Projects

Applying Crime Prevention through Environmental Design Principles in Oshawa

Ontario Tech University Faculty of Social Science and Humanities students worked with City staff from the Economic Development, Recreation, and Facilities Management Services Branches to review a variety of city spaces in the downtown core. Divided into teams, the students were tasked with conducting a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (C.P.T.E.D.) audit and presenting recommendations for:

• Ed Broadbent Park
• Mary Street Parking Garage
• Oshawa Valley Botanical Gardens
• Radio Park
• Civic Recreation Centre – locker area
• John Howard Society location on Richmond St.
• Events in the downtown core
• Areas surrounding Ontario Tech’s buildings at the university’s downtown Oshawa campus location and students perceptions of safety

Recommendations included use of lighting in higher-risk areas; reactivation of under-utilized spaces to create increased presence and diversify usage; creation of downtown activations and increased events in locations that lay dormant during particular seasons; use of public art, painting and murals to brighten facilities and spaces; increased staff/security presence; and, expanding communication strategies directed towards the student population.

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"Art in the Pit" Workshop Series

Students from Durham College’s Community Collaborations Course worked with City Culture staff to curate fun, art-inspired workshops on campus. ‘Art in The Pit’ took place on April 5 and 12 in collaboration with The LivingRoom Community Art Studio, where the students led art activities through a variety of mediums to engage their peers in art while encouraging mental health. Fine Art students designed colouring pages, a clothes-mending station, a quiet fort, a bead-connection project, a positive message board and a self-portrait station, among other creative activities.

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Augmented Reality Experience of a Downtown Development

Media, Art & Design students at Durham College continue their collaborative relationship with the City of Oshawa, this time working with the Economic Development team to create an augmented reality (A.R.) experience for community members to explore a downtown development before construction begins. The multi-disciplinary team transformed a rubble construction site into the building it will become once complete.

Once completed, this A.R. experience will allow the community to engage with the changing landscape downtown and see development before it happens. Currently testing A.R. prototypes, students will continue to work on this project until its completion and release to the public.

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Augmented Reality Experience of Public Art

In 2022, more than 60 students from the Interactive Media Design and Contemporary Web Design programs at Durham College worked with the City of Oshawa and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery (The RMG) to design and develop a mobile-friendly map that offers a unique wayfinding experience for public art in Oshawa.

The map allows Oshawa residents and visitors to interact with and learn more about six public art pieces in the city’s downtown core. Each piece of art is accompanied by a QR code that directs people to additional information on the piece and artist. The interactive elements of Group Portrait 1957, a sculpture created by Canadian novelist and visual artist Douglas Coupland that is installed on the exterior of The RMG, have been taken one step further to incorporate an augmented reality component.

Stay tuned for the launch of the app on the City’s social media channels and RMG website.

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Cultural Mapping in Oshawa

Durham College Journalism students participated in a collaborative project investigating how arts and culture support economic development in Oshawa. Students worked with City Business and Economic Development Services staff to gain insight on, and write articles inspired by, cultural experiences in the city. These articles were then transformed into a Cultural Story Map featuring stories about Ed Broadbent Park, The Atria, the importance of independent downtown cafés, diversity in food culture, the graffiti artist movement, the local film scene and production, and the adaptability of cultural venues.

Cultural Story Map

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Development of Photographic Assets

The City of Oshawa revised and relaunched their corporate website oshawa.ca in summer 2022. Durham College Video Production student Keith Spencer supported the City’s Communications Branch in this project by curating digital assets to incorporate into the new website design. Keith shadowed various department staff in an effort to capture the City’s staff and services in action. His work also highlighted Oshawa’s scenic local gems, capturing shots of various landscapes across the city. In support of local business, Keith also met with local restaurants to create mouthwatering photos of Oshawa’s foodie scene. His work showcased the city’s truly diverse economy, landscape and community.

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Engaging Youth through Digital Literacy

Robyn Smith, a Trent University Durham GTA Child and Youth Studies student, designed and facilitated filmmaking workshops to provide an opportunity for Oshawa youth to engage in digital literacy and increase youth participation in the South Oshawa Community Centre programs.

The workshops provide an empowering platform and help youth to develop computer safety and digital literacy. Participants created short films and gained hands-on experience in scriptwriting, storyboarding and understanding copyright policies. High school students received community service hours for participating in the program.

Through post-workshop interviews conducted by Trent University Durham GTA student Larissa Jansen, City staff learned that the workshops were interesting, enjoyable and convenient. The workshops helped participants build skills for future aspirations, and allowed room for creative autonomy and independence.

"I think the best part was just being able to have lots of freedom… I think the fact that [I had] a lot more freedom to make something I wanted to make was one of the best parts about it."

“I want to be a director when I, you know, get out of school” …Introducing me to some, like, some strategies and giving me all the different information that could help me towards my film career…”

"Timing worked out pretty well. It was just whenever I got off school, so I never really felt like too stressed to get there or anything."

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Evaluation of Progress toward an Age-Friendly Community

The City of Oshawa, in partnership with the Oshawa Senior Community Centres 55+, is a member of the World Health Organization’s Global Network for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities. Age-friendly planning aims to build communities that encourage good health and participation throughout people’s lives. The City’s Age-Friendly Strategy outlines activities that support independent active living and enable older adults to continue taking part in all aspects of community life. A guiding principle of the strategy is continuous improvement through ongoing assessment and evaluation.

