Kwantlen Polytechnic University

KORA: Kwantlen Open Resource Access
Acting Together (AT-CURA) - SSHRC-CURA
Project

KPU Institutes and Research Units

7-2013

Newsletter (Acting Together (AT-CURA))
Acting Together (AT-CURA)
Gira Bhatt
Kwantlen Polytechnic Universtiy

Follow this and additional works at: http://kora.kpu.ca/at-cura
Part of the Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons, and the Social Psychology and
Interaction Commons
KORA Citation
Acting Together (AT-CURA) and Bhatt, Gira, "Newsletter (Acting Together (AT-CURA))" (2013). KORA Acting Together (ATCURA) - SSHRC-CURA Project: Paper 6.
http://kora.kpu.ca/at-cura/6

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2013 Newsletter

Volume 3 Issue 1

Acting Together

Prevention of

C o m m u n i t y- U n i v e r s i t y R e s e a r c h A l l i a n c e P r o j e c t

involv emen t

Youth Gang

Research
Governance
Training and Education

actingtogether.ca

Knowledge Dissemination

Forewords

Message
Message from the Project Director
Dr. Gira Bhatt
“The Acting Together: Community-University Research
Alliance project is a poster child for university/
community engagement: its work is important, relevant
and inspiring. It reflects everything that KPU aspires to
be, and we are proud to lead this collaboration with our
partner institutions and community agencies.”
Dr. Alan Davis, KPU President and Vice-Chancellor

“Given that crime reduction is one of the four key areas
of focus for the City of Surrey, we view our partnership
with the Acting Together Community-University
Research Alliance as a key component in assisting us as
we move forward in our efforts to develop partnerships,
seek solutions to root causes of crime, and to ultimately
bring together all stakeholders in our shared goal of
ensuring a safe, healthy and vibrant community.”
Mayor Dianne Watts, City of Surrey
“Building partnerships is one of the most important
goals we have at Combined Forces Special Enforcement
Unit -BC. We partner with 14 law enforcement agencies
to combat organized crime and gang violence in our
province. Extending those partnerships beyond law
enforcement to organizations such as Acting-Together,
CURA project at Kwantlen Polytechnic University,
is invaluable to CFSEU-BC as they assist us with
understanding the root causes of gang and organized
crime violence.”
Dan Malo, Chief Officer, CFSEU-BC

“South Asian Community Coalition Against Youth
Violence (SACCAYV) is dedicated to preventing youth
violence and keeping our young people on the right
track. In this context, SACCAYV and AT-CURA are a
perfect fit. It brings together community experience
and academic research in a very unique and
productive manner.”
Balwant Sanghera, Chair, SACCAYV

Acting Together SSHRC-CURA Project | Volume 3 Issue 1 | 2

A common tendency in addressing the issue of youth violence is to
examine those whose lives take a turn for the worse and who end
up getting into trouble with their family, school, neighborhood,
and the community at large. Questions immediately surface.
What went wrong? Bad parenting? Wrong kind of friends? School
system? Society not doing enough? For decades, researchers have
also focused on identifying risk factors that make youth vulnerable
to negative influences.
Although there is a certain value in understanding factors that
make youth vulnerable and render them at risk for anti-social and
destructive behavior, what has remained relatively neglected is
the examination of youth who negotiate their adolescent years
relatively well. This group may include the overachievers and stars
of extracurricular activities, but the majority of them are moving
through their teen years without any spectacular demonstration of
any particular talent, academic or extracurricular. They are simply
staying the course, and regardless of their background, they all
have one thing in common: when faced with tempting or difficult
life choices, they have made wise decisions.
How come?
This is the context of our project Acting Together, which is the hub
for the community of researchers, teachers, parents, youth, service
agencies, law-enforcement agencies, popular media, and policy
makers. The goal is to identify protective factors, the kind that
would armor youth with character strengths, social connections,
and a cognitive frame for making wise decisions to stay away from
the path of violence, drugs, and criminal gangs. Strategies rooted
in strong evidence-based research for prevention of youth violence
and gang-involvement would make sense for policy and funding
decisions to support community initiatives.
The project is now in year five of its five-year term (2009-2014). Our
collective commitments and efforts have made it possible to stay
on track with all the performance markers. These include research,
training workshops, community events, and academic and popular
dissemination of project activities and outcomes. The highpoint of
our journey together will be the AT-CURA capstone conference in
July 2014.
I am happy to share that in view of the success of our collaborative
project, our federal funding agency Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council (SSHRC) has granted us an extension of one more
year. I remain confident that the momentum generated through
the project will continue to inspire future goals.

