The research team welcomes Andrea Bobadilla as the Graduate Research Coordinator for the study. As a multi-sector collaborative study, Andrea will be co-hosted by the Migrant Mothers Project at the University of Toronto and Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services where she will assist with coordinating community engagement and research activities. Andrea brings with her years of community organizing experience advocating for access to health care for various migrant groups as well as her research experience as a doctoral candidate in the Health Promotion field of the Health and Rehabilitation Sciences program at Western University. Her doctoral research focuses on how migrant women’s health status and access to health services are impacted by their participation in the former caregiver program.

Working with an interdisciplinary team from both community agencies and university researchers, the study seeks to better understand how immigrant communities engage in “transformative resilience” by challenging and overcoming systemic inequalities and barriers they face in Canada. We aim to (i) investigate how and why immigrant communities mobilize collectively against root causes associated with challenges and adversities they face; (ii) document impacts from these collective actions on immigrant communities and on the host society; and (iii) build knowledge about institutional supports and resources that can strengthen collective civic action among immigrant communities.

We are now inviting partners to join the Transformative Resilience study as Advisory Committee members. Advisory Committee members will be asked to provide strategic guidance to support the development of the project as well as attend bi-monthly meetings beginning in October. For those interested or for more information please contact Andrea at andrea.bobadilla@utoronto.ca.