Vancouver/Ottawa: Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s (KPU) federally funded “Acting Together” Community University Research Alliance (AT-CURA) project was chosen as one of the seven projects that have demonstrated benefits to the lives of children and youth A small delegation travelled to Ottawa last week to present the highlights of AT-CURA’s gang prevention research project in a kiosk event hosted by Senator Ogilvie on parliament hill. The team included: Dr. Gira Bhatt, project team director and principal investigator; Rob Rai, Safe Schools department manager for the Surrey school district; KPU undergraduate student research assistant Jordan Buna; as well as Dr. Jason Dyer, KPU associate vice-president of research.
AT-CURA in Ottawa at Hon. Senator Ogilvie’s Social Innovation and Research Impact Event. From left, Rob Rai (Manager, Safe Schools, Surrey School District), Dr. Gira Bhatt (PI/Director AT-CURA, KPU), Hon. Senator Kelvin Ogilvie, and Jordan Buna (Undergraduate student research assistant, KPU)
“Instead of pointing fingers at parents, at teachers, at police and policy makers for the youth involvement in criminal gang activities, let’s work together to pull in our expertise, resources and wisdom to ensure that we keep our youth protected from the lures of gangster lifestyle,” says Dr. Bhatt.
“We need local solutions to local issues as our B.C. demographics and gang dynamics are quite unique.” says Rai.