Acting Together SSHRC-CURA Project | Volume 3 Issue 1 | 3

RESEARCH
Focus on Youth Strengths and
Modifiable Protective Factors

social
beliefs

personal

domain
of strength

The Powerful Teens Study
Earlier in this project, some members of our team travelled around
B.C. asking youth workers about youth strengths. In particular, we
asked these workers to name the strengths they strive to build
in kids. We asked them to focus on strengths that help kids resist
violence. We heard many impassioned reports about building selfesteem, confidence, and connections to positive activities. These
have value. However, we heard less about building these positive
traits that may also help kids resist involvement in violence and build
satisfying lives.
In a survey of 421 youth in Grade 8 we found preliminary evidence
that youth who score high on authenticity (being true to oneself) ,
gratitude, and humility were either less likely to engage in violence
or less likely to think that violence is justified as a tool for influencing
others.

Dr. Roger Tweed is the lead researcher
of the Powerful Teens Study

The findings are consistent with our idea that helping kids build
character strengths such as authenticity, gratitude, and humility
will not only make them happier, but also might reduce violence.
We don’t want to take away from other efforts to help kids, such as
efforts to build self-esteem or involve youth in positive activities. In
fact, we found that kids can have all these character strengths and
while still having high self-esteem (i.e., perceiving themselves as
valuable and good). Also, both character strengths and self-esteem
were associated with fewer beliefs justifying violence. The results are
still preliminary; we have more data being gathered. Nonetheless,
the results deserve attention.

Number Crunching for the Powerful Teens Study

AT-CURA undergraduate research
assistants helped with the Powerful
Teens Study. From Left: Brooke
Knowlton, Daniel Nacordia, Amber
Rothwell, Isabel Scheuneman Scott,
Sara Lewis, Samantha Lim, Eric Mah

Dr. Roger Tweed illustrates the
strength-based approach to
youth violence prevention at the
Chris Mohan Memorial Event.
Acting Together SSHRC-CURA Project | Volume 3 Issue 1 | 4

Participating high schools

4

Meetings with
4 school administrators, 4 principals, 28 teachers

23

Class visits by the research team
(Time 1: 28 classes; Time 2: 28 Classes)

56

Days of data collection

28

Standardized test measures

24

Pages of the survey questionnaire

22

Total questions/items in the survey

Preliminary Results of the Powerful Teens Survey
(Total Participants = 421)
Selected by % of Youth

Top 7 Character
Strengths of Youth
(out of the listed 24)
selected by youth as
“Describes me best”

1

Humor

58.1%

2

Love

45.9%

3

Honesty

44.9%

4

Teamwork

44.8%

5

Kindness

41.6%

6

Creativity

39.1%

7

Thankfulness

30.3%

Item Selected by
Risks/Costs of being
in a gang

Number of
Youth

% of Youth

I would get into trouble with
police

322

84.1%

I would get killed

318

82.8%

I would get into trouble with
parents

317

82.8%

I would get hurt

314

82.0%

I would lose my non-gang
friends

292

76.4%

I would feel guilty

289

75.5%

I would get into trouble with
teachers

280

73.3%

Item Selected by
Benefits of being
in a gang

Number of
Youth

% of Youth

I would be protected

81

21.3%

404

I would get money

52

13.7%

Minutes on average to complete the survey

45

I would be part of a family

36

9.5%

Student research assistants:
14 Undergraduate (Kwantlen), 1 MA (SFU)