Health Science students enrolled in Ontario Tech University’s Successful Aging course evaluated an age-friendly element in an Oshawa Health Neighbourhood using indicators of success and practical tools identified in the Government of Canada’s Age-Friendly Communities Evaluation Guide.

Students focused on: communication and information; outdoor spaces and buildings; social participation; and, respect and social inclusion. While students were able to identify progress in age-friendly initiatives within each of the reviewed areas, they also determined a number of additional actions that still need to be implemented to enhance seniors’ independence, mobility and the ability for seniors to age in place.

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Gender Accommodation Guidelines & Framework

Capstone students from Ontario Tech University’s Faculty of Business and Information Technology (F.B.I.T.) worked with the City’s Human Resources and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion staff to propose guidelines for creating welcoming spaces at the City.

The team reviewed current H.R. policies, researched municipal best practices and legislative requirements and provided a policy outline for the creation of accommodations for employees with an emphasis on gender expression and non-conforming staff. This included recommendations regarding privacy and confidentiality; correct use of pronouns; use of chosen names on documents/records; name and/or title changes; dress code; washroom and change facility access; organizational supports for transitioning employees; the development of a framework for individual accommodation agreements for transitioning employees; and, support for accessing gender-affirming medical care and surgeries.

This capstone team won the F.B.I.T. Capstone Showcase for fall 2022.

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Optimizing Route Operations for Waste Collection, Street Sweeping and Snow Removal

Essential municipal services such as snowplowing, street-sweeping and waste collection rely on detailed routing information to maintain efficient and timely operations. Identification of optimal routes is not a simple task; various operational parameters and constraints, including community safety and environmental impact, must be considered.

Students, researchers and staff from Ontario Tech University’s Autonomous Vehicle and Electro-Hydraulic Control (AVEC) Research Lab, led by Dr. Jaho Seo, worked with City staff on a multi-year project to assess the use of algorithms to optimize the City’s Operations routes and discover opportunities for improvements. Factors such as travel distance and fuel consumption were included in the assessment and algorithm-development process.

Over the past two years, the AVEC team has published several academic papers highlighting the novelty of their mathematical optimization techniques. The papers include recommendations for improvement, and discuss areas where the City is already achieving optimal routing based on simulation experiments.

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Podcasts on Popular Music in Oshawa: 1964-1979

Ontario Tech University Faculty of Social Science and Humanities students enrolled in the Special Topics – Popular Music in Oshawa course teamed up with the City’s Culture Services Branch to explore how the City of Oshawa could best publically recognize the its musical heritage from 1964 to 1979. Students came up with creative mediums to showcase this time in local music history, including an Oshawa Music Legacy Map and podcasts.

Listen to podcasts:

The Podshawa

The Role of Community Choirs.

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Recruitment Strategies for Skilled Labour Positions

Capstone students from Ontario Tech University’s Faculty of Business and Information Technology worked with the City’s Human Resources, Operations and Facilities Services Branches to create an action plan on how to better support recruitment efforts for positions the City has difficulty filling, such as Skilled Labourers and Pool Operators. These positions require a diverse set of skills, and are not directly linked to specific education paths.

The student team developed a plan to improve the recruitment process for these positions, which included hosting career-specific fairs, developing position-specific marketing items and tapping into other avenues for recruitment success.

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Stormwater Management Pond Consortium Workshop

45 researchers, practitioners, government representatives, students and environmental collaborators from the Greater Toronto Area gathered at the first Stormwater Management Pond (S.W.M.P.) Consortium Workshop this past May to discuss S.W.M.P. research priorities, new research projects, and a roadmap for acquiring provincial and federal funding. Co-hosted by the City of Oshawa and Ontario Tech University, and moderated by Ontario Tech’s Dr. Andrea Kirkwood, the workshop included presentations from:

• City of Oshawa staff on their unique approach to stormwater management;
• Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority (CLOCA) on S.W.M.P. impacts on watersheds;
• Durham Region Health Department on the surveillance of West Nile Virus in urban surface waters;
• Trent University on biogeochemistry of urban ponds; and,
• Carleton University on urban stormwater management and sensor networks.

Breakout sessions included topics on management and maintenance, water quantity function, water/habitat quality function, impacts of receiving waters, private versus publicly managed ponds, and the public’s perception and understanding of S.W.M.P. in their communities.

The Consortium Workshop solidified the interest of research partners, such as municipalities, conservation authorities, and the federal government, in supporting collaborative research projects to address priority research. Next steps include the establishment of a Consortium Steering Committee to guide research goals, objectives, activities and funding avenues.

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Supporting the Youth Friendly Community Application

Trent University Durham GTA Child & Youth Studies students helped the City's Recreation Services Branch with their second application to Play Works for the Youth Friendly Community designation.

The designation is granted every three years to communities across Ontario that recognize the unique needs of youth ages 13 to 19, and ensure they have continuous access to leadership and engagement opportunities, ranging from arts to recreation to civic participation. Communities must meet at least seven of 10 criteria, including: youth are formally connected community-wide; youth can easily find information about play activities in the community; play is accessible to youth; and, play is socially inclusive.

