Dr. Gira Bhatt, a professor within the Kwantlen Psychology department, has a long-standing history of helping the Surrey community.

“It is an honour to be the Principal Investigator and the Director of this project. I value the tremendous trust that the team and the community has placed on me. I pledge my total dedication to the project which has brought together a team of academic researchers, community agencies, activists, and youth who are committed to the spirit of cooperation and collaboration. The goal of the project funded by the federal agency; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), is to galvanize resources, expertise, and the wisdom of the community to i) identify protective and preventive factors that help keep our youth safe and beyond the reaches of the dangerous and violent gangs, ii) devise strategic action plans to implement the knowledge gained through collaborative research, and iii) keep the community vibrant through dynamic knowledge dissemination activities.”

Stephen Dooley looks to CURA at Kwantlen to produce sustainable and meaningful growth throughout the community.

“As Director of the National Institute of Research for Sustainable Community Development, I am thrilled to be participating in the CURA project. In many ways our success in securing CURA funding is a testament to the manner in which our community partners came together over the past three years to develop a cohesive and united plan to address issues of youth gang violence. The CURA team at Kwantlen Polytechnic University can be seen as the host for a broadly based community engagement process. As this project unfolds, it is our very strong intention to walk the talk of community development principles in a meaningful and sustainable way.”

Dr. Roger Tweed, a professor within the Kwantlen Psychology department, is committed to making a difference through empirical research.

“I am very pleased to take part in this study. We are identifying strengths that help keep kids away from criminal involvement. We focus on personal strengths (i.e., character strengths), social strengths (also called social assets), and positive belief systems (e.g., reasons not to commit crimes) that help protect youth. The research takes time, so we don’t have simple answers for immediately reducing crime, but this research should, in the future, provide strategies to better protect youth.”