15

I would fit into a group better

30

7.9%

Pizzas served to participating 8th grade classes
($2.80 per student)

377

I would have excitement

29

7.6%

I would be “cool”

29

7.6%

iPods raffled to participating 8th grade classes
($194.54 each)

11

I would feel successful

17

4.5%

Gift cards to participating 8th grade teachers ($25 each)

86

What do Youth Know
about the Risks/Benefits
of Gang-involvement?
• 73.2% of youth do not see a lot of
benefits to being in a gang
• 26.8% believe that there are some
benefits to being in a gang
• 4.7% believe that there are no
risks/costs to being in a gang

Total Incentive payment $9,060

Acting Together SSHRC-CURA Project | Volume 3 Issue 1 | 5

The Youth Power Study:
Mapping the Strengths of At-Risk Youth

SFU research team from left: Michelle Collins,
Dr. Jodi Viljoen, Dr. Kevin Douglas, Catherine
Shaffer, and Andrew Gray

Following the Powerful Teens Study involving 421 high school students,
a new study was launched in December 2012 focusing on at-risk youth.
The goal of the Youth Power Study is to identify character strengths
of at-risk youth and to also assess how these strengths are used or
misused by these youth. AT-CURA’s partner Pacific Community Resources
Society (PCRS) has provided generous support. Michelle Shaw, the PCRS
manager of Guildford Youth Resource Services, and Michel Pouliot, the
PCRS manager of Newton Youth Resource Center, gave a guided tour of
the Guildford facility of their youth drop-in centre to SFU researchers Dr.
Jodi Viljoen and Dr. Kevin Douglas, and to Kwantlen researchers Dr. Roger
Tweed, Dr. Gira Bhatt, Steve Dooley, and Dr. Nathalie Gagnon. Simon
Fraser University graduate students Catherine Shaffer and Andrew Gray
and the study manager Michelle Collins are assisting with the research.

Seduced into Gangs: Youth Alienation Study

Indira Prahst, Langara College

The AT-CURA Co-investigator Indira Prahst from the partner institute
Langara College has been leading a qualitative research project.
The goal of the Youth Alienation Study is to examine the extent and
types of alienation that youth may be experiencing and how that may
be related to their vulnerability to joining gangs and drug-related
crimes. Two undergraduate research assistants Lydia Ng and Sandip
Rakhra, and one PhD student from University of British Columbia,
Prabhsharabir Singh, have been assisting with the study.
The study has found that:
• Youth are feeling more disconnected from their families and forging
bonds with gangs to replace the loss of connectedness with family.
• With the intersecting effects of mass technology, glorification of
gangs and a more consumer-oriented society, youth are feeling
more estranged from themselves. This has placed youth in a more
vulnerable situation of intensified needs, desires and outlets
making gang life more seductive to join.

Inspiring speakers at the Youth Forum which
engaged 72 high school students. From left:
Tim Collins (Assistant Manager of TD Bank,
Vancouver main branch), Dr. Lisa Monchalin
(Criminologist), Derek Woo (Student)

