Thalia Lang
Steppe to Screen: Language Preservation Project
This gamified language education program provided children from the Kazakh-Canadian community in Vancouver with opportunities to connect to their language and culture. With the support of volunteers, children designed a learning application (http://steppe2screen.com) for learning Kazakh. UBC Student Project Leads: Kamila Maral and Zhanerke Zhumash Community Partner: Qazaq BC Grant Type: Chapman & Innovation Grant Year […]
Digital Bridges: Intergenerational Tech Empowerment Program
This intergenerational digital literacy program responded to a well-documented and urgent community need to support elderly Chinese immigrants with challenges in aging, navigating language barriers, and adapting to a rapidly digitizing world. Youth volunteers taught seniors scam prevention, safe use of artificial tools, and more – all while building their own leadership, teaching, and cross-cultural […]
Kits Kids Cook!
This project aimed to strengthen children’s food literacy by providing accessible, inclusive, and hands-on opportunities to learn about nutrition and cooking through Kitsilano Neighbourhood House’s low-cost summer camp. Workshops paired nutrition education with a hands-on cooking or food activity to encourage children to explore ingredients, develop practical skills, and build positive experiences with food. UBC […]
Therapeutic Tunes: Live Music for Hospice and Long-Term Care Residents
This project delivered outdoor live music events for hospice clients and long-term care residents to spend meaningful time with loved ones in a relaxed, non-clinical environment. This helped reduce social isolation, provided opportunities for families to gather, and established a foundation for future music-based programming within the Surrey Hospice Society UBC Student Project Lead: Aasim Khan […]
The Legacy of Resilience Mural
This community-engaged art project was developed in partnership with Hazel Trembath Elementary School in Coquitlam following the school fire on October 14, 2023. The project aimed to help students maintain a sense of belonging and connection to their school community while their school remained displaced at Winslow Centre. UBC Student Project Lead: Aida Ghapanchizadeh Community […]
Empowered Aging: Digital Health and Chronic Care Navigation for Seniors
The Healthy Aging Collective is a student-led initiative founded by two UBC medical students with a goal of improving health literacy among older adults. This work is grounded in the belief that health education should go beyond simply sharing medical information – helping older adults recognize important health changes, understand prevention strategies, navigate available resources, […]
BELLA COOLA – SUMMER SCIENCE OUTREACH
This partnership developed engaging, hands-on STEM workshops along with land-based learning; tying in Nuxalk education. This initiative aimed to address systemic barriers that limit Indigenous youth in remote communities from accessing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) opportunities comparable to their urban peers and to also inspire the next generation of Indigenous thinkers and innovators. […]
DERMATOLOGY IN ACTION: BRIDGING GAPS IN SKIN HEALTH ACCESS
This project addressed gaps in skin health care for unhoused and underserved individuals in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside by providing skin health kits to the community. This project combined prevention, care, and education to foster awareness of skin health in a population at elevated risk for preventable skin conditions. UBC Student Project Lead: Kimia Ameri Community Partner: […]
ANTICIPATORY ACTION AND VANCOUVER HEAT WAVES
This project strengthened community preparedness for extreme heat in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood by hosting a cool-kit building station that tailored solutions to vulnerable groups for at-risk for high heat health-related complications, such as seniors, newcomers, and families. UBC Student Project Lead: Sophia Li Community Partner: Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House Grant Type: Connect to Community Grant […]
BRIDGING GAPS IN SPORTS ACCESS FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES IN SURREY
This project expanded the Kids Adaptive Sports Program from Vancouver to Surrey to fill the significant gap in sports opportunities for children with disabilities. In partnership with Taking Strides Vancouver, this project introduced participants to four different sports, providing one-on-one mentorship to help them build skills at their own pace. UBC Student Project Lead: Riley Lam […]
SAFAR WITH PRIDE
This project addresses the social challenges faced by queer South Asians—particularly the lack of culturally relevant, accessible, and affirming educational resources. Rather than relying solely on traditional in-person programming, this project embraced a digital-first approach in creating the Desi Queer Online Learning Hub – making resources available to anyone, anywhere, anytime. UBC Student Project Lead: Simrat […]
GREEN CAREERS FOR YOUTH: VIDEO SERIES
This project sought to bridge systemic barriers faced by underrepresented communities in accessing green jobs. The project produced six impactful episodes and seven supplementary social media posts, amplifying key themes of climate justice, circularity, urban sustainability, and ecological restoration. By leveraging storytelling and social media, the project created lasting resources for youth empowerment and contributed […]
EXPRESSIONS OF RESILIENCE: ART FOR WELL-BEING IN THE HEART OF THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE
This project utilized art as a vehicle to amplify well-being within the Downtown Eastside while supported the inclusion of Indigenous-centred workshops, led by duly compensated community members. By bridging the gap between survival-focused services and holistic well-being, this project created meaningful opportunities for creative expression, community connection, and personal empowerment among women facing significant life […]
BREAKING DOWN LANGUAGE BARRIERS AND EXPANDING RESEARCH DIVERSITY
Despite Canada’s embrace of multiculturalism, language barriers remain a common experience, compromising one’s fundamental autonomy, voice, and rights. By offering accessible translation services and eing integrated in both healthcare and research, this project sought to advance health equity in British Columbia and improve the health outcomes for under-served, minority, and other marginalized communities. UBC Student […]
A PATH TO WELLNESS: NEWCOMER YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH
The Path to Wellness Project aimed to address significant gaps in mental health support for newcomer youth in British Columbia, a group uniquely vulnerable to the challenges of displacement and resettlement. Recognizing the critical need for accessible and culturally informed mental health resources, the project took a holistic approach by combining education, community-building, and direct […]
COOKING UP STEAM IN RURAL BRITISH COLUMBIA WITH FLAVOURFUL SCIENCE
This project successfully delivered engaging, hands-on workshops to rural schools in British Columbia, addressing critical educational gaps in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM). Recognizing that rural students face significant barriers to accessing STEAM education—including limited resources, geographic isolation, and reduced exposure to STEAM career pathways. This project aimed to bridge these gaps and […]
BELLA BELLA PHYLO(MON) DIGITAL CARD GAME
Indigenous knowledge, defined as “an ancient, communal, holistic and spiritual knowledge that encompasses every aspect of human existence” (Brascoupé and Mann, 2001), plays a crucial role in shaping one’s self-identity, a community’s uniqueness, and connection with the world (Harbord et al., 2022). This project aims to safeguard Indigenous knowledge and facilitate its transmission through culturally […]
SEEDS OF HOPE
For many, living in an urban area comes at the expense of developing a meaningful relationship and connection with nature. To raise consciousness and plant seeds of connectedness, garden workshops and community gatherings were held to empower youth in the Guilford community to cultiavte a personal and reciprocal relationship with nature. UBC Student Project Lead: Kiara […]
SEXUAL HEALTH WORKSHOPS FOR HOMELESS YOUTH
Sexual health workshops provided by healthcare experts, resources, and care packages were offered to homeless youth to promote safe sex practices. Workshops and resource creation centred on diverse, inclusive, and non-binary sexual health and education. UBC Student Project Leads: Sriya Srivastava, Nana Yamamoto Community Partner: Covenant House Vancouver Grant Type: Connect 2 Community Grant Year of […]
MEMORIES OF MARPOLE
This project invited people from the Marpole community to gather, connect, and share about their connections to the neighbourhood through Art. These creative opportunities to explore the Memories of Marpole were collected and incorporated into a final art piece shared with the community. UBC Student Project Lead: Catiyana Adam Community Partner: Marpole Neighbourhood House Grant Type: […]
IMMIGRANT WOMEN’S ACCESS TO SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHCARE COMMUNITY COMPASS
This project empowered the voice of immigrant and refugee women in sharing their experiences navigating sexual and reproductive healthcare (SRH) in British Columbia. Through interviews and group discussions, immigrant and refugee women were invited to share their ability to access and utilize SRH services, including appointments with physicians, testing, procedures, and other resources. This information […]
GENDER-INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE IN FRENCH
