Social Innovation & Social Enterprises

Advancing social equity and addressing the contemporary problems that beset our world’s cities and citizens.

Ryerson faculty and students have coalesced into a community of social entrepreneurs and innovators, creating products, services and systems that help to advance social equity and address the contemporary problems that beset our world’s cities and citizens. These city building efforts are made possible through partnerships with government, industry and community organizations.

Partnership for Change: The RBC Immigrant, Diversity and Inclusion Project

Faculty

Alexandra Fiocco (Psychology) received support to research the benefits of mindfulness training for older adult Canadian immigrants who often face the lowest income rates in Canada, leading to physical and cognitive decline due to the chronic stress related to economic insecurity.

Mandana Vahabi (Nursing) received support to develop a web-based interactive e-learning module to promote mental health care and resilience for temporary foreign workers such as live-in caregivers who face many barriers to accessing health care services.

Lu Wang (Geography and Environmental Studies) received support to investigate ethnic grocery retailing and healthy food provision in marginalized ethno-cultural neighbourhoods in the Greater Toronto Area, with the aim of informing practice and policy-making in underserved communities.

Students

Vivian Huang, a PhD student in Psychology, received support to conduct a study of older Chinese Canadian immigrants and the traditional practice of filial piety. The study’s findings will serve to inform current community services and the development of community programming for Chinese older adults.

Yemisi Onilude, a master’s student in Environmental Applied Science and Management, received support to analyze the impact of changing settlement patterns of newcomers into outlying rural environments and their ability to access amenities and services that are known determinants of health.

Vanessa Wachuku, a PhD student in Policy Studies, received support to investigate the impact of immigration detention on the mental health of immigrants, with the aim of informing future policy decisions in relation to the adoption of alternatives to immigration detention.