Project Youth-to-Youth Violence:
Voices of Fraser Health Authority Nurses and
Emergency Room Social Workers
by Sandra Alfonso
In 2009, a forum was held at BC Children’s Hospital (BCCH) on youthto-youth violence. This forum represented collaboration between
BCCH emergency staff, social workers, Kwantlen nursing faculty, and
AT-CURA. The project was led by Judy Lee, Kwantlen’s Nursing program
coordinator and faculty with a goal of the publication of three resource
booklets on youth violence: one each for youth, parents, and service
providers. These booklets are available to the public on the BCCH
website.
Following the success of this collaborative project, a similar project
has been launched under the leadership of Judy Lee for the Fraser
Health region. The goal of this project is to explore available resources
and follow-up protocols to assist young victims and their families who
come to the hospital emergency room as a result of youth-to-youth
violence. In collaboration with AT-CURA, focus groups and interviews
have been conducted at several locations including New Westminster
Health Unit, Tri-Cities Health Unit, Youth Clinic of the Surrey Memorial
Hospital (SMH), Langley Health Unit, Burnaby Youth Clinic, and the
SMH emergency. The participants are the youth clinic nurses across the
Fraser Health region and the emergency room social workers of the
SMH. The transcriptions of the interviews and focus groups are being
analyzed under the supervision of Dr. Diane Symonds, a member of
Kwantlen’s nursing faculty. Lauren Greer and Eryn Moor, Kwantlen’s
nursing students, and Amerdeep Sall, a graduate student from SFU, are
assisting with the data analysis. The aim of the project is to publish a
resource booklet for SMH, akin to the report published for the BCCH.
This resource booklet will be available to FHA emergency room social
workers and youth clinic nurses who attend to the youth and their
family members following the incident of youth-to-youth violence.

Sandra Alfonso is AT-CURA’s Network Coordinator.

The findings have been disseminated to the public in creative ways
through the media including in the Asian Journal, Indo-Canadian
Voice, Georgia Straight, CBC Radio and OMNI Television.

Judy Lee presenting the highlights of the Youth-to-Youth Violence project at the Fraser Health Authority’s
Nursing Theme Day.

Acting Together SSHRC-CURA Project | Volume 3 Issue 1 | 6

Judy Lee, Kwantlen Nursing program coordinator
and faculty member, is the lead for the Youth-toYouth Violence project for BCCH and FHA.

Catherine Parlee provides valuable support to
AT-CURA on behalf of the KPU Office of Research
& Scholarship.

Acting Together SSHRC-CURA Project | Volume 3 Issue 1 | 7

Training/Education
Community Engagement: Acting Together
to Address Youth Violence

AT-CURA Hosts Program Evaluation Workshop

by Steve Dooley
The project Acting Together has provided an opportunity to walk side by
side with our community partners to address youth violence with passion,
commitment and authenticity. AT-CURA is grounded in the principles of
applied community development and engagement. We value inclusion,
the recognition of divergent perspectives and points of views, and, most
importantly, we value the knowledge that addressing youth violence
requires a team approach in which the community comes together, rolls
up its sleeves and works together to identify solutions that work. We
recognize that to be effective we must develop approaches to youth
violence that have community buy-in and build community capacity.
Steve Dooley is the AT-CURA lead for the
qualitative study Voices of the Community.
Through ongoing focus groups, interviews,
and meetings with community members,
AT-CURA’s team has been walking the talk of
the community engagement.

As a community, we have learned a great deal about the prevention of
youth violence and we know that any new prevention program on the
horizon will be sustainable in the arms of broad community support.

An Ongoing
Connection with
the Community

Acting Together SSHRC-CURA Project | Volume 3 Issue 1 | 8

Alison Warner, of the National Crime Prevention
Centre, co-facilitated the Program Evaluation
workshop.

There is much to be learned when the community and academic
institutions work together as an authentic partnership team. In this sense
we have seen that a true partnership cannot dichotomize the ‘community’
and the ‘academic’. We are truly working together as one interwoven unit.
So, when we brought the academics and the community together, we
found that it worked!
In our initial meetings with community members, we learned that they
were getting tired of hearing about all the bad news. They felt some
cultural segments of the community were being tarnished by the
negative light and they wanted to begin the process of moving forward
in a more positive way. We decided therefore to focus our research on
the strengths of youth that would act as protective factors in preventing
youth from engaging in violence. The community also helped us identify
the strengths of youth that we needed to explore. For example, they
suggested we examine “authenticity” as a strength, and sure enough this
was identified as an important factor in our research.