Gender-inclusive French language workshops were offered at two local secondary schools to provide students with a toolkit to be better allies in and outside the classroom. Workshops invited students to read a French comic book (“Le Voyage D’Alex”) exploring the experiences of a non-binary character in their journey of self-discovery, navigating challenges, and finding their […]
PROMOTING EYE-GAZE DEVICE IN RARE DISEASE COMMUNITY
People with certain neurodegenerative diseases or injuries such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Rett Syndrome frequently experience a loss of motor control and speech, severely impacting their ability to communicate with others. Eye-gaze devices support communication for people experiencing these impairments by tracking eye-movements on a screen to select and vocalize words. It is […]
PROMOTING HEALTH LITERACY IN NEWCOMER CHILDREN
Immigrant and refugee populations in Canada often face complex challenges in accessing health literacy due to language barriers and the navigation of different cultural views of science and health approaches. Health literacy is important to early health promotion, education to empower patients to self-advocate, and prevent treatment non-compliance. This project helped decrease gaps in health […]
COMMUNITY BAKING WORKSHOPS
Free baking workshops were offered to vulnerable populations in Vancouver to create opportunities for social connection and community inclusion for people experiencing housing instability, developmental disabilities, criminal justice involvement, and mental health concerns. Through sharing experiences in baking delicious food, these workshops created a supportive environment which helped decrease social isolation within marginalized communities and […]
RICHMOND COMMUNITY HEAT RELIEF STATION
Extreme weather events in recent years have disproportionately impacted vulnerable and marginalized community members, including seniors, low-income households, and new immigrants. This project hosted cooling stations which provided immediate heat relief to community members by offering cooled refreshments, sunscreens, hand fans, and resources on extreme heat protection. These events further helped raise about how to […]
GENCONNECT APNA MELA
The Apna Mela 2024 was a free festival created to increase intergenerational connections between youth and seniors within local South Asian and Punjabi communities. This festival focused on decreasing social isolation among seniors in these communities by creating opportunities for youth and seniors to connect over workshops centred around culture, food, heritage, and traditions. UBC […]
EMPOWERING INDIGENOUS YOUTH THROUGH STEMM WORKSHOPS
A free workshop series was curated and offered to Indigenous Youth, ages 13 to 21, across Metro Vancouver to learn more about STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine) careers directly from Indigenous professionals working in these industries. These professionals presented on their career journey, answered questions, and offered career guidance. Resources discussing Indigenous educational and […]
TAKING STRIDES – TOWARDS INCLUSIVE SPORTS FOR YOUTH WITH DISABILITIES
Although affordable sports programs are often available for younger children with disabilities, these programs frequently have age cutoffs that shut out older youth with disabilities (YWD) from participating. This project collaborated with the Taking Strides Children Foundation to increase accessibility of summer programs for older YWD by offering sports sessions led by professional coaches experienced […]
“EVERY OTHER MONDAY” EAST VAN MIGRANT WORKERS POETRY COLLECTIVE
The East Van Migrant Workers Poetry Collective is a project which invited migrant workers across the Joyce-Collingwood neighbourhood area to form a solidarity network of mutual aid, political education (e.g. tenant rights workshops), and cultural-oriented craft work (e.g. poetry reading/writing). Poetry writing sessions, events, and zines were organized and created to offer migrant workers creative […]
WELLNESS POD: HEALTHY TEACHERS HEALTHY CHILDREN
Teachers and advisors make up 7% of the workforce in BC, and there has been little focus on improving working conditions to support their mental health. Carolina’s project hopes to bring the conceptualized “Wellness Pod” to life, a space designed with biophilic principles in mind meant to maximize wellness recuperation throughout an educator’s day. The […]
COLLABORATING WITH THE NISGA’A VALLEY TO INDIGENIZE CHANGE BC
In partnership with the Nisga’a Valley Health Authority, Truman’s project aims to facilitate the incorporation of Indigenous-led, traditional, and land-based physical activities within kinesiology exercise prescriptions normally delivered in primary care settings. By engaging with 4 Nisga’a communities through discussions and sharing circles, traditional and/or land-based physical activities will be identified and implemented in collaboration […]