Project Overview

The ‘My Neighbourhood, My Voice': Photovoice Project is a joint project conducted by Doctor Elizabeth Kristjansson of the University of Ottawa, the Coalition of Community Health and Resource Centres of Ottawa, and Success By 6 Ottawa.

The project has & will engage a diversity of citizens in a city-wide photographic study of their neighbourhoods and will culminate with a Community Exhibition & Forum. 

Participants of the My Neighbourhood, My Voice: Photovoice Project will be trained in the concept of photovoice, entrusted with cameras, and be asked to take meaningful photographs of their neighbourhoods.  Their photos will offer a visual perspective of how they live within their communities and will allow Participants to tell others what they appreciate and or would like to see changed in their neighbourhoods. 

After taking photos in their neighbourhoods, Participants will choose the two photos that are most important to them and will write words with each photo describing why.  They will be able to take their photographic messages to local politicians, entrepreneurs, community groups, and others at a Community Exhibition & Forum.

The expertise of neighbourhood residents will be used to conduct a participatory needs assessment on neighbourhood strengths and needs.  This assessment will be used for neighbourhood planning, for advocacy, and for grass-roots action.

Participants of this project are members of the following five groups:

•·         Seniors

•·         Children 0-6 years

•·         Parents of the Children 0-6 years

•·         People with Disabilities

•·         Youth

This project is an innovative departure from traditional approaches to needs assessment, which typically make citizens passive sources of ‘data' and fail to articulate needs in a way that are fully reflective of a community's lived experience. 

For further information on the project, please contact the Project Coordinator.

* This project will build on the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study, as well as knowledge gained in a pilot project previously carried out jointly between No Community Left Behind and the University of Ottawa in 2007-2008.