Academic and community partners working
together at an AT-CURA steering committee
meeting. (From left) Dr. Kevin Douglas (SFU),
Katherine Peterson (SD36), Harpal Johl
(Diversecity), Ninu Kang (SACCAYV/MOSAIC),
Rochelle Ivany (SD36).

AT-CURA in partnership with Centre for Interdisciplinary Research:
Community Learning and Engagement (CIR: CLE) and the National Crime
Prevention Centre (NCPC) hosted a Community Program Evaluation
workshop Nov 15, 2012. Co-Investigator Dr. Nathalie Gagnon led and
facilitated the workshop along with co-facilitators Steve Dooley (CIR: CLE)
and Alison Warner (NCPC). Fourty participants attended from 14
agencies, including the City of Surrey, two school districts, and a range
of community non-profit organizations. Participants learned skills in
program evaluation including use of logic models, evaluation designs,
and data and performance modeling.

Focus Groups Interviews
Youth

3 (N=16)

31

Teachers

1 (N=4)

Service
providers

4 (N=21)

7

Parents

4 (N=19)

7

Steve Dooley and Dr. Nathalie Gagnon leading the workshop participants through the Program Evaluation steps.

Engaging the Community, Policymakers and
Law-Enforcement on Youth Violence Issues
On Sept. 28, 2012, AT-CURA partner South Asian Community Coalition
Against Youth Violence (SACCAYV), in collaboration with MOSAIC and
AT-CURA, hosted a roundtable lunch discussion, In-Dialogue. The event
brought the community together to address the issue of youth gang
violence. The event was attended by politicians, the RCMP, academics,
community stakeholders, students, and community service agency
representatives. The keynote speaker was Chief Officer Dan Malo,
Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU)–BC

Chief Officer Dan Malo, CFSEU-BC sharing a
lighter moment with the community at the
In-Dialogue event.

Acting Together SSHRC-CURA Project | Volume 3 Issue 1 | 9

Open Letter from a Former Gangster
My life probably started out much like yours. I grew up in a middle class suburb,
with parents who earned above-average incomes. I played sports, was popular,
and generally did everything that regular suburban middle class kids do. In
school, I had some minor behavioural issues but nothing that could have
foreshadowed what was to come for me. I grew up and became a “gangster.” I
don’t like using the term “gangster” as it carries the connotation of respect in our
ever-changing pop culture, but for the sake of familiarity, I will use it here now.
My slippery slope started right after high school. I was attending college and
had become quite bored with academic pursuits. As a result, I began to associate
myself with some people I had met who seemed to have it all going for them. I
was introduced to a world of fast money, violence, greed and betrayal. I became
infatuated with this lifestyle, as it seemed like these people had the perfect life.
They never went to school or work, had money to burn and were feared by most
ordinary people they came across. Before I knew it, I was hooked.
I immersed myself in the drug world and was completely motivated by my greed
and my hunger for money, respect, and power. This new lifestyle led me down
a road to ruin that I still have not been able to completely come back from. The
violence I experienced, both as the victim and the perpetrator, will stay with me
in my most lucid dreams forever. I watched as these men turned on each other,
often at the drop of a nickel. Where was all that love and brotherhood I’d been
promised? Quickly, the money I had amassed disappeared on partying, drugs
and debts incurred from lost drug shipments, failed business ventures and
violent robberies. After six long years, two stretches in prison, and enough bad
memories for a lifetime, I finally decided a change was sorely needed. I was sick
of prison, sick of the police, sick of my family and friends turning their backs on
me but most of all, I felt I could no longer look at myself in the mirror.
After prison, I began reconnecting with my family who stuck by me throughout
the entire process in a meaningful way. I cut out all my old associations and
began working a full-time job, something I had never really done before. I
finished my parole and enrolled in university to study psychology in hopes of
obtaining a degree and a career where these experiences could be useful to
others who are getting pulled in just as I had.
Fast forward three years later and I am finishing my second year of a Bachelor’s
degree program with my sights set on Master’s and doctoral studies. I still work a
full time job, am engaged and have a new title I’m very proud of: homeowner.
When I look back at my life in my early twenties, it seems like a bad dream that
I somehow managed to wake up from. Unfortunately, too many young people
are not waking up. This gang problem involves us all as the reach of its horrors
knows no bounds. Right now, your son could be meeting these people, your
daughter could be dating them, or they could be sitting next to you as you
read this in a busy coffee shop. Its reach is infinite. These aren’t meant to be
scare tactics but a wakeup call for all of us. I am one of the very lucky; I had the
support that enabled me to make a change and, unfortunately, many don’t.
This is why this project is so important: it allows us to analyze not only what kids
believe about surrounding gangs, but also the strengths of the kids who don’t
get involved so we can better understand how to educate our youth and break
down these misconceptions.

