The Neighbourhood Action Evaluation, and (re)Imagining the NAS

Neighbourhood Action Evaluation

re(Imagining) the NAS

Central Purpose of Each Project

The NAE focuses on the implementation of the Neighbourhood Action Strategy to enhance the NAS’ effectiveness, support accountability, and guide ongoing activities.

As the NAS concluded it’s 5th year of operations, the strategy’s funding partners assembled a team of researchers to undertake a special review. With the help of residents, NAS staff, and supportive organizations, the project team is looking at the successes and challenges of

neighbourhood work in Hamilton, and will develop a conceptual framework, and revised operational plan to guide the NAS.

Key Differences

The NAE informs the implementing partners with findings and recommendations, but does not decide what happens in the NAS. The NAS implementing partners are not required to act on the findings or recommendations provided by the NAE. The NAE does not have the authority to act on recommendations or findings, and it does not answer to the NAS Steering Committee

The project team reports to the NAS Steering Committee (which is made up of the funding partners: the City of Hamilton, Hamilton Community Foundation and Best Start Network).
The project is oriented toward developing a plan for action and change. Findings from the (re)Imagine Project will directly inform decisions made by the NAS funders as they develop an updated strategy beginning in 2018.

Project Start date

2013

2016

Duration & Process

This process evaluation of the implementation of the NAS (action plans, barriers and enablers to progress, role and impacts of CDs, inclusivity and participation) has been ongoing for the last 4 years. The NAE team plans to apply for further academic funding to support the continuation of this evaluation.

(re)Imagine is a special project that is time-limited. The team is working to incorporate the learnings from multiple sources (community conversations, the NAE, and other scholarly work) to determine if/how the NAS can be improved. The project is divided into two parts: PHASE 1 : Conceptual Framework for NAS Determine a clear vision for the strategy, and develop/define the ideas and principles that guide neighbourhood work.

PHASE 2 : A (re)Imagined Operations Plan Identify all of the important elements that make the NAS what it is, and the resources and structures needed to carry the NAS forward.

*Note – The two phases are not entirely distinct from one another. Questions and ideas explored in Phase 1 inform Phase 2 planning, and visa versa.

Project Team

Dr. Sarah Wakefield, Associate Professor, University of Toronto is the Principal Investigator.

The NAE team currently includes:
Carla Borstad Klassen, Research Officer Kayonne Christy, Research Assistant Melanie Pothier, Research Assistant Shruti Ramesh, Research Assistant Nishan Zewge-Abubaker, Research Assistant

PHASE 1 : Conceptual Framework for NAS Arm’s-length research team made up of consulting researchers and residents with experience working in the NAS.

PHASE 2 : A (re)Imagined Operations Plan Working group made up of consulting researchers from Phase I, and staff from the City of Hamilton and HCF.

*Note – In both phases, the “project team” aims to be as open and collaborative as possible, inviting

To learn more about our team’s current and past members, please check out our website: www.nhoodeval.com

anyone interested in the project to contribute their thoughts and ideas. The project depends upon knowledge and expertise shared by lots of people with different ideas and experiences related to the NAS. The Project Team relies upon the willingness of everyone to share their thoughts, and aims to make it as easy as possible for people to participate comfortably. We don’t always do this perfectly. But we try.

Main Activities & Methods

NAE’s data collection methods include:

• ●  Focus groups with planning teams(now annual)
• ●  Interviews with all stakeholdergroups (residents, service providers,CDs, City staff, elected officials)
• ●  Observation notes taken at planningteam meetings

PHASE 1 : Conceptual Framework for NAS Review of scholarly and grey literature, community conversations, and one-on-one interviews with residents both inside and outside of NAS neighbourhoods, residents who are actively or formerly involved in and NAS planning team, NAS funding partners, Community Developers and SPRC staff, City Staff, service providers, and other organizations.

PHASE 2 : A (re)Imagined Operations Plan Community conversations, one-on-one interviews, facilitated workshops, review of similar programmes and strategies from other places, conversations with Community Developers and City Staff.

Project Funding

NAE is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR). It has also been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). These are both national academic research funding bodies. This research is not funded by the City of Hamilton or any other NAS partners.

(re)Imagine is jointly funded by the City of Hamilton and Hamilton Community Foundation. In addition to the work supported by project funding, countless volunteer hours have gone into making the project possible.

Accountability

In doing this evaluation we connect regularly with each NAS planning team, the City of Hamilton, the Hamilton Community Foundation (HCF), and the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton (SPRC). At times these groups offer suggestions and comments on our research, but the NAE researchers ultimately decide what findings to present, how, and to whom.

The project was initiated following a series of discussions amongst NAS steering committee. They determined that a comprehensive reviewf of the strategy as a whole was needed.The City of Hamilton and HCF are responsible for this project.

PHASE 1 : Conceptual Framework for NAS Although funding for the project was provided by the City and HCF, the project team was given the freedom to design and conduct work towards developing a conceptual framework. The project team was encouraged to engage in, and report back on critical conversations, and attempted to create the conditions for

participants to speak openly – even if challenging the current structures and practices of the NAS. A Memorandum of Understanding between the Project Team and the Project Funders was created to define their relationship. The MoU is available here: https://www.reimaginingnas.ca/memorand um-of-understanding

*Note – The Phase 1 project team was tasked only with the job of exploring and making recommendations on the concepts and values that could potentially guide the future of the NAS. The Phase I team did not engage in conversations for the purpose of making recommendations for structural or governance changes to the NAS, although, the team did recommend certain topic areas and questions for discussion in Phase 2.

PHASE 2 : Operations Plan
Phase 2 requires increased collaboration and cooperation between the NAS’s funding partners, consulting researchers, and the residents and staff working on this project. The consulting researchers report to and work alongside the City and HCF. Both the City and HCF are accountable to their own governing bodies: Hamilton City Council and HCF Board of Directors, respectively.

Project Outcomes

We share all of our public reports on our website: www.nhoodeval.com , and hope that project findings will be used to inform decision-making around the NAS.

We also share our findings with other researchers through journal articles and academic conferences, and with policymakers and the public through public lectures, short reports, and neighbourhood-based newspapers.

The (re)Imagine Project is part of an active effort to make change to the way NAS operates in Hamilton.
By the end of Phase 2, the project will produce a set of recommendations that will help the City and HCF decide how to move the NAS forward.

To find out more about the (re)Imagine project and to stay connected, visit our website: www.reimaginingnas.ca
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