Michael Widener and co-PI, Amaya Perez-Brumer at DLSPH, are working with the Hispanic Development Council, an organization that seeks to promote the interests of the Spanish speaking communities in Canada – with a focus on ensuring all members of the community have equitable access to services and opportunities. The project is called Donde Vivimos: How do urban and suburban environments affect caregiving activities of Latinx newcomers.
With the rapid growth in the number of Spanish speaking newcomers from Latin America arriving in Canada over the last ten years, there is a critical need to understand how this community is adapting to their new home. In Donde Vivimos (Where We Live), we aim to uncover the complicated ways urban and suburban built environments enable or hinder Latine newcomers’ ability to thrive. We are also interested in how family and gender dynamics impact mobility and the coordination of important activities like caregiving.
We’re still in the initial stages of exploring our data, but through both our survey and interview data we’re already seeing the importance of stable and adequate housing in maintaining health and well-being. The kind of home we live in can impact the kinds of food we cook to how easy it is to get to the doctor. We expect to have our full report out some time in the spring of 2025.
This timely, community-engaged project will provide useful information to governments and policy makers and will leverage findings for actionable evidence-based recommendations, relevant to those studying the built environment, health, and immigration more generally. The interdisciplinary nature of this project will ensure the findings resonate not only across academic disciplines but also with grassroots organizations that work with and for migrants. These organizations will be able to use the insights from this research to enhance their programs and services, ultimately promoting the inclusion of Latine newcomers into Canadian society.