At-Risk Youth Grow Vegetables in the
Community Garden
by Nancy Green, Youth Diversity Liaison for the
Surrey School District’s WRAP program
Through the generous contributions of AT-CURA, the Surrey WRAP Program
was able to provide 22 at-risk high school students in the Surrey School District
with meaningful summer activity at the Surrey Organic Community Garden.
This was a wonderful environment in which the youth were able to learn
about ecological awareness and environmentally friendly lifestyles. This was a
unique experience for the students to work with their hands in nature. Taking
students into a natural environment to bond with case managers outside of
the school and creating ownership of a space in the community was a powerful
experience. Importantly, the project provided employment skills and income
for the youth who tend to come from low-income families and who struggle to
find meaningful employment.

A vegetable patch at the Surrey Community
Garden, which was tended by WRAP youth of
Surrey School District.

In the spring, the youth prepared the garden by enriching the soil, turning it,
utilizing aeration methods, weeding, removing rocks, and planning spacing
and types of produce to be grown. The summer months were spent tending
the garden, watering, weeding and cultivating. In the fall, the students spent
their time in the garden learning and putting into practice composting,
identifying plants needing to be pulled, digging up roots and conducting
tool maintenance.
The students were able to take some of the food produce to their families.
Many who would not have had Halloween pumpkins were able to take one
from the garden for their families. A number of students were not previously
aware of how some of these foods looked in their natural state, or how to
prepare the foods they grew. The knowledge around the processes of food
production, labor requirements and uses for the various foods provided
powerful lessons around interconnectedness. An added benefit was the
connecting of the students to other members of the garden by demonstrating,
informing and sharing knowledge of organic practices. The great interest from
the gardening community members in the students and their work in the
garden provided the students with additional assistance and mentorship.
Overall, the program has been a highly successful addition to WRAP project
strategies in preventing and intervening in young lives with positive, pro-social
experiences. In the end, the students had an experience they can proudly add
to their resumes for future employment.

“The support and partnership of AT-CURA in
the development of the Community Garden
Project has been invaluable. The Community
Garden has allowed students throughout the
Surrey School District to gain relevant and
necessary employment skills while offering
an urban oasis to rest and reflect. The Surrey
School District appreciates and values the
partnership and collaboration of AT-CURA in
the support of student development.”
Rob Rai, Manager, Surrey Safe Schools
Department

If you’re reading this and have mixed feelings about gang involvement, don’t
hesitate to contact the project. In the end, all the luster of this life will be
stripped away, and all that will be left is its ugly core.
Acting Together SSHRC-CURA Project | Volume 3 Issue 1 | 10

Acting Together SSHRC-CURA Project | Volume 3 Issue 1 | 11

News

Congratulations

This should never happen again:
Chris Mohan Memorial Youth &
Parents Forum
The innocent life of young Christopher Mohan was taken
in a tragic gang shooting. His grieving mother, Eileen
Mohan, organized a forum on May 26, 2012 for parents
and youth in collaboration with AT-CURA, City of Surrey,
Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, Surrey RCMP,
Surrey School District, Vancouver Sun, CIBC, and TD Bank.
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts opened the event, “We know
that early intervention is essential, so we need to engage
youth and their parents about the warning signs and deadly
consequences of gang activity.”

