Members of our team have published a chapter on partnering with community organizations to improve services for those who are experiencing homelessness. The McGill University Social Development Research Group has partnered with the Old Brewery Mission (OBM) since 2011 to conduct research and improve services for the homeless. This community-academic partnership served to combine research and analytic expertise with the knowledge and skills of those working in a not-for-profit service organization. This partnership created a positive, community-level feedback loop for continual evaluation, and resulted in a new level of attention to the changing needs of the homeless population. This chapter provides an overview of this community-academic partnership, and suggests a working model for future collaborations between academic and community organizations.
Duchesne, A., Rothwell, D. W., Ohana, G., & Grenier, A. (2016). Building research capacity to improve services for the homeless: An integrated community-academic partnership model. In N. Nichols & C. Doberstein (Eds.), Exploring Effective Systems Responses to Homelessness (pp. 302–317). Montreal, QC: The Homeless Hub.
For advanced access to this publication please see: http://homelesshub.ca/systemsresponses/34-building-research-capacity-improve-services-homeless-integrated-community-academic