In association with Simon Fraser University & Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute
Simon Fraser University
Great Northern Way Campus
555 Great Northern Way
Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 1E2
tel: 1.604.268.7306
fax: 1.604.268.7309
email: act4hlth@sfu.ca
website: www.sfu.ca/act4hlth
Capacity Development and the Urban Community Access Program at MacMorran
Community Centre (Theme I)
Investigator: Leslie Bella
Research Partner: MacMorran Community Centre
Background
This project is a collaborative venture between the ACTION for Health initiative based in St
John’s Newfoundland and the MacMorran Community Centre located in a low-income housing
development owned by Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Authority. The MacMorran
Community Centre has a community access site under the federal government’s Community
Access Program (CAP), and is committed to a capacity development in this and in all its other
program areas.
Project Description
This research explores the contribution a community access site in a low-income community can
make to capacity development at both the individual and community levels.
Phase one of this project consists of two components and was completed over the summer of
2004. The first component constructs the history of the MacMorran CAP from the documents
available in the MacMorran Community Centre archives. The second reviews relevant literature
on community capacity building. Drafts of both this historical reconstruction and the literature
review were shared with key informants, who identified corrections and added significant
dimensions to the discussion of capacity development.
Phase two consists of in-depth interviews with 20 – 30 residents of the MacMorran community, to
identify the contribution the community access has made to both their personal capacity
development and to that of the community. Ethical approval was applied for and received in the
fall of 2004, and interviews begun in November 2004. The interview transcripts are analyzed at
two levels. First, a narrative is constructed for each participant, and with their consent, shared
with others in the ACTION for Health initiative and in publication. Second, qualitative analysis
software is used to draw out themes in the interviews related to those identified in the literature
review on capacity development.
Phase three consists of direct observation of the use of the computers and MacMorran
Community Centre, and the roles played by community members in helping each other use the
computers.
Partner Benefits
The historical reconstruction in phase one has enabled the MacMorran Community Centre to
locate, organize and document the centre’s historical documents. The narrative reconstruction is
also reported as affirming for those involved in the centre’s development, as they could see the
path they had followed and the progress made.