Brooke Knowlton, an AT-CURA
student assistant, received the
KPU President’s Outstanding
Graduate Award.

“Innocent life should never be taken. We must always choose life before death”, Eileen Mohan
said at the parents’ forum hosted in memory of her late son Christopher Mohan.

AT-CURA Attended the Fifth Annual Gangs & Guns Training Symposium

AT-CURA students, researchers, and network coordinator at the display booth.
From left: Jordan Buna, Sandy Alfonso, Luisa Piraqive-Buitrago , Sara Lewis, Dr. Gira Bhatt
and Dr. Roger Tweed

AT-CURA at the KPU Open House
What are your character strengths?
The AT-CURA crew remained busy with an interactive
exercise for the KPU Open House visitors.

Acting Together SSHRC-CURA Project | Volume 3 Issue 1 | 12

“I believe that the contributions
I have made to the community
as part of the AT-CURA team
allowed me to be the strongest
contender for the award.”

Sarah Jackson, AT-CURA’s
Media Editor completed her
journalism degree at KPU and
has moved to New York to take
on the position of Associate
Producer of MSNBC’s Hardball
with Chris Matthews.

Maria Goldin, an AT-CURA
student assistant, received
KPU’s leadership award in
the category of Contribution
to Student Life.

Charan Gill, CEO of PICS, is the
recipient of KPU’s Honorary
Doctor of Laws Degree,
Spring 2013.

Isabel Scheuneman Scott, an
AT-CURA student assistant
received a SSHRC Graduate
Scholarship and will join the
Criminology Master’s program
at the Ottawa University

RCMP Const. Frank Grosspietsch, a Firearms Investigation Support Specialist, demonstrated
a variety of dangerous weapons confiscated from gangsters.

Rob Rai, manager of the Safe
Schools Department of the
Surrey School District received
the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond
Jubilee Medal for his focus on
and longtime dedication toward
the care and protection of the
District’s 70,000 students.
BC Premier Christy Clark
presented the medal.

Acting Together SSHRC-CURA Project | Volume 3 Issue 1 | 13

Academic Partners

Kwantlen
Polytechnic
University

Simon Fraser
University

Langara College

University of
Victoria

Community Partners

Surrey SD36

City of Surrey

DIVERSEcity

Progressive Intercultural
Community Services

South Asian Community
Coalition Against Youth
Violence (SACCAYV)

Shaw Communications Inc.

Acting Together SSHRC-CURA Project | Volume 3 Issue 1 | 14

RCMP

Pacific Community Resources
Society

South Asian Student
Advocacy by Teachers

The Indo-Canadian Voice

Acting Together SSHRC-CURA Project | Volume 3 Issue 1 | 15

Contacts
DR. GIRA BHATT
Principal Investigator/Director
gira.bhatt@kpu.ca
604.599.3268
DR. ROGER TWEED
Co-Investigator
roger.tweed@kpu.ca
604.599.3382
STEVE DOOLEY
Co-Investigator
steve.dooley@kpu.ca
604.599.3182
DR. NATHALIE GAGNON
Co-Investigator
nathalie.gagnon@kpu.ca
604.599.3428
SANDRA ALFONSO
Network Coordinator
sandra.alfonso@kpu.ca
604.599.2961
CATHERINE PARLEE
Governance Support
Catherine.parlee@kpu.ca
604.599.3163

Acting Together
C o m m u n i t y- U n i v e r s i t y R e s e a r c h A l l i a n c e P r o j e c t

Prevention of
Youth Gang
in vo lv em en t

actingtogether.ca