Testimonials

“Thank you, Jenn, for the support and the encouragement you provided me to prepare for the MAPS Presentation.”

“Excellent staff and strong resources. Kudos!”

“Thank you to you and your team for all your hard work and the contributions you make to the programs, services, organizations, partnerships and collaborations in the Alberta Capital Region. The passion and excitement for the work knows no bounds and it inspires others. Thank you!”

“Thank you for continuing to advocate and support the sector with the passion, commitment and thoughtful leadership that you bring.”

“MAPS Team members have been wonderful partners and people around our table feel they are able to make a difference in the way youth are served and are able to help give youth a voice.”

“It is a joy to work with MAPS’s staff! Thank you for your wisdom, leadership and creativity!”

“This partnership with MAPS is essential, and very much needed in a city with numerous service providers who need to come together and share what, how and where they are delivering their services.”

“Continue the most valuable work that M.A.P.S. does for Alberta and City of Edmonton.”

“Keep doing the great job that M.A.P.S. is doing. I believe that M.A.P.S. is a small unit of dedicated people that goes above and beyond to making a big difference. I also hold the view that it is very important to have such an organization in place as their approach helps various organizations work together in a productive and effective manner. Thank you M.A.P.S.!”

“Thanks for all of your dedication and hard work!”

“Providing MAPS resources to local faith communities has allowed them to see some of the dynamics at play locally; to advocate for needed services or see where they might best put their efforts. We have faith communities considering building affordable or supportive housing on their land and are using MAPS resources to understand the dynamics in their community and what might fit best.”

“MAPS has taken a strong leadership role in the Action Plan’s Living Library. Without the years of experience of knowing how to intentionally, genuinely, and caringly support and work with individuals with lived / living experience and professionals from a variety of backgrounds, we wouldn’t have had as successful of an event as we did on October 10, 2019. The care and support provided by MAPS in supporting individuals (in collaboration with City of Edmonton, Children’s Services) to share their experiences around navigation was key to the public event. As a result of MAPS’ connections and understanding of the importance of lived/living experience as evidence, we have been able to find opportunities for extending this work into the community and finding collaborative partners to sustain the Living Library. MAPS has also provided an essential role in facilitation, gathering stakeholders, and building deep relationships with everyone involved in the Living Library. This work takes time, commitment, and strong interpersonal skills. MAPS has been able to provide exactly those things.”

“M.A.P.S. has helped us provide knowledge about communities around Edmonton that has been helpful for post secondary students who need to find community housing. Many have been international students and the resources provided through M.A.P.S. have been helpful for providing information about prospective neighbourhoods that could meet their needs.”

“The Community Mental Health Action Plan has strongly benefitted from Deborah co-chairing the Evidence Foundation Leadership Team and from bringing her knowledge and networks to the Steering Committee. Deborah has increased the reach and collaboration of the Community Mental Health Action Plan through consistently showcasing the Action Plan at the annual MAPS Showcase, bringing up the work of the Action Plan at various community tables where alignments need to be made (and also bringing that back to the Action Plan), and ensuring work in the community supports the goal of bettering the mental health system. The MAPS team has strengthened both the breadth and the depth of the Action Plan work through new connections. Examples include awareness of the Youth Ban work, the study about youth’s experience in the emergency department, accessible transit, domestic violence advocates, and individuals with lived / living experience around mental health or navigation. The Action Plan has been able to incorporate some of these individuals and pieces of work into our work and the website.”

“As a settlement counsellor, I learnt a lot about developing formal partnership, informal, collaborating, referrals. but the best part is that is seeing how everyone’s opinion is valued at MAPS. I liked the hard work, and organized manner in which MAPS worked to hold the 4 Intercultural dialogues and a wrap up. It has been an exciting thing to learn about community development. In the showcase event I was so happy to have been given a chance to present and got great help from MAPS office to develop a presentation and encourage me to do it well. I formed informal partnerships with people in my block as arranging a dialogue, and seeing the overwhelming response promoted me to arrange the first block party and then many others followed. If I had not helped in having an Intercultural dialogue arranged, I would never have come to know that my neighbourhood was open to deepening further engagement events like block party. Thank you MAPS! I learnt about many referrals at the showcase event.”

