Among its many research activities, the following are new projects at the Centre for International Statistics.

Cultural diversity symposium planned

The Centre has received funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage to organize a national symposium to help further the understanding of cultural diversity among those involved in social policy development work. The symposium, entitled "Inclusive social policy development: Building diversity-affirming communities," will be held in February 1997. It will provide training on ways to incorporate inclusive policies and practices into social policy development work to professionals and volunteers in social and economic institutions, including social planning organizations, United Way/Centraide agencies, and municipal planning departments.

"Many of these organizations have expressed a need for innovative ideas to ensure that the diversity of Canada's population is considered when policies and programs are being developed. The symposium will help respond to that need," says CCSD executive Director David Ross.

Centre establishes gender research program

A new research program underway at the Centre focuses on the changing socio-economic conditions of women in Canada. The goal of the program is to provide sound and original quantitative research to support the work of groups advocating for gender equality. One of the first projects in this program was a report for the National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women profiling poverty among visible minority women. Another project currently underway, which is funded by Status of Women Canada, will investigate the financial impact of the Canada Health and Social Transfer on women who receive social assistance. Two other projects – on gender and disability, and gender and literacy – are currently at the design stage. For more information about the Centre's gender research program, contact Katherine Scott or Vivian Shalla.

Welfare-to-work programs examined

Work has begun on a study of welfare-to-work programs across Canada, with funding from Human Resources Development Canada. Vivian Shalla, a research associate at the Centre, and Carolyne Gorlick, an associate professor at King's College, The University of Western Ontario, are the principal investigators for this project. In the first phase, an inventory of the wide variety of welfare-to-work programs emerging across the country will be developed. In the second phase scheduled to start next summer, the researchers will undertake case studies of selected communities to determine the factors that contribute to successful welfare-to-work strategies. They will focus on welfare-to-work programs that target single mothers and their families.

Drs. Shalla and Gorlick are developing a new model to assess the interactive impact of program design, community resources and individual/family capacities on program success. Data gathered in this study will provide a wealth of useful information for policy-makers and community groups that is not currently available.

Canadian Council on Social Development, 190 O'Connor Street, Suite 100, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2R3