Our Vision
Alberta is a leader in creating and mobilizing evidence
to ensure the well-being of children, families and communities.

Our Mission
To develop and integrate evidence to inform, identify and
promote effective public policy and service delivery
to improve the well-being of children, families and communities.
What's Inside
  1. CYDL releases new reports from Experiences of Children & Youth over Time 
  2. The PolicyWise grants competition is now open
  3. SAGE announces Secondary Use Funding Grant winners
  4. New location for the PolicyWise Calgary office
  5. Upcoming events
CYDL
CYDL releases new reports from the longitudinal study

Four new reports have been released from the CYDL's longitudinal study,  Experiences of Alberta Children and Youth Over Time, 2005-06 to 2010-11 .  This longitudinal, cross-ministry study is an analysis of over two million Albertans and their use of government services over the span of six years. 

Findings like those shown in the infographic above can be found in four new reports:
The longitudinal study is ground-breaking in it's multi-year, cumulative approach to the service use of Albertan children and youth as studying experiences over several years of development adds a valuable level of richness. 

All current deliverables from this project can be accessed here.
Grants
PolicyWise grants competition is now open

Thank you for patience while PolicyWise revisited our grant program.

We are pleased to announce that we have just posted a new grant competition, with the deadline of September 1st, 2017. As part of this competition, there are three different grant opportunities available:
  • Seed grant (maximum $10,000)
  • Grant (maximum $40,000)
  • Doctoral award (maximum $64,000)
Please click here for a description for each type of grant and their corresponding terms and conditions.

PolicyWise endeavours to support research that is policy relevant for our funding sponsors, Alberta Children's Services, and as such, we have collaboratively developed a list of priority areas. Grant applications must be related to children, youth, and/or families and must be relevant and specific to Alberta.  Additionally, successful applications will demonstrate a connection to a minimum of two topics from the following priority areas:

Intersectional topics
Needs/Services
"What"
Delivery/Access
"How"
Indigenous*
Mental health
Child intervention system
Resilience
Early childhood development
Collaboration/service integration
Long-term outcomes of supports and services
Transitions for youth
Community capacity
 
Intergenerational trauma
 
*When possible, the analyses should explore differences between First Nations, Metis and Inuit children, youth, and/or families, as well as the potential influence of living on-reserve or off-reserve.

To learn more about the types of grants, examples of policy-relevant research, application processes, and much more, please visit our website.
SAGE

SAGE announces Secondary Funding Use Grant winners

Secondary Analysis for Generating Evidence (SAGE) has announced five research teams as Secondary Funding Use Grant winners. The grant provides $5000 to successful applications to undertake research utilizing research data that is stored and managed by SAGE. 

One of the winning teams, from left to right: Jennifer Zwicker, Shainur Premji, and Dhwani Debjani Paul

This year's winners are:

Name
Study Title
Kamala Adhikari Dahal Does Anxiety and Depression during Pregnancy Influence the Relationship between Neighbourhood Socioeconomic Status and Preterm Birth?   
Shelby Yamamoto Investigating the effects of tobacco smoke exposure, maternal stress and the risk of preterm birth and low birth weight in Calgary, Alberta: A nested case-control study
James Sanders Primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of prenatal alcohol exposure and effects
Peter Choate
 A Secondary Data Analysis of Emerging Stigma in the What Albertans Know about FASD
Jennifer Zwicker Family Planning and Healthcare Provider Practice Patterns in Alberta: Are they Aligned with the Ready or Not Provincial Campaign? A Health Administrative Study using the All Our Babies Data

SAGE is a data initiative at PolicyWise for Children & Families. This data and research platform enables the secondary use of data related to child and youth development, health and well-being. 

If you have any questions about the SAGE Secondary Use Grant, please contact the SAGE team at [email protected]

Calgary
New location for the PolicyWise office in Calgary

After 13  wonderful years at the Child Development Centre, our Calgary office has moved to a new location at Campana  Pla ce. The team is excited to establish a new presence for PolicyWise in Calgary while offering space to more frequently host colleagues from Edmonton as well as government and community stakeholders. Onward!
Events
Upcoming events

  • Pop Up  Health and Community Services  Event, Wednesday, June 28th, 2017, 3PM-7PM at Nord-Bridge Seniors Centre, Lethbridge.
    On Wednesday, June 28th, join us for the 4th Health and Community Services event at Nord-Bridge Seniors Centre in Lethbridge. The event is part of the IMPACT research program and aims to bring together  a group of service providers in one location at one time to offer a variety of services at no cost. The purpose of the pop-up is to make these services easier to access for people who may have trouble accessing them in the usual way or in the usual place they are offered. For more information on the event and confirmed service providers, click here. Stay tuned for future pop ups in August and October!

          PolicyWise is proud to participate in the Alberta Local Implementation Partnership (LIP) of IMPACT (Innovative Models Promoting Access-to-Care Transformation), a 5-year research study looking at ways to increase access to primary healthcare services for people who need it most. Learn more about IMPACT here .
External events
  • Summer Institute 2017 - Working Together: A Spotlight on Patient-oriented Research, June 25-27, 2017 at Lister Hall, University of Alberta, Edmonton. More information here.
     
  • 2017 Biennial Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates (CCCYA) Conference,
    S eptember 18-20, 2017 at The Banff Centre. More information here.
     
  • Alberta Early Years Doing What's Right: Through a Social Justice Lens, October 16-17, 2017 at the  Fantasyland Hotel & Conference Centre, Edmonton. More information here.
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