“M.A.P.S. has supported a group I facilitate that is coordinating newcomer children and youth settlement services in schools. Louise compiled maps for all programs and services that 6 agencies currently offer, which has been immensely useful for our group. The ultimate goal is to improve coordination and streamline services to ensure newcomer children and youth have the best support available. M.A.P.S. has been extremely helpful and instrumental in this project.”

“The 3 life maps that were created with participants have proved to be an excellent vehicle to engage community in further discussions focussing on the resiliency of marginalized people in provincial, national, and international conferences and settings.”

“Championing the outcomes and recommendations of the 4 phases of research has expanded collaborative efforts, resulted in bus passes for the vulnerable, and generated interest in looking at issues impacting youth such as banning and mental health. We can achieve collaboratively what we cannot achieve as individual organizations.”

“The maps developed in partnership with M.A.P.S. have been used as a tool to talk to service providers in the community. They have helped us understand what data is available, and to partner with others to locate data they may have to better help us understand the Early Learning and care landscape in Edmonton.”

“M.A.P.S. was able to put a concept into a professional document/map so it would be taken more seriously. This work is extremely meaningful and emotional to the high-risk youth of Edmonton and the professionals who work with them. This map will be used mainly to improve accountability in the workers who help Edmonton’s youth to have happier, healthier lives with fewer criminal episodes.”

“As a result of a chance visit to the MAPS office by a new Edmontonian interested in social mapping M.A.P.S. had the honour of working with some City of Edmonton social work colleagues and 10 women who were survivors of domestic violence. The women were part of a support group looking for a way to use their experience to help our community understand the impact of domestic violence better and to help create a more effective support system for families experiencing family violence. Our team met with the women over 8 months to hear and map their stories and then together we compiled a composite map which consisted of four parts; family and community roots, the abusive relationship, seeking help and rebuilding. The women used the maps to tell their story and to address policy makers regarding their experience using the existing support system. The women expressed gratitude for being able to tell their stories, for being heard, and for having a meaningful way to reflect on their experience. They also appreciated being able to use the maps as advocacy tools and have since had great success in sharing their maps and experiences with leaders in our community, therefore contributing to social change efforts.”

“It is only through working collaboratively and viewing the larger picture that collaborative partners can see gaps in services the way that families and individuals see gaps when navigating the system. We have noticed a trend by agencies and organizations to seek more information and hear from other service providers and partners rather than making decisions based on their current service users needs.”

“MAPS has been instrumental in designing and facilitating processes which engage people with lived experience in social service planning and evaluation. Our human service partners wish to honour and learn from such experience and are eager to include service users in conversations about the strengths and challenges of existing social services within a continuous improvement framework. MAPS has been fortunate to work with many service users in 2017 on behalf of our partners. Participants often express their gratitude and appreciation to us for listening to them and hearing them as evidenced in this quote, “I must say that I am super impressed with the journey map, it really spoke to my personal experience. It is very accurate. I really appreciate that this story is being told and I truly hope it does help change things in the mental health field. I would love to stay on board and be a part of future projects as mental health awareness is something I am very passionate about. Thank you for letting me be a part of this research!”

“MAPS staff team supports the work of our collaborative partners in the ways that they need to be helped. A theme that we consistently notice in our work is that collaborative work requires various kinds of support including administration, facilitation, info gathering and research, writing, community engagement expertise and facilitation and representation. Without this kind of support many collaborations are not successful. While they may be attended by very experienced and informed members it seems the members are already completely committed in their professional roles and unable to commit the required time to the collaborative. When MAPS is able to offer leadership and support it assists the success of the collaborative. On the contrary, when MAPS has to step back due to lack of resources we often see a leadership gap and a decline in the work of the collaborative.”

It is such a valuable innovative service, especially working with immigrant and refugee community.

Excellent organization, highly competent, collaborative, engaged with citizen centric and social issues, key partner linked to the direct success of our research project.