Our Community
The HOPE center is comprised of an interdisciplinary team of faculty, community members and volunteers committed to improving the health and and health equity of sexual and gender minority persons, with a special focus on the role of intersectional identities and experiences.
Our research studies focus on the health and wellbeing of persons who identify as:
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Gay
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Bisexual
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Lesbian
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Queer
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Pansexual
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Two-Spirit
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Asexual
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Other sexual minority
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Trans
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Gender queer
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Non-binary
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Other gender minority
Our research also includes Indigenous peoples, Black people, People of Colour, and those who are affected by or are living with HIV or other stigmatizing conditions.
UPCOMING EVENT
The HOPE Centre will host its first Community Symposium event in 2024. Read below to find out more!
The HOPE Centre will host its first Community Symposium event early 2024. The event’s aim is to open up communication and foster relationships with community members and organizations, health organizations, and researchers. This inclusive and participatory process can help focus research targets and lead to the creation of community lead focus groups, such as our Black Research Group and Trans Research Group.
Focus groups can open up community member discussion, and generate questions that can steer new research into areas that may not always be apparent to researchers. Focus groups increase the possibility for diversity and inclusion within the 2SLGBTQIA+ community by actively inviting diverse community members to participate in research that affects them directly.
The Community Symposium Event will focus on:
Community Engagement: Seeking input, insights, and perspectives from community members and organizations to ensure that its
initiatives are relevant, impactful, and inclusive.
Network Creation: Establishment of partnerships and networks critical to HOPE Centre’s work.
Collaborative Approaches: Fostering community-building, consultation, knowledge translation, capacity-building, and mentorship.
Community Events
Peer-led, Community Informed
One of our primary goals is to make research not feel like research. We want our participants to walk away feeling like they've been part of a unique and interesting experience, and that their participation will have a direct, positive impact within the real world and on the issues that are important to them and their community.
Community based research (CBR) is at the heart of HOPE’s research approach. By including the voices of our community members in the research process, we can tackle policy change, create new innovative strategies and interventions, and reduce social and health disparities, all while empowering the diverse communities we work with.
Community Based Research Is
Working Together, Learning Together
Community based research goes beyond collaboration, it is a process of co-learning for both community members and researchers. Doing so allows us to focus on topics and issues that are directly relevant to the needs of the communities we partner and collaborate with.
A key part of community engagement and co-learning is ensuring that knowledge gathered through the help of our communities is directly benefiting everyone involved. A core goal of the HOPE Centre is to ensure that all knowledge gathered through our research efforts reaches the community members in an inclusive, culturally safe and accessible format.
Supporting You
The HOPE Centre is committed to providing a safe speaking platform for anyone who identifies as a sexual or gender minority, to anyone who is a member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, or is a client of its community outreach services. It welcomes all identities. Participation in HOPE Centre events and groups is voluntary, and will be kept confidential.
Through its continued collaborative research efforts, the HOPE Centre will focus on developing evidence-based programs to promote health and well-being, counselling services and interventions, and community centered evidence-informed policies.
Our Community Partners
