JULY 18, 2024

COMMUNITY VITALITY 2024

Changing Ways

Collaborating for a Safer London

GRANT: $150,000 FOR 2 YEARS

With their $150,000, two-year Community Vitality Grant, Changing Ways is continuing to employ a Community Engagement and Research Coordinator, a position initially established as a pilot project funded by the Government of Canada’s Community Services Recovery Fund.

In 2023 Ontario lost 62 women and children to femicide, with an overwhelming majority of these crimes being committed by men, with intimate partners being the most common perpetrator.

“We see that gender-based violence continues to pose a significant risk in our community, and a key piece to solving this issue is prevention work with men and boys in conversations about mental health, social connectedness, and healthy relationships,” said Holly Meaney, who’s position at Changing Ways is funded by the grant.

Holly Meaney, Changing Ways London’s Community Engagement and Research Coordinator

Continuing the Community Engagement and Research Coordinator position at Changing Ways allows the organization to share over 30 years’ worth of specialized knowledge and experience of how to engage with men who cause harm in their intimate relationships to make meaningful change that impacts the safety of women, children, and families.

This role contributes to establishing new partnerships and supporting existing ones in London and Middlesex County through advocacy, public education, and research and development of new initiatives. These initiatives incorporate holistic responses to preventing intimate partner violence, specifically directed at men who cause harm in their families. As the organization does more preventative work in the community, they hope to increase awareness of their services to potential clients at all stages of change in order to get people the support they might need as quickly as possible.

Co-interim Executive Directors Rick Mulvaney and Amiel Houghton

The Changing Ways team in one of their program spaces

Along with funding the Community Engagement and Research Coordinator’s position, this grant will support Changing Ways to establish a gender and culturally-diverse advisory board with lived experience of perpetrating intimate partner violence and undergoing intervention, and advocates for gender equality and victim safety.

Holly believes this board will be the first of its kind, in part due to the stigma that often comes from working with individuals who cause harm. “This board is about breaking down stigma and really working out what support people need so we can apply that knowledge to our programs and community collaborations.”

Find out more about the other Community Vitality recipients: