Current Projects

Inter-guide: a compass for the youth at the crossroads of cultures!

INTERCULTURAL PEER-HELPER PROJECT
“Development of a model of peer-helper intervention for crime-prevention, involving youth from ethno-cultural communities”
(From March 2009-February 2012)

This project is based on research conducted by the Intercultural Institute of Montreal, between 1998 and 2006. It will be carried out in the Villeray/St.Michel neighbourhood and is directed, in particular, towards the Haitian and Latin-American communities. It addresses the problem of anti-social behaviour among youth, which could, eventually, lead to criminality.

The project aims primarily to develop a new model of intervention for the prevention of criminality among young people. The intercultural peer-helpers who will be trained, will intervene to counter the factors of recognizable risk, such as peer rejection, inadequate parental practices, absence of community attachment, school drop-out, runaways, prostitution, etc., all of which are often caused, or aggravated, by “identity malaise” that youth in these communities could experience.

Moreover, our project is motivated by the notion of “community empowerment” that is, the communities taking charge themselves in confronting these problems. The peer- helpers will be recruited and trained with this objective. They will be required to work closely with all the actors in the designated communities. In that sense, the project will progress in close partnership with the organizations, Trans-Art 2000 and the Centre d’Orientation Paralégale et Sociale pour Immigrants (COPSI). These organizations are actively involved in the targeted communities.

The project covers a period of three years, initially a group of ten young adults, between the ages of 20 and 30 years, will be trained in an intercultural approach to helping relationships. These peer-helpers will work with teen-agers from 12 to 16 years old, identified as being at risk. Initially, the peer-helpers will organize workshops with groups of teen-agers in the partnership organizations. Concurrently, they will work in the field, meeting and accompanying teen-agers in the places where they gather, such as parks, gymnasiums and cafés. Finally, the peer-helpers, in with the support of the trainers, will offer sensitization workshops for school and law-enforcement personnel: these meetings will facilitate dialogue on the experiences of Haitian and Latin-American youth, which may help to better understand the anti-social behaviour that stems from the “identity malaise” that inhabits them.

Project director: Kalpana Das, Executive Director of IIM

Bilan de la première année du processus de développement
de la ressource innovante Pairs-aidants interculturels, 2009-2010
(PDF document in French only, 240 kb ) to download.

For further information, please contact:

François Fortin, Agent of the project
Tel.: 514 288-7229
Fax: 514 844-6800
E-mail: pairsaidants.iim@gmail.com OR OU pairs-aidants@iim.qc.ca

With financial support from

The National Centre for Crime-Prevention, Public Security Canada

INTERCULTURAL NETWORKING PROJECT FOR WOMEN
(From March 2008 to February 2009)

This project addresses the problem of social isolation among immigrant women living in Quebec, specifically in two areas of Montreal: Park-Extension and Centre Sud.

The main objective is to encourage the participation of immigrant women within the Quebec society, reducing isolation by fostering dialogue and exchange, recognizing the value of their cultural origins, and the sharing of their knowledge and their practices.

Meetings are organized around themes touching on various preoccupations in women’s lives. The discussion will encourage intercultural exchange between the participants of different origins, facilitate mutual learning of the knowledge and customs of different cultures, and help prepare them in promoting dialogue with the host society. In addition, the project aims to sensitize social practitioners to the necessity of validating the cultural knowledge and practices of these women as a means of combating social isolation.

This project has been developed in partnership with the organizations, Afrique au féminin, Carrefour de ressources en interculturel, and the Centre d’éducation et d’action des femmes de Montréal.

With financial assistance from the Ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés Culturelles.

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