Type of Research:

Program Design      

Project Description:

Our members (domestic workers) have expressed an interest in starting a cooking club where they can share recipes, cook together on a budget. If possible, they would also like to learn cooking skills to be able to obtain a certificate at the end of the course.        

We will share the results of this experience with our partners whose members often have integration, financial and isolation issues. They may use this program as a model to teach others how to meal plan and budget. The developments of the project will be posted on our website and space will be reserved in our newsletter for the participants or organizing students.            

Research Description:

The project is based on community organizing and food solidarity. It addresses issues such as poverty, food insecurity, isolation, marginalization, class, gender and race. "There are roughly 4000 collective kitchen groups in the province of Quebec. Their popularity is based on the fact that they lower food costs, provide a social space where individuals can break with their isolation and prove that collective and cooperative forms of work are superior to competitive ones. 43% of wage-earners in Montreal live below the poverty line. 50% of residents in Verdun (excluding Nuns Island) live below the poverty line. Many of these residents are young workers and students.

We would like to offer services and activities to these sectors of the population. To do that we need to extend our schedule to evening hours. The researcher/organizer will work with the Director of activities in organizing and animating student and youth based collective kitchen groups.

Project Description:

The Montreal Media Co-op is looking for a student, preferably in Journalism or Communications, to undertake a research and writing project for the upcoming semester. The student would be expected to work with members of the MMC is researching one or several topics through various means, including Access to Information Requests, archival research and interviews. While familiarity with journalistic research methods is a plus, training will be provided to the student as well.

The research will revolve around a clear topic with the goal of publishing at least one in-depth investigative piece. The topic will be defined based on the needs identified by the MMC and take into account the student's research interests. Possible topics include: Housing and homelessness Poverty rates/anti-poverty programs Environmental initiatives on Montreal island Police brutality/killings and accountability Women, queer and trans- issues in Montreal Race and racism in Montreal.

Project Description:

Food security around the Concordia community is a big part of the People's Potato mandate. Even though our daily lunch servings at our soup kitchen are open to anyone (not only students but also members of the community), the homeless do not always have access to the university. Last year we attempted to address this by offering sandwiches 2 times a week outside between Guy and Atwater metros. Since we are not specialized in feeding the homeless, we are re-evaluating how effective our street serving initiative has been and whether we can be more efficient by supporting (through resources) other groups which specialize in tackling hunger on the streets. Homelessness remains an issue around Concordia and still needs to be addressed.

We are a project of the House of friendship in the Plateau Mont- Royal, which is a non-for profit community organization. We are organizing two weekly farmer's markets, one on Thursday evenings in the Mile End and one on Sunday mornings in the Plateau Mont Royal. Our mission is to give access to fresh local  food from small family farms to the residents in the city/neighbourhood.

Research description:

We would like to know from the vendors as well as from clients perceive our farmer's markets: Here a few goals for the survey:

-          To find out the most effective publicity strategies for our market (how 

            can we reach people best)

-          To help us to improve our service to clients and vendors