendees.
Christina Hackett joins SRDC research team
SRDC is pleased to welcome Christina Hackett to its Ottawa research team. Christina joins SRDC as a senior research associate working primarily on projects related to health policy and health economics.
Christina brings significant experience working across quantitative and qualitative research methods. Christina worked for seven years as a mental health clinician and program manager in urban and remote northern settings in Canada. She was the research director for a community-based program that develops contextually and culturally appropriate program evaluation methods in Nunatsiavut, Labrador. She is currently a PhD candidate in her third year of the Health Policy PhD program, Health Economics stream, at McMaster University. Her doctoral thesis focuses on quantitatively analyzing relationships among multiple aspects of health and health-related quality of life of indigenous Canadians. Previously, she completed an MSc in Health Economics, Policy, Planning and Financing at the London School of Economics and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, an MA in Counselling Psychology at Adler University, and a BA (Honours) in History of Art at the University of Warwick.
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