Feeling Belonging In Your Community and Programs: Supporting research among child- and youth-serving organizations in Waterloo Region

Feeling belonging is important for all people, including children. Many organizations want to help children feel they belonging in their communities and the programs they attend (such as recreation or education programs). But to do this, organizations need a way to measure belonging and see how it changes over time. This project addresses this need by scientifically-testing tools to measure children’s feelings of belonging to their community and programs they attend. Information collected through this testing process will also allow researchers to answer questions like, “Which groups of children most need help feeling they belong?” and “What are the features of programs that children tend to feel the most belonging in?”. These answers will be shared back to community organizations to help them decide how to allocate resources and structure their community programs to most benefit the children in their community.

Faculty Supervisor:

Heather Henderson

Student:

Partner:

Children and Youth Planning Table

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Public administration

University:

University of Waterloo

Program: