Mobilizing Homelessness

Research

Toronto - February 2011

Presenters

Stephen Gaetz Associate Dean, Faculty of Education, York UniversityDirector, Canadian Homelessness Research Network (CHRN)

Allyson MarsolaisProject Manager, CHRN

Stephanie VaskoManager, Homeless Hub

Outline

1)Presentation• Mobilizing homelessness research• The Canadian Homelessness Research Network (CHRN)• KMb – The Homeless Hub• KMb – Media and Marketing Strategy

2) Workshop • Designing a marketing strategy• Key messages• Content development• Using social media

Mobilizing Homelessness

Research

In an effort to create and nurture effective

responses to homelessness . . .

. . . how do we strengthen the

impact of homelessness

research?

RESEARCH

• Decision Makers• Service Providers• General Public

Impact on Homelessness

RESEARCH

• Decision Makers• Service Providers• General Public

GAP!

KEY CHALLENGE:

Homelessness research has NOT had the impact on policy, practice and advocacy that it should.

HOW DO WE CREATE THE IMPACT?

Canadian Homelessness

Research Network

SSHRC Strategic Knowledge Cluster Grant Program

1. Collaboration: Provide opportunities for collaboration among the diversity of groups and researchers involved in homelessness across Canada.

2. Knowledge Mobilization: Make existing research on homelessness more accessible and reduce the geographical, sectoral, and socio-economic divisions that impede knowledge exchange.

3. Public Engagement: ‘Make research matter’ by exploring ways that research can more effectively engage the general public, policy makers & other decision-makers in the homelessness sector.

Our goals:

If the goal of KM, then, is to make research relevant

to policy makers, service providers and the general public, it is arguably most

successful when:

• Research is valued

• Research is accessible

• Different kinds of knowledge are respected

• Mobilization strategies reflect the needs of different kinds of learners

• Barriers between stakeholders are reduced, and partnerships are facilitated.

• Research is Applied, leading to tangible outcomes.

KMb

Relationships Building links between researchers and the users of research

KMb

The “PUSH” Getting the message out to your audiences.

thehomeless hub

www.homelesshub.com

Our Audiences

Service Service ProvidersProviders

News News MediaMedia

General General PublicPublic

StudentsStudents

ResearchersResearchers

Policy Policy MakersMakers

2008 … Now• Partnership with U.S. sites• 30,000 resources• Large audience for Canadian content• New features• Use of social media

Key Features• Home page• Library page• Education section• Experiences• Gallery section• Doing Research• Events Calendar• Personal pages

Home page

Library

Education

Experiences

Doing Research

Events

Networking

Added features:• French Hub• Webinars• Enhanced networking section• Trends in social media

New sections:• Service Providers• ‘Solutions’ to homelessness

Evaluation…Continuous Improvement

Homeless Hub Next Steps

Marketing & Communications

StrategyCreating new content

Social Media

New content:

e-Newsletter

New content:

Research Summaries

New content:

Blog

Social Media:

• Facebook Page

• Twitter

WHYSocial Media?

Social Media

FACEBOOK

Social Media

TWITTER

Questions?. . . And then . . . And then

on to the on to the workshopworkshop

Exercise 1Plan a social media campaign around the exampleprovided: The Family Reconnect report. To consider:

1. Who is your audience(s) (i.e. who do you want/need to know about this report)?

2. Who are your partners/allies (i.e. who can help you get the word out)?

3. What are the elements of your strategy? Consider the elements CHRN uses and feel free to add others not mentioned.

Exercise 2Continuing with the Family Reconnect report, what would the title of your blog post be? What would be contained in your first paragraph? To consider:

1. A title is used to grab people’s attention and will determine whether or not they choose to read your blog post. Being provocative (but honest) is an essential strategy in creating blog titles.

2. The first paragraph is used to set the tone for the rest of the blog, but also keep people’s attention and entice them to continue reading.

Exercise 3Compose 2 or 3 “tweets” that can be used to promote and raise interest in the Family Reconnect report. To consider:

1. Tweets can be no longer than 140 characters, including spaces, punctuation and the link you provide to the report, which is usually about 15 characters.

2. Consider the use of “hashtags”. A hashtag is a tag embedded in a tweet and consists of a word prefixed by a hash sign (i.e #homelessness).