Students conducted research and gathered data on how various community partners in Oshawa demonstrate youth-friendly criteria through programs, services and initiatives.

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TeachingCity Oshawa Project Videos

Durham College Video Production student Keith Spencer worked with TeachingCity Oshawa throughout the fall semester to create a video spotlight series. Keith utilized his talents to interview faculty, students and City staff at a variety of locations, curated b-roll footage, and created and edited short project videos with the goal of sharing project information in an easy to digest way.

All videos included in this spotlight series are available on our Featured Projects webpage.

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Virtual Reality Simulation for Fire Services Training

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Durham College’s Social Impact and Experiential Learning Hubs, the Faculties of Health Sciences, and Media, Art & Design, continue their collaboration with Oshawa Fire Services to develop a virtual reality structural collapse scenario to enhance the training opportunities available for firefighters.  With support from TeachingCity Oshawa, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Mitacs, the virtual reality platform is currently being developed in Durham College’s Mixed Reality Capture Studio.

To date, the research team has identified the latest virtual reality technology that can accommodate the unique needs of the project, as well as integrated wearable technology that can monitor the physiological responses of firefighters participating in a virtual reality scenario.

Two studies have been developed to complement the physiological measurements that will be conducted during the virtual reality training:

1. Validation of a wearable device worn on the upper arm that estimates core body temperature: The device will provide Training Officers and Incident Commanders with information about the internal temperature of a firefighter to minimize the risk of hyperthermia during an emergency scenario. If validated, this type of device may be more cost-efficient and less invasive than current practices. The research team collected data with the new wearable technology between May and August 2023.
2. Impact of a controlled breathing frequency technique: At six breaths per minute, this technique may reduce resting heart rate prior to, during and following a controlled burn tower scenario. Preliminary results indicate that the breathing frequency intervention was successful in decreasing resting and recovery heart rate; however, due to the sample size, no statistical difference could be confirmed. The research team plans to increase the number of participants in the study to determine if the results are statistically significant.

In August and September 2022, the Durham College Faculty of Health Sciences research team joined Oshawa Fire Services to train a new recruit class and observe training scenarios for water rescue, search and rescue, and automobile stabilization.

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Age-Friendly Competency Training

Ontario Tech University students led by Adam Dubrowski have developed an interactive training tool to support the implementation of the City's Age-Friendly Strategy. The City of Oshawa is a member of the Global Network for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities and one of the core guiding principles of The Oshawa Age-Friendly Strategy is the application of an Older Adult Lens – to all policies, practices, funding, programs, services and facilities.

The Seniors' Cultural Competency Program (SCCP) was co-developed over the past few years by the research team at Ontario Tech University, in collaboration with staff at the City of Oshawa and the Oshawa Seniors Community Centres 55+ (OSCC55+), in order to provide a comprehensive learning opportunity for employees of the City and OSCC55+. The SCCP is an innovative tool that offers educational content built into a serious game coupled with competency-based assessments delivered through a custom Gamified Educational Network (GEN) learning management system.

The SCCP offers a framework for staff to learn and demonstrate age-friendly cultural competencies. The program will enhance an age-friendly lens among staff members, enabling them to provide services and programs that meet Oshawa's older adults' needs.

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Civic Engagement Strategies: Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations

Criminology Graduate students from Dr. Tyler Frederick's Advanced Methods in Qualitative Research from Ontario Tech University worked throughout the semester to investigate strategies and best practices that municipalities can use for engaging all residents in issues of planning and decision-making. With a focus on making direct efforts in the inclusion of marginalized and the most vulnerable, students interviewed key vulnerable sector stakeholders along with in-depth secondary research and came up with key themes and recommendations.

Key themes explored: trust, critical consciousness, organizational access, community building, capacity building, comfortability, accessibility, youth engagement, representation, and education.

Student recommendations included participatory budgeting, meeting people where they are at and creating arts and cultural festivals as community building initiatives.

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 Cultural Spotlight

Durham College Journalism students from Teresa Goff and Joanne MacDonald's course were given the opportunity of spotlighting the city's amazing cultural venues, organizations and experiences. Each student selected a topic, conducted research and interviewed cultural stakeholders in Oshawa and created a published story in Durham College’s student-led news publication, The Chronicle.

Oshawa Little Theatre: Paying kindness forward

Meet two people growing culture in Oshawa

HERSpace provides brave place for women in Durham, around world

The Biltmore is back in Oshawa

Oshawa-Whitby music festival keeps zooming along

Helping build community among women of colour in Durham

Oshawa's upgrades include downtown and the home of the Oshawa Generals

Kops is a one-stop shop for vinyl music lovers in Oshawa

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Economic Recovery and Data Intelligence

Ontario Tech University Computer Science students, led by Dr. Ken Pu launched a study to analyze the economic impact of COVID-19 in the City of Oshawa. This work was done in response to a Call for Interest for TeachingCity projects related to Economic Impact of COVID-19, in collaboration with the Mayor’s Economic Recovery Taskforce.

The Database Research Group used open data sets to examine various economic indicators and find appropriate metrics to track recovery. The specific focus was on employment, wage rate and growth, retail sales, and new home and construction data. The City can use this data to make evidence informed decisions and inform the development of policies or community programs that are directed towards economic recovery.

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Employment Supply in a Post-Covid Recovery Environment

Durham College students from Paul Davidson's Labour Economics course worked alongside the City's Economic Development team to provide ideas to help address employment supply in a post-COVID-19 recovery environment. Students researched trending employment support initiatives and provided staff with a jurisdictional scan of other municipalities.

Student solutions included:

• Get Back to Work Initiative - Workshops available to aid workforce transitioning back to work post-COVID-19
• Remote Work Aid – A program to support development of required skill set to confidently enter the remote workforce
• Advertising local employment opportunities through billboards, transit and facilities
• Implementing a social procurement program
• An initiative connecting organizations and businesses with recent graduates
• Addressing the labour shortage in the food services and tourism industry

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Fire Navigation Systems: Localization and Mapping for Structural Firefighters

Over the past year, the Fire Navigation Systems project has seen major progress as it continues down the path to commercialization. The year started strong with the addition of a new team member bringing with them new ideas on how to assist fire services both before and during an emergency call. With this new direction in mind, the research team incorporated themselves under the name Hibou Systems. Further cementing their commitment to this project and achieving a key milestone towards their goal of commercialization.

The team then spent the following months designing a new tool dubbed the “FireNav MPX1” to aid fire services before an incident occurs. Utilizing advanced camera technology and state of the art software, firefighters will now be able to generate three-dimensional models of buildings in real time during routine inspections. This technology allows them to have a complete map of the building before an emergency occurs, ensuring they have all the critical information about a location and its internals without ever needing to have been there before. Thanks to Hibou Systems' hard work and the help of their partners, as you read this the first FireNav MPX1 is being assembled.

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 Fire Safety Photography

Student Brooke Warner from Durham College's Photography program worked with Oshawa Fire Services to create new photos for the PSW Fire Safety Curriculum. Ensuring Fire Safety for residents is a city priority and it's important that curriculum is fresh and reflective of current environments and fire hazards.

Brooke, under the guidance of instructor Brian Stephens, created real-life scenarios to demonstrate and capture fire safety in the home. Brooke also took advantage of an opportunity to get some group shots for her project at the OSCC55+ Northview Branch to help communicate fire safety to the senior target audience.

"I have been able to showcase important aspects of fire safety, which is pertinent knowledge that believe everyone should access to. I am grateful for this opportunity work with the Oshawa Fire Department raise awareness on safety." - Brooke Warner

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Improving Engagement Supports for Clients and Customers with Cognitive Impairments

An Ontario Tech University research team led by Dr. Winnie Sun has been working with staff at the OSCC55+ to conduct a mixed-method research study to evaluate the effectiveness of OSCC55+’s virtual programs during COVID-19. The aim of the study is to explore whether virtual programming successfully addressed the needs for social connection and interaction for older adults with dementia and their caregivers during the pandemic.

For the qualitative component, interviews of older adults with dementia and informal caregivers were conducted. For the quantitative component, program and administrative staff from the OSCC55+ were surveyed to evaluate their perspective on the effectiveness of virtual programming. From the preliminary data analysis, it was identified that the virtual program had a significant impact on increasing the social connections among older adults with dementia and their caregivers. The necessary pivot to online virtual programming provided an essential stop-gap in program delivery.

The research team also attempted to examine the effectiveness of the virtual customer service provided by the City of Oshawa to older adults with dementia during the pandemic. The facilitators and barriers to these programs were identified and recommendations are proposed to facilitate the future implementation of virtual programming, as well as education to equip staff with the knowledge and skills to support people living with dementia.

"This project has provided my graduate students with the opportunity to increase their understanding about the important role that OSCC55+ plays in supporting the mental health and well-being of older adults, as well as promoting the social connectedness for people living with dementia and their caregivers through their virtual and social/recreational programming." - Dr. Winnie Sun

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 Intergenerational Opportunities for Isolated Seniors

Students from Durham College’s Mental Health Challenges course in the Personal Support Worker (PSW) Program worked throughout the semester under the leadership of Kimberlee Neault to develop solutions to support a more holistic approach to mental health initiatives for isolated older adults and seniors in the Oshawa community.

This full year class focused on intergenerational opportunities for older adults without access to digital technology. The class divided into eight groups to pitch potential solutions to City of Oshawa and OSCC55+ staff. The ideas included: Crafting Together, That’s So Trivial, Winter Tea Party, Beautifying the City, Scribble Memories, Planting Program, Down Memory Lane, and Volunteer Program.

Staff from the City and OSCC55+ selected the Volunteer Program for implementation, and the PSW students were incorporated into the OSCC55+ Volunteer Program, given training and orientation. This provided the OSCC55+ with a pool of qualified candidates while providing an experiential learning opportunity for students in the field.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, some students became digital volunteers, developing digital pieces to be used by the OSCC55+. Some topics included: Basic Yoga, All About Canada, Video Reminders, Trivia Games, Astrology, Let’s Visit Algonquin Park Video Tour, and Daily Affirmations.

Ultimately, both the students and older adults benefited from these intergenerational opportunities resulting in improved mental health for all involved.

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Internship Program for Racialized and Indigenous Youth

Four students from Ontario Tech University Faculty of Business and IT worked under supervision of City staff to conduct both secondary and primary research in the development of a potential internship program at the City for racialized and Indigenous youth.

A program such as this would provide opportunities for youth from these communities to shadow a variety of functions within the organization and give them hands-on opportunities to learn how local government works. The goal of this internship program would be to enhance civic literacy of youth and to encourage a diverse group of youth to potentially explore a career in local government.

The project team gathered secondary research in regards to existing internship program models, understanding both racialized and Indigenous youth needs and reviewing city demographic data. This insight provided a starting point prior to the primary research phase.

Primary research involved community engagement with local Indigenous and racialized youth and formal interviews to seek out personal experiences in regards to barriers to employment and any recommendations the youth thought would be of benefit to the City in its creation of an internship program.

The team then provided overall recommendations to the City should they move forward with the development of an internship program. 

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 Mitigating Illegal Dumping

Durham College students from Dimitri Stathopoulos' Community & Environment course worked throughout the semester on the issue of illegal dumping in Oshawa. Looking at the factors that contribute to illegal dumping and the financial, social and environmental burdens associated, students presented the following to staff:

• Targeted education campaigns to residents depending on area and waste related issues
• The need for data collection that captures the type of illegal dumping, the location of illegal dumping, quantity and the cost to the City to respond to illegal dumping issues which can be used as a deterrent
• Commodification of waste to help reduce, reuse, and repair to promote circular economy of household items
• Goods exchange events to allow the community to share unwanted large items
• Repair Cafes and Reuse Centres as creative spaces where residents can repair/reuse others’ household waste items
• Streamline community clean-up efforts and make them more accessible
• Advocate for tenants of multi-residential dwellings to provide equitable access to large item waste removal

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Recreation Revenue and Fitness Membership

Durham College students from Kelly Webdale's Recreation Administration, Finance, & Revenue Generation course were given the challenge of reviewing the City's recreation fitness membership structure. Students worked with Recreation & Culture Services staff to provide suggestions on how to implement changes to levels of membership, cost structure, marketing and ensuring memberships were financially and socially accessible across the city.

Students came up with the following core solutions:

• Use of more trending social media platforms with more interactive posts to better engage with residents
• Creating user-friendly membership levels
• Awareness campaigns

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Site Planning and Development - Re-Imaging Vacant City Properties

Durham College Science & Engineering students from Ali Taleb's Site Planning & Analysis course put theory into practice this year. Planning Services staff at the City of Oshawa provided students with five vacant city sites to propose redevelopment. Given zoning by-laws, development guidelines including accessibility standards, environmental and sustainability factors, parking restrictions and incorporating active transportation, students got creative and developed full site proposed plans for these locations.

Planning staff were inspired by the potential of what these city sites could be in the near future.

• 50 McMillan Drive
• 45 Ritson Road N.
• 17-23 Athol Street W.
• 71 Bruce Street
• 1279 Simcoe Street N.

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Stories about Local Government

Durham College Journalism students from Teresa Goff and Brian Legree's courses helped the City highlight stories about municipal government. Interviews were conducted with various Department, Branch heads and Council members. Students gained insights into some of the trending topics inside City Hall.

Check out their published articles in The Chronicle

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Traffic Monitoring – Simcoe and Conlin Sensors

A research team from Ontario Tech University led by Dr. Khalid Elgazzar has been working with the City's Transportation and Parking Services team to monitor vehicle traffic and pedestrian crossing at Conlin Rd. between the campus buildings.

The team applied advanced deep learning techniques to develop and train a machine-learning model that can detect moving objects (pedestrians and vehicles) from overhead cameras. They mounted a number of HD cameras in vital intersections around Ontario Tech’s North campus to collect, analyze and process video streams to detect jaywalkers and count vehicles at the intersection of Conlin Rd. and Simcoe St.

They developed a web-based platform to display the counts in real time and store and retrieve different events for future reference. The platform offers many advanced searching and reporting functionality for City staff.

“I am very happy to be part of this interesting project. It’s my first time to participate in building a practical project that applies the concepts we learn from the computer engineering and software design books to benefit the community.” – Aida Vatankhan,Ontario Tech University graduate student

“The project helped me to engage with more industrial partners and collaborate on applying the deep learning technology to develop advanced data analytics techniques in their products. The funding I received from the City in this project supported me to apply for further funding and I received two grants, one from NorthLine Canada Ltd. and one from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.”  - Dr. Khalid Elgazzar, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Ontario Tech University

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Dismantling Anti-Racism and Anti-Black Racism through Education, Policies, Community Development and Engagement

Students from the Race-ing Justice course from Ontario Tech University worked with City staff to provide some insightful ideas in regards to dismantling anti-racism and anti-black racism through education, policies and community development and engagement practices. Students came up with the following ideas:

• Educate youth to create an inclusive community by providing informative, culturally aware programs that engage youth and include community leaders.
• Promote racial and economic inclusivity and accessibility in Oshawa by:

1. rent or lease mass transportation (school busses, shuttle busses);
2. offer free bus passes to low-income and racialized families to make transportation issues less straining;
3. offer free events in a wide variety of areas, including free access days at community centres;
4. build or locate parks in lower-income areas; and
5. build a sense of community.

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Exploring the Challenges Downtown Pre, Post and During the Pandemic

Public-health measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted local businesses across a variety of sectors and economic recovery is top of mind for the City of Oshawa.

The City, through the Mayor’s Economic Recovery Task Force, issued a Call for Interest for TeachingCity projects to help support economic recovery in the city. The challenge for this project was to create a set of recommendations aimed at helping to reanimate Oshawa’s downtown core and increase consumer confidence once the COVID-19 public-health restrictions are lifted.

Students worked over a one-month period to conduct research around best practices in other cities across Canada and conducted various virtual stakeholder interviews with business owners and City officials. The students identified 12 recommended actions and ideas within three strategic areas: Beautification, Reputation & Safety, and Increasing Downtown Visitation. The students ranked the ideas using considerations such as duration, cost analysis, effort and impact.

Beautification 

• Addition of street furniture
• Addition of green space
• Addition of banners/signs
• Continuation of streetscape enhancements

Reputation & Safety

• Increase safety lighting
• Introduction of emergency stands
• Introduction of year-round decorative lighting
• Continuation of the Welcoming Streets Program

Increasing Downtown Visitation

• Introduction of scavenger hunt event featuring local landmarks
• Introduction of street market/event such as “Oshawa Eats”
• Introduction of an e-Sports event at Tribute Communities Centre
• Expanded Fiesta Week events

“I had the opportunity to work with a fantastic team of fellow students. Within a few short weeks, we collected data from various municipalities across Canada and reached out to community stakeholders, all before critically evaluating the options available to deliver as recommendations. Moving forward, I hope that the City of Oshawa is able to find value in our research and recommendations to revitalize the downtown core.”- Catherine Duncan, Ontario Tech University student

“Working on a one-month project with other students to have an impact on reanimating Downtown Oshawa, and being able to work in a changing environment while adapting together with co-workers to create the best possible outcome was a great learning experience.”- Navleen Sandu, Ontario Tech University student

“COVID-19 has brought forward a unique set of challenges impacting local communities. Through this Brilliant Solutions project, Ontario Tech students and faculty members worked with the City of Oshawa and the Downtown Oshawa Business Improvement Area, providing substantial recommendations that will assist policy makers in their economic recovery process.” - Osman Hamid, Brilliant Catalyst, Ontario Tech University

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Implementing Age-Based Youth Councils and Exploring Youth Social Media

Interactive Wayfinding along the Waterfront Trail

This technology builds on the success of a similar project at the Oshawa Valley Botanical Gardens that provides wayfinding and the ability for visitors to explore points of interest within the park.  Durham College students from the School of Media, Art & Design, under the supervision of faculty member Linda Cheng, designed a new interactive wayfinding tool to enhance visitor experiences along the Waterfront Trail. This began as a City Idea Lab course in the winter 2021 semester and was further developed and prepared for launch during the spring and summer 2021 semesters by Durham College student Karan Bhandra through an RBC Future Launch Student Leader Award. 

The City looks forward to exploring further collaborations to develop interactive technology at additional locations in the future.

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Maximizing the Effectiveness and Engagement of Oshawa Youth Council

Under the guidance of Dr. Alba Agostino and Dr. Omar Lugan, Trent University Durham GTA students explored how the Oshawa Youth Council could be structured to maximize effectiveness and engagement of youth.  Career development though Community Service students came up with the following recommendations: 

1. All Youth Voices:  The establishment of a youth-led working group within the Oshawa Youth Council that will provide an outlet for youth voices that come from the priority neighbourhoods. 
2. The Need for Youth Involvement: When it comes to maximizing the engagement of youth in the Oshawa community, one of the main issues affecting it is being able to reach out to everyone regardless of their socioeconomic status. The proposed solution will include creating an Oshawa Youth Council newsletter that is designed by the youth participants themselves. Having the support of the local areas in Oshawa as well as high priority neighbourhood schools such as Lakeview, Gibb West, Downtown, Central Park and Beatrice North are some areas that it would be beneficial to create strong connections with. 
3. The Eye Catching Effect: Youth living in priority neighbourhoods experiencing challenges and hardships as a result of living in low income households, experiencing low health outcomes and have access to fewer educational services are the primary target.  With the assistance of a social media expert, a proper utilization/merging of the present social media accounts of OYC to trending youth platforms would be done without contravening corporate regulations. 
4. Reach and Impact: This program will be run by youth, in partnership with adults, and will include civic engagement education, social media promotion, and a volunteering component. 

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Reaching Older Adults Through Non-digital Technology

Personal Support Worker students taking instructor Kimberlee Neault’s Durham College course, Mental Health Challenges, studied the challenge of isolation in older adults during COVID-19. In particular, the students explored how to address the unique needs of older adults, as many do not have financial resources or the ability to use digital technology. In addition to working with the City of Oshawa, students also learned from the Oshawa Senior Community Centres (OSCC55+). Moving beyond designing ideas, they implemented specific programs including a pen pal initiative (cards and letters delivered to isolated seniors), reading buddies (phone calls were made to isolated seniors and students would read stories) and senior-hour video segments, which were made available to the OSCC55+ clients through their website.

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Recognizing Popular Music in Oshawa from 1964-1979

Students from Ontario Tech University's Special Topics – Popular Music in Oshawa, teamed up with the City’s Recreation and Culture Services staff to explore how the City of Oshawa could best publically recognize the musical heritage of popular music in Oshawa from 1964-1979. Students came up with five creative recommendations:

1. Fan Subscription Boxes – created for monthly sale to men and women in the targeted demographic containing a variety of different merchandise and some special surprises that celebrate Oshawa bands from the 60s and 70s.
2. Play.Pause.Rewind – a Student-run celebration of Oshawa’s musical heritage at Kop’s Records (Oshawa) upstairs performance space by tribute bands and special guests, including original artists.
3. Summer of Music – an annual scavenger hunt in which participants gather selfies at significant musical locations marked with small signs, post these on designated social media, and compete for swag. 
4. Poshawa – a large-scale concert to be held at the Oshawa Airport featuring current Oshawa musicians.
5. Augmented Oshawa – an Oshawa-based augmented reality musical experience, where permanent digitally enabled eco plaques of significant sites for tours; virtual, self-guided and by bus.

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Recovery of Youth Employment in the Local Labour Market

Students from Durham College Labour Economics course worked with the City's Economic Development Department to create initiatives to help support the recovery of local youth employment. The students came up with the following ideas:

1. High school diploma employment seal:

An incentive for high school students to work part-time while they're in school, this Employment Honors award would be given to every student who completes the minimum number of required hours at a paid part-time job while maintaining an 80% average. The top grade-12 performers from each level (open, locally developed, applied, and academic) would receive a grant for $500, as well as the seal of recognition on their diploma. The City of Oshawa would provide the diploma seals to successful students, as well as certificates of recognition to businesses who employed 2 or more students from the 9 schools.

2. Combating youth unemployment:

The aim of this initiative is to incentivize Oshawa’s youth to participate in pre- employment training activities and employability workshops by compensating them for their involvement. Focusing on paying youth for their efforts, time, and skills, while exposing youth to what it is like to be involved in the labour market. Partnering with Durham College to provide these workshops and experiential placements provides the students with a wide variety of potential career pathways and access to reputable industry professionals and educators.

3. Youth financial literacy:

This after school workshop targeted to students enrolled in high school, involves playing games and doing activities through networking with industry professionals. It is designed to introduce students to the various professions available in the local workforce and it will teach them valuable life and transferrable skills in financial literacy. Additionally, it will act as a career building class, teaching students about resumes, employment, and money management and student participants will receive a certificate upon completion showcasing their job readiness and financial literacy.

4. ApprenTEENship:

ApprenTEENship is a city-wide job bank that is targeted towards youth, especially those with little to no job experience. Through this initiative, the City of Oshawa could partner with local high schools in a program where students are able to get their required 40 hours of community involvement and employers get volunteer support for 40 hours per student they take on. ApprenTEENship is a collaborative effort between The City of Oshawa, local businesses, and school boards/schools in the surrounding area(s). This will allow more rewarding and hands-on work experience to help develop the work skills of youth as well as give them more insight into being a part of the local labour market. 

5. Youth helping youth:

The Youth Helping Youth initiative is a mentorship program linking the City's Human Resource Services Department and Durham College’s Human Resource Program. Durham College’s Human Resource students will have the opportunity to be mentored by HR City staff in hopes of gaining networking opportunities, industry insight, as well as providing a work integrated learning opportunity.  The mentorship program will give Human Resource students a chance to further utilize the skills and knowledge that they have learned throughout their post-secondary education, to not only prepare them for their future careers, but also through supporting other DC alumni who are beginning their own job search or still struggling to find a career in their field.

6. Connecting employment services with high school students:

An initiative to implement unemployment services geared toward youth into Durham District and Catholic School Boards. By targeting high school students, we are beginning their development in the workforce early, creating a healthy relationship with working. These resources will be implemented through existing classes within the curriculum, such as Careers, and embedding the DRUHC website into the School Board’s websites. By having an easily accessible job portal with supporting resources, students and youths will feel more comfortable and encouraged to find jobs. By outreach to high school students, a large population of youths, we will begin to see the youth unemployment rate decline in Oshawa.

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Stormwater Management Ponds Study

Under the supervision of Dr. Andrea Kirkwood, Ontario Tech University graduate student Alex Johnston, along with undergraduate students Denin Grey and Jesse Killoran, studied 15 stormwater management ponds across Oshawa to assess their water quality and determine the role of aquatic plants in stormwater treatment between May 2018 and April 2020.

Highlights from the study include confirmation that stormwater management ponds:
• vary in their ability to remove nutrients from stormwater; and,
• can sometimes be a source of phosphorus to receiving waters.

It was also determined that submerged aquatic plants may play a role in trapping nutrients, which ultimately improves stormwater treatment. Conclusions and recommendations from this study will be used by the City to guide its stormwater management pond policies.

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Story-Sharing Chat-bot and Visualization to Address Working from Home Mental Health

A research team at Ontario Tech University in partnership with Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences and the City of Oshawa set out to create a chat-bot system for people to anonymously share stories of challenges and successes related to the pandemic and to read the stories submitted by others. The data collected by the app was used to create a visualization system to allow users to “find themselves” in the data, to see the stories shared by others and help people feel a sense of solidarity and community.

