Touchpoint

Social alienation experienced by first-gen female newcomers living in

dynamic inner-city Toronto neighbourhoods is exacerbated by access barriers to mainstream service delivery.

Insight

The mental health of female immigrants is heavily reliant on the types of social networks they are able to make/maintain in their new country.  

Idea

By optimizing convenient spaces shared by the school boards and the City of Toronto, Touchpoint clarifies self-guided registration for Parks and Recreation programming by abolishing cultural and linguistic barriers to newcomers that exist in the current process. The system promotes the value of recreation by demonstrating the social connection facilitated by recreation for adults. By exhibiting child leadership and learning, Touchpoint further displays how recreation can support academic achievement in children.  

Impact

Touchpoint provides:

Better mental and physical health outcomes for first generation Canadian families 

Social support network building for new Torontonian women and youth


Background

System Insights

User Mapping

Amira:

A 30 year-old woman who made the move to Canada from Syria this year with her 8 year-old son, Iman. She is settling into an apartment in Regent Park, Toronto. Her extended family is still living overseas.

Iman:

In grade 4 at Nelson Mandela Public School, Iman enjoys playing board games and watching soccer. He has been having a hard time making friends at school.

Assessment Matrix

Market and Expert Research

Despite the many benefits of recreation, newcomer youth participate at much lower rates compared to their peers. According to the 2005 General Social Survey, 32% of children whose parents were recent immigrants participated in sports compared to 55% of children whose parents were born in Canada.

- "Newcomer youth access to recreation in Toronto: Relationships, Resources and Relevance", Social Planning Toronto, 2016

Toronto Parks and Recreation names improving recreation access to young Canadians and newcomers as a consistent priority. 

- 2013-2017 Recreation Service Plan 


Current Service Models: 

Toronto Parks and Recreation Registration Methods 

In-person at a recreation centre - 30% of all registrations

"Sometimes people who don't speak English come to the desk, and they get frustrated and leave when we can't help them."

 - Regent Park Community Centre Front Desk Attendant

Internet - 47% of all registrations 

New Canadian parents often are unaware of Toronto Parks and Recreation opportunities and lack the time and energy to seek out information, and outreach/ promotional materials are mostly only offered in English. The registration process is complex and seen as unmanageable, and there are frequently waitlists for free programming. Not to mention attitudes towards recreation/leisure: it is often seen as unimportant compared to academic responsibilities.

 - "Newcomer youth access to recreation in Toronto: Relationships, Resources and Relevance", Social Planning Toronto, 2016

Newcomer-directed service models

Newcomer Services Kiosks

Available at 4 Toronto community centres:

Don Montgomery Community Recreation Centre

Milliken Park Community Recreation Centre

Parkway Forest Community Centre

Wellesley Community Centre

Meet with a settlement worker and take advantage of free and confidential referrals to community services and City of Toronto programs.





Solution

Preliminary Ideation

Solutions for front desk interaction

Instant desktop translation device paired with pattern-based wayfinding, in which pictographs designed by residents assign meaning to paths to locations in the space

Beginning to deconstruct the registration front desk

Rerouting front desk functions

Centering the child's perspective (non-dominant perspective)

Storyboards and User Journey

Design Intent and Priorities

Re-rout all the functions of current registration processes in a system that abolishes current access barriers to newcomers. 

Demonstrate the value of Toronto Parks and Recreation programming to parents and engage them in a simplified, self-guided registration process.


Micro-Interactions

In 2016, Regent Park Community Centre, a City of Toronto recreation centre, opened as an expansion onto retrofitted Nelson Mandela Public School. The facility also includes a rooftop community garden as well as employment and child-care centres. Adjustments in the form of reinvestments and/or expansions in existing community facilities emulates the shared-use/multi-use trend for community facilities which is becoming increasingly popular in dynamic inner-city neighbourhoods with little space and high population growth. Development strategies for the next 25 years encourage centering schools as community hubs/touchpoints for community members to access resources. Outside of the school day, schools in the city are also often sites for Toronto Recreation programs, based on shared-use agreements between the city and the board.

Process Work 

Using Format