RESEARCH NEWS AND INFORMATIONFALL 2013

(Continued from front page)

Launched in January 2013, the ACSRC hopes to provide a valuable resource of previous ICSPs to rural communities, an up-to-date source of information and a mechanism that may support rural sus-tainability as communities shift from plans to implementation. We hope this inventory and sharing of ICSPs will foster collaboration and information exchange among the many and diverse rural commu-nities in Canada, so that they may learn from and support each other in their quest for sustainability.

Moving forward, the ACSRC will continue to add and modify the CSPI to enhance the user experi-ence.

4901-46 Avenue, Camrose, AB T4V 2R3 |P: 780.679.1672 |E: admin.acsrc@ualberta.ca | @ACSRC | UofA.ACSRC | AdminACSRC | http://www.acsrc.ca/

HESJE INTERNSHIPS

The ACSRC was pleased to assist with the supervision of two Hesje Interns during the Summer of 2013. The internship was established thanks to the Hesje Management Award, which strives to estab-lish a summer internship that will enable the Augustana Bachelor of Management program to build supportive connections with the not-for-profit sector; providing meaningful learning experiences for students; and develop expertise in a distinctive program niche. This year’s award recipients were Chris Danderfer and Kathleen O’Connor.

Mr. Danderfer, 3rd year B.Mgt student, worked with the Camrose Open Door Association. The Camrose Open Door provides short term and transitional supportive housing focused on youth aged 16-24. It also offers counselling, skill development, work experience and out-reach services (drop in and through a 24-hour helpline). His primary tasks were to assist with marketing and financial projections for Café Connections, a venture of the Open Door, along with researching tran-sitional housing programs.

Ms. O’Connor, 4th year B.Mgt student, worked with Habitat for Humanity Camrose. Habitat Camrose strives to build decent, simple and affordable homes in partnership with families and the commu-nity. Habitat for Humanity Camrose is an independent affiliate of Habitat for Humanity Canada and Habitat for Humanity Interna-tional. Kathleen assisted with Fund Development.

Ecological Agriculture Summit

Following the success of last years Ecological Agriculture Summit, the ACSRC is proud to once again partner with the Rural Outreach and Agricul-tural Renaissance Society (ROARS) to co-host a 2013 edition: Restore, Renew, Refine will take place on Saturday, No-vember 9, 2013 at the U of A’s Augus-tana Campus in Camrose. Join us for a day of exploring and deepening our whys and hows of farming in line with, and for, a regenerative ecology; gaining inspiration and knowledge to restore, refine and reinvent our farms. Reg-istration begins at 9am; $30/person includes: light refreshments all day, a locally-sourced lunch, 2 exciting key notes (Howard Vlieger on living with & working without GMOs & Joanne Thiessen Martens & Mark Wonneck on Redesigning Canadian Prairie Cropping Systems), afternoon breakout sessions, & the opportunity to connect with others interested in & working for an ecologically based agriculture. Visit http://www.acsrc.ca/ for the latest information.

Canadian Sustainability Plan Inventory (CSPI) Launches

The CSPI is the most comprehensive a searchable online inventory of sustainability plans in Canada. The CSPI can be accessed via http//www.augustana.ualberta.ca/cspi/

Sustainability in rural communities of Canada has received increased attention at the local and national scales. Canada’s Federal Gas Tax Fund (GTF) made sustainability planning a key part of infrastructure and socio-economic development of communities across Canada. Slated to ultimately invest ap-proximately $13 billion in sustainable municipal infrastructure such as transit, waste management, water and green energy by 2015, the GTF also provided support to municipalities for the development of Integrated Community Sustainability Plans (ICSPs).

Many communities have now completed ICSPs or a provincial variant and these represent a wide range of approaches, tool-kits, strategies and content within Alberta and from across the country. As such, there is no single solution or model for sus-tainability planning. Indeed, there is considerable variation in emphases among the targeted dimensions of sustainability and these emphases vary by region and by population size. This inventory provides a means for rural communities, researchers, and development practitioners to access how other communi-ties from across Canada have approached sustainability plan-ning in terms of process, content and areas of concentration.

(Continued on back page...)

Camrose Open Door Youth Homelessness & Housing Assessment

The ACSRC, in collaboration with the Camrose Open Door Association and researchers at the Univer-sity of Alberta, conducted a youth homelessness and housing needs assessment in the Spring/Summer of 2013. The purpose of this assessment was to establish the nature, scope and potential opportunities and challenges facing rural youth homeless in the Camrose region.

The research team found that youths aged 16 to 24 who are unable to live with their parents/guardians are increasingly vulnerable to becoming homeless due to an insufficient sup-ply of affordable rental housing in Camrose and surrounding areas. Furthermore, this youth population faces a number of additional challenges and service requirements due to mental health and addiction problems, exposure to abuse and family violence, lack of educational and employment opportunities and/or having been in conflict with the law.

This project is a first step toward a thorough analysis of the needs of homeless and at-risk youth in order to identify gaps in service and to develop a strategic action plan for the Open Door to create transitional housing and support services for this target population.

For more information or to review the report, please visit the Open Door website: http://www.camroseopendoor.com/

Alberta Parks’ Top 20 Policy and Research Questions

The ACSRC and Alberta Parks are conducting a research project to identify priority research questions to inform research and public policy in the provincial parks of Alberta.

In Phase 1 of the project, an online submis-sion form was set-up for a 6-week period during the Fall of 2012. Representatives from research, policy, non-governmental and conservation com-munities were invited to submit what they saw as the most pressing or important questions for researchers to inform research and public policy issues in Alberta parks. Participants were asked to ensure their question submission met the follow-ing criteria:(1) Be answerable through an implementable and realistic research design;(2) Be answerable on the basis of fact;(3) Be of a spatial and temporal scale that can be addressed realistically;(4) Not be answerable with a yes/no or “it depends”;(5) Contain a subject of intervention, an intervention and a measurable/evaluated effect related to that intervention or policy; and(6) Increase the efficacy, scope or efficiency of policy or practice related to Alberta Parks.

Phase 2 of the project is currently underway. During this phase, the ACSRC hosts one-day workshops where participants from re-search, policy, non-governmental and conservation communities engage in an internationally recognized consensus-based exercise that will generate the top research questions from an edited list of submission collected in Phase 1. To date, three workshops have taken place in conjunction with this project (two regional (East Central and Northeast) and one provincial), with plans to host four more workshops during the Fall of 2013 in the remaining regions of Alberta Parks.

The results will help researchers focus on projects operationalizing the science strategy of Alberta Parks. The responses will be compiled and presented in a report and we hope that they will also be published in academic journals. If so, every person participating in this workshop will be listed as a co-author, provided they contribute to the editorial process.

Photo Courtsey of Pictou County Roots for Youth Society

Science without Borders (Brazil) Summer Intern

The University of Alberta has a goal to enhance research connections and encourage greater student mobility with Brazil, specifically through the Science Without Borders program. Launched in 2011, the Science Without Borders program provides Brazilian students with government scholarships to study and conduct research abroad at the undergraduate, graduate or postdoctoral level.

This Summer the ACSRC had the great pleasure to host one student participating in the program, Lu-cas Rodrigo R. Mattos. Mr. Mattos worked with the Centre as an intern all summer putting his com-puter science studies to good use as he assisted with website design and implementation on the CSPI. His work was key in setting up a map-based interface for the site (expected to launch this Fall).

He is originally from Belo Horizonte, Brazil where he is a student at the Universidade Federa de Minas Gerais. He is spending all of 2013 studying at the Augustana Campus.