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Facilitating A Gender-Based Safety Audit

YWCA Hamilton is leading the City of Hamilton’s Gender-Based Safety Audit (GBSA), with support from PhD student and CRP graduate intern Stephanie Milliken and McMaster School of Social Work faculty member Dr. Mary Vaccaro.

The GBSA creates space for women and gender-diverse people across Hamilton to share the factors that contribute to feeling unsafe in the places they live, work, and move through.

Participants also offer concrete recommendations for how the City can improve these environments to better support safety and inclusion.

As part of this work, Stephanie and Mary facilitated community-based conversations with several groups and organizations. This included arts-based activities with women and gender-diverse individuals accessing emergency shelters, drop-ins, and transitional living programs, captured through UNSHELTERED the zine.

An electronic version of the GBSA issue of UNSHELTERED is available to access. In addition to her facilitation work, Stephanie co-authored the secondary data analysis for the final GBSA report to the City and contributed to editing the final document.

View the full report here.