The technology created by this project will allow people to express their feelings and feel less alone while dealing with the challenges of the pandemic. The technology developed in this work may be possible to repurpose for other targeted areas in the future. In addition, the anonymous data collected through the technology will result in a public data set that can be used to study the immediate and ongoing effects of the pandemic on mental health.

“Designing the bubble exploration and the menus accompanying it greatly challenged my user interface (UI), user experience (UX) and web development skills. I can now say that I am capable of creating novel websites.” – Shawn Yama, Ontario Tech University graduate student

“We have felt very well supported by the City of Oshawa. HR professionals gave us excellent insight into the challenges faced by people working from home, which we used to guide the chat script development. This project is incredibly rewarding to work on as we hope it can make a real difference for the people of Oshawa and beyond.” – Dr. Christopher Collins, Faculty of Science, Ontario Tech University

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Supporting Oshawa as a BeeCity

The City of Oshawa became a “Bee City” in 2018. Through this designation, the City committed to pollinator protection, increasing pollinator habitats on private and public lands, educating residents on actions to help pollinators in the community, and recognizing and celebrating pollinator initiatives in the community.

In early 2020, the City posed these specific challenge questions:

• How can the City establish an urban beekeeping program that ensures the health and wellbeing of our community and pollinators?
• Can urban beekeeping be done in a way that does not have an impact on native pollinators?
• How might the City continue to support, educate and celebrate pollinator populations and health?

An interdisciplinary Durham College team – consisting of School of Science & Engineering Technology faculty members; Architectural Technology and Environmental Technology students; as well as members from FastStartDC, collaborated to investigate the potential for and impacts of introducing an urban beekeeping program in Oshawa. This included developing an awareness campaign educating residents around the importance of pollinators and celebrating pollinator initiatives in Oshawa. The project consisted of three components:

1. Through a course in the winter semester, students worked in groups to research and investigate how the City could establish an urban beekeeping program.  Students presented potential advantages and challenges related to establishing an urban beekeeping program, and considerations with regard to zoning and other regulations.
2. Student researchers examined the impacts of urban beekeeping on native pollinators. A literature review was completed to review impact studies of urban apiculture on the population of wild pollinators and their ecosystem specifically examining risks to native pollinators, benefits of urban bee conservation and mitigation measures.

FastStartDC member business 3eehive and a student project assistant supported the City in developing a social media marketing campaign that will help to advance the City’s goals of advancing its Bee City designation. The educational campaign ran between April and June 2021 and celebrated pollinator initiatives, encouraging residents to sign the Pollinator Pledge. In addition, this collaboration saw the addition of an educational video about pollinators as part of the City’s virtual Peony Festival celebrations.

The marketing campaign helped raise awareness about pollinator issues locally and provided public education to Oshawa residents on what they can do to support and sustain native pollinators. The social media campaign included a total of 30 posts with a combined reach of 17,000 with 1100 total likes, 133 shares and 58 comments. Students distributed 85 seed packets to local residents and were able to increase the City’s pollinator pledges by 28 residents. Their creation of a Peony Festival video for the celebration resulted in 68 online views.

Additionally, the engagement initiatives helped the City advance its Bee City designation goals and build support for future City initiatives supporting pollinators.

“The experience from the very start has been incredible. It is a joy to collaborate with such talented, passionate, and motivated people. The work that we are doing does not feel like work because of the environment that has been created. I am excited to watch this project come to fruition, and I am honoured and grateful to be a part of this experience.”- Cullen Smith, Student Researcher, Durham College

“I am grateful to have worked on a project of this nature – especially because it is such an important environmental issue. Having reviewed many articles during my research, I have learned a lot about what we can do as citizens to help encourage conservation. I've already begun to implement the tips I have learned to help protect pollinators.” - Shane Kenyon, Student Researcher, Durham College

“Thanks to the City of Oshawa, Durham College, and FastStartDC joining forces, we were able to tackle an issue from a variety of perspectives and develop creative solutions that not only positively impact the goals of the City, but provide for unique experiential learning opportunities for our students. It is experiences like these that set our students apart upon graduation.” – Crystal Pollard, Manager, Entrepreneurship Services, Durham College

“It has been exciting to work on this project. We are very hopeful that our work will have a positive impact on the City and its residents.” - Dimitri Stathopoulos, Faculty, School of Science & Engineering Technology, Durham College

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Utilizing the Cultural Economy to Aid in Post-Covid Recovery

Students from Communications and Critical Thinking at Trent University Durham GTA worked with City staff from Recreation and Cultural Services, Economic Development, and Innovation and Transformation. The aim of the course was to research a post-COVID-19 culture economy.  Students explored how the City of Oshawa could maximize the “Buy Local” campaign while supporting and strengthening Oshawa’s cultural sector.  Upper year students in this course learned the larger role of culture on a city’s economy, and had the opportunity to learn first-hand from Oshawa cultural business owners, who shared their experiences during the pandemic. 

After thoughtful research, the students submitted project proposals that sought to address economic recovery in the cultural sector, including:

• a bike-share program,
• a campaign that promotes buying and supporting local initiatives,
• a COVID-reintegration program to address the increase of homelessness, and

• an internet hub that hosts job fairs. 

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