Neighbourhood Houses: Developing Social Capacity Among Newcomers to Canada Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development June 28-30, 2016, Seoul Sean R. Lauer Department of Sociology University of British Columbia Miu Chung Yan School of Social Work

Neighbourhood Houses in Vancouver Settlement House Movement Work towards improving the quality of life for local residents Participation of community members in the organization’s daily activities Multi-service organizations

Our Project The Possibilities and Challenges of a Place-based Approach to Strengthening Urban Communities Four-year community-based research project Research Advisory Group Direct involvement of the sector: Four executive directors from neighbourhood houses. Multidisciplinary research team: Sociology, Social Work, History, Political Science

Service Users Survey Target population: Users of the services of neighbourhood houses in Metro Vancouver 675 respondents from 14 Neighbourhood Houses using a random selection strategy 65% newcomers; 77% women; 54% employed; 30% university degree

Developing Social Capacity Neighbourhood Houses facilitate residents working together to achieve collective goals Integrate participants with other individuals and wider society Allow for the learning and practice of important civic and political skills Provide both formal and informal recognition for a person’s contributions

Key Variables Social capacity: 4 items of self reported change Working with people from different backgrounds, decision making, organizing and managing events, and speaking in front of others Stayed about the same, increased a little, increased a lot NH Involvement How long involved, how often visiting, and variety of programs involved with Newcomers: Those born outside of Canada

Bivariate Descriptive Statistics Perceived changes in social skills through involvement at neighbourhood houses  (%)   Place of Birth Total Canada Outside Canada Increases in social skills through involvement A little A lot Has your ability to work with people from different backgrounds changed? 42 34 29 46 38 Have your decision making abilities changed? 26 30 19 48 Have your skills in organizing or managing events and programs changed? 36 21 24 17 23 Have your skills in speaking in front of other people changed? 35 27 22 32

Multivariate Models Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Age 0.003 (0.002) -0.002   (0.002) -0.002 -0.003 University -0.067 (0.081) 0.002 (0.076) -0.066 (0.075) Employed 0.190 * (0.074) 0.124 (0.069) 0.116 (0.068) Sex 0.297 *** (0.087) 0.230 ** 0.181 (0.080) English -0.056 (0.020) -0.062 (0.019) -0.014 Involvement 0.395 (0.040) 0.387 (0.039) Newcomer 0.450 (0.078) Constant -0.465 (0.158) -0.133 (0.151) -0.339 (0.152) adj. R-sq 0.032 0.155 0.194

Key Findings Self reported social capacity development increases as neighbourhood house involvement increases in length, intensity and variety. Newcomers report larger increases in social capacity development than those born in Canada These findings hold when controlling for key variables, including English language ability

Thank You! www.nhvproject.ca Social Science and Humanities Research Council for financial support Our research assistants who play an integral role in the collection and analysis of our data All 14 neighbourhood houses in the lower mainland for their time and support of our research www.nhvproject.ca