Community Voices compels us to listen to the views and experiences of people who have been homeless and who have accessed human and social services in Calgary. The purpose of the Community Voices study was to stimulate collaborative participation with people experiencing homelessness in an effort to collectively influence program and policy evaluation and development. The study had three major objectives:
- To engage the experience and participation of persons previously or currently experiencing homelessness in gathering and sharing feedback into existing programs and services, and into policies at the municipal, provincial and/or federal levels;
- To heighten public visibility of issues surrounding homelessness, by sharing the stories and experiences of those affected and those who serve them; and
- To expand, coordinate and deepen research capabilities of all participants.
The Community Voices project, which began in 2011, was spearheaded by Homeless Awareness Calgary (now dissolved) in collaboration with researchers and students at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary and community experts. Community Voices is a Participatory Action Research project which is defined by a collaboration of equal partnership between researchers and community experts. Co-researchers jointly agree on the goals and purpose of the research, collaborate to determine the nature of data collection and analysis, as well as synthesize results cooperatively.