Partnership Structure
Partnership Group: At the heart of the alliance was the partnership group, including representatives from all partner organizations. This multi-disciplinary group operates as a vibrant “think tank,” planning, implementing and integrating the knowledge gained by research projects through ongoing critical reflection.
Local Steering Committees: Two steering committees guided the research conducted: one in Toronto and the other in Waterloo. These committees meet regularly to guide all phases of the research — giving input into the formulation of research methods and tools, data collection and analysis, and dissemination strategies. Membership included representatives of participating cultural-linguistic communities, service providers, academics, and people with serious mental illnesses.
Research Team: The research team consisted of professional researchers, students and community researchers. Community researchers are people from each of the five cultural-linguistic communities who were trained and supported by CCBR staff. They were involved in all aspects of research and fully bilingual in English and one of the five linguistic groups in the study. They were responsible for translation of data and reports from their respective mother tongue into English as well as some translation into their mother tongue for the website. They also acted as ambassadors and agents of change within their cultural-linguistic community.
Overall Coordination: CCBR was responsible for the overall coordination of the program activities. Coordination included preparing and facilitating partnership group meetings, steering committees, financial administration, and organizing ongoing partner communication. Concrete mechanisms and products for communication included partnership news bulletin updates, teleconferencing, electronic discussion group, and the CURA website.
CURA Alliance Structure
