Red Deer Local Immigration Partnership and Red Deer Polytechnic professors are teaming up to identify and map out anti-racism assets and resources in the city.
Residents are being asked to fill out the Anti-Racism Asset Mapping Survey, to help identify individuals, organizational resources, physical spaces, institutions, associations, programs, policies, laws and services that could be used to combat racism.
“In order to make Red Deer a home community that welcomes all, we must first identify the resources that can help to make life more inclusive and where people can feel as if they belong,” said Gordana Jovanovic, outreach and communications co-ordinator at Red Deer Local Immigration Partnership.
The information collected from this survey will be analyzed and presented to the Red Deer Local Immigration Partnership. Findings may also be formally presented at academic conferences, and a manuscript may be submitted for academic publication.
The survey will be headed by professors of sociology at Red Deer Polytechnic, Dr. Choon Lee Chai and Dr. Jones Adjei. The survey aims to aid in identifying anti-racism resources in Red Deer, with the goal of improving the quality of life in Central Alberta.
This project received funding from the Canada Race Relations Foundation through the Red Deer Local Immigration Partnership.
In 2021, the Red Deer Local Immigration Partnership conducted a survey and constructed a report on racism in Red Deer.
“The results of the survey conducted in 2021 indicated that 49.8 per cent of Red Deerians believed racism in Red Deer was worse than other places and it also revealed the rate of discrimination against visible minorities compared to white people, and the places in which racism occurred more frequently,” said Jovanovic.
The report included information on the definitions of racism and how different kinds of racist action are experienced by minority groups.
The previous report identified the effects of racism but the new survey is different, as it uses a process called “asset mapping,” which is a procedure for identifying important community services and resources, including population skill set, physical spaces, institutions, organizational resources and components of the local economy.
“The survey will employ the process of asset mapping to identify anti-racism resources in Red Deer, which we hope can improve anti-racism efforts in Central Alberta,” said Chai.
To participate in the online survey click here. Those who are interested in the focus groups can contact Gordana Jovanovic at gordana.jovanovic@rdlip.ca.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
