1. Neighbourhood Houses: Developing Social Capacity Among Newcomers to Canada Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development June 28-30, 2016, Seoul
Sean R. Lauer
Department of Sociology
University of British Columbia
Miu Chung Yan
School of Social Work

2. Neighbourhood Houses in Vancouver
Settlement House Movement
Work towards improving the quality of life for local residents
Participation of community members in the organization’s daily activities
Multi-service organizations

3. Our Project
The Possibilities and Challenges of a Place-based Approach to Strengthening Urban Communities
Four-year community-based research project
Research Advisory Group
Direct involvement of the sector: Four executive directors from neighbourhood houses.
Multidisciplinary research team: Sociology, Social Work, History, Political Science

4. Service Users Survey
Target population: Users of the services of neighbourhood houses in Metro Vancouver
675 respondents from 14 Neighbourhood Houses using a random selection strategy
65% newcomers; 77% women; 54% employed; 30% university degree

5. Developing Social Capacity
Neighbourhood Houses facilitate residents working together to achieve collective goals
Integrate participants with other individuals and wider society
Allow for the learning and practice of important civic and political skills
Provide both formal and informal recognition for a person’s contributions

6. Key Variables Social capacity: 4 items of self reported change
Working with people from different backgrounds, decision making, organizing and managing events, and speaking in front of others
Stayed about the same, increased a little, increased a lot
NH Involvement
How long involved, how often visiting, and variety of programs involved with
Newcomers: Those born outside of Canada

7. Bivariate Descriptive Statistics
Perceived changes in social skills through involvement at neighbourhood houses
 (%)
Place of Birth
Total
Canada
Outside Canada
Increases in social skills through involvement
A little
A lot
Has your ability to work with people from different backgrounds changed? 42 34 29 46 38
Have your decision making abilities changed? 26 30 19 48
Have your skills in organizing or managing events and programs changed? 36 21 24 17 23
Have your skills in speaking in front of other people changed? 35 27 22 32

8. Multivariate Models Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Age 0.003 (0.002) -0.002
(0.002)
-0.002
-0.003
University
-0.067
(0.081)
0.002
(0.076)
-0.066
(0.075)
Employed
0.190 *
(0.074)
0.124
(0.069)
0.116
(0.068)
Sex
0.297
***
(0.087)
0.230 **
0.181
(0.080)
English
-0.056
(0.020)
-0.062
(0.019)
-0.014
Involvement
0.395
(0.040)
0.387
(0.039)
Newcomer
0.450
(0.078)
Constant
-0.465
(0.158)
-0.133
(0.151)
-0.339
(0.152)
adj. R-sq
0.032
0.155
0.194

9. Key Findings
Self reported social capacity development increases as neighbourhood house involvement increases in length, intensity and variety.
Newcomers report larger increases in social capacity development than those born in Canada
These findings hold when controlling for key variables, including English language ability

10. Thank You! www.nhvproject.ca
Social Science and Humanities Research Council for financial support
Our research assistants who play an integral role in the collection and analysis of our data
All 14 neighbourhood houses in the lower mainland for their time and support of our research