Mobilizing Homelessness Research Toronto February 2011 Presenters Stephen

Mobilizing Homelessness Research Toronto - February 2011

Presenters Stephen Gaetz Associate Dean, Faculty of Education, York University Director, Canadian Homelessness Research Network (CHRN) Allyson Marsolais Project Manager, CHRN Stephanie Vasko Manager, 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 GAP! • Decision Makers • Service Providers • General Public

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

Our goals: 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.

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.

the homeless hub www. homelesshub. com

Our Audiences Students Service Providers General Public Policy Makers News Media Researchers

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

Homeless Hub Next Steps Added features: • French Hub • Webinars • Enhanced networking section • Trends in social media New sections: • Service Providers • ‘Solutions’ to homelessness Evaluation…Continuous Improvement

Marketing & Communications Strategy Creating new content Social Media

New content: e-Newsletter

New content: Research Summaries

New content: Blog

Social Media: • Facebook Page • Twitter

WHY Social Media?

Social Media FACE BOOK

Social Media TWITT ER

Questions? . . . And then on to the workshop

Exercise 1 Plan a social media campaign around the example provided: 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 2 Continuing 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 3 Compose 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).