In order to achieve equitable access to its services for all residents, the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition is turning to data, and the volunteers who will be suggesting ways of gathering this data, from the GNSC Data and Performance Working Group.
The GNSC D&P Working Group, formerly known as the Organizational Performance Committee, was started in 2017 to help the GNSC achieve long-term goals by informing the development of measurement tools and processes. For 2022, the working group is looking for 10 new volunteers to provide input on data collection with a focus on developing these with data sovereignty and ethics in mind.
“There’s that gap between theory and practicality of the usefulness of data, so we’re looking for anybody with lived and professional experiences to come join the group,” said Nasra Hussein, health equity leader at the GNSC, who will be involved with the working group.
“I hope those that do participate feel like they are doing meaningful work and acknowledge that there’s a big picture that aligns with the City of Guelph’s community plan on setting that standard to eliminate systemic system, and I think we are aligned with that."
The interest the GNSC has in improving its data collection methods comes after current events, like the pandemic, climate change and the Black Lives Matter movement, have highlighted systemic barriers faced by marginalized groups.
Hussein said these issues and challenges have impacted the GNSC towards delivering on its mission, vision, and values within the community.
“To really identify how the GNSC could really take that anti-oppressive lens, and in order to do that, it’s really important for us to have these metrics and the measurements for tracking progress of our organizations towards a more inclusive, welcoming, accepting and supportive organization,” said Hussein.
In order to guarantee that community members have what they need, Hussein explains the GNSC needs to generate and collect the necessary feedback and data it needs from the services that are under the GNSC.
“We have the numbers to support and to identify where we’re at with certain programs and services, but a missing gap we’ve been realizing are the narratives and the stories that add more of that rich contextual nature to those numbers,” she said.
“So, it’s going to be a combination of looking at both of those data pieces, and making connections, and really ensuring the GNSC strives towards continued growth and development and that continuous improvement piece. Dismantling systemic barriers that people have and to really have the data to back it up.”
Once chosen, volunteers meet online once every two months to brainstorm and give input into data collection. Hussein mentions they are looking for residents who are passionate about deconstructing practices around data collection.
“Usually data can be really extractive and exploitative for a lot of historically marginalized groups, someone comes in, collects the data, gets what they need and then they dip, so no one really knows what happens to that data,” said Hussein.
“As the GNSC, we’re really trying to decolonialize the way that data is collected, and how people who participate and add their voice in, how they have ownership in the data that’s collected, and what happens to it, so that’s another direction the Data Performance Working Group is heading in.”
Besides focusing on ethical data collection, Hussein mentions the working group will also help to implement a new data collection system for GNSC support workers to use.
“What the neighbourhood groups have expressed is that they don’t what to collect, they don’t know how to collect it,” said Hussein, “So really brainstorming as group, ‘What are the best methods for data collection that are accessible for our neighbourhood support workers to do?’”
With the pandemic, Hussein adds that a lot of the support workers are in ‘emergency mode’ as they are supplying a service to those in need. Many just don’t have the time to sit down and do the numbers, she said.
“We’re trying to figure out a system and put a system in place that would be very easy for them to navigate and make them feel very supported.”
Those wishing to apply to the GNSC D&P Working Group can do so here.
