CSS Begins Immigrant Women’s Health & Wellness Project

MEDIA RELEASE – Appeared in the North Shore News, Sunday July 10, 2011, page A18

A three-year Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant of $110,000 has been awarded to Dr. Wendy Frisby in the School of Kinesiology at the University of British Columbia. She and the research team will conduct a participatory action research project on the North Vancouver Recreation Commission’s Health and Wellness Project for Newcomers.

The Newcomers project was presented with a 2010 Program Excellence award by the BC Recreation and Parks Association. It supports newcomers in meeting their health and wellness needs through multilingual volunteer hosts, orientation tours of recreation facilities, translated health and wellness resources, multilingual healthy living workshops, and other community engagement initiatives. The project was originally funded through a grant from the Union of BC Municipalities.

The UBC research grant will engage recent immigrant women, North Vancouver Recreation Commission staff and volunteers, and various community partners to assess strengths and areas of improvement in the Commission’s newcomers program. The focus is on immigrant women because research has shown that they suffer most from what is known as the ‘healthy immigrant effect’ where their health tends to decline after migrating to Canada. “This is such a wonderful opportunity to engage the community and learn how we can build on the strengths of the Newcomers program,” says Leslie June, Manager of Community and Recreation Services with the North Vancouver Recreation Commission.

You can follow the latest developments on the project website

For more information contact:

Wendy Frisby 
Project Leader
wendy.frisby@ubc.ca

Cathy Mills
Project Coordinator
mills2ca@interchange.ubc.ca

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