Prior to the formalization of the SPECTRUM Partnership and grant proposal, meetings were held with the directors, deputy ministers, assistant deputy ministers, policy analysts, and managers from the Manitoban Government Departments of Education, Families, Finance, Indigenous and Northern Relations, and Justice from 2016 – 2018. Between 2017 – 2018, meetings were held with community organizations such as the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth, Public Interest Law Centre, United Way Winnipeg, and Winnipeg Harvest. Two workshops were held in 2017 to bring together academics from the University of Manitoba, government department representatives, and community partners to explore what could be achieved through a partnership and identified projects and focus areas to be examined in the Partnership. Partners were consulted throughout the proposal development until the proposal was submitted at the end of 2018.

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July 2019

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council announces that it will award $199,960 for the "Across the Spectrum: Building a Multi-Sector Partnership to Conduct Social Policy Evaluation and Research Using Big Data" project.

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September 2019

SPECTRUM partners meet for the inaugural full-day workshop, to get to know each other, discuss what SPECTRUM might achieve, and to consider who might be missing and invite them to join the partnership.

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December 2019

SPECTRUM partners meet for full-day workshop to 1) explore ideas for a “demonstration project” of how the partnership might engage with the Manitoba Data Repository to further our goals, and, 2) to begin small and large group discussions of mission, values and structure.

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January 2020

Working Groups begin work that will support the partnership development, including development of a Mission Statement and collective Values for the partnership, and mapping out guidelines for how the partners will work together and make decisions. Potential topics for the Demonstration Project are voted on by the partnership.

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Manuscript on documenting the process of the SPECTRUM partnership started; students mentored on drafting manuscript.

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March 2020

Plans for our third in-person workshop disrupted by COVID-19 pandemic.

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October 2020

SPECTRUM partners meet virtually for updates on the activities of the different working groups and progress on the development of the Demonstration Project, as well as discussions around the mission and values.

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February 2021

SPECTRUM Partners meet virtually to discuss processes for working together, and what the partnership values mean. The Demonstration Project has progressed and the partners involved in this work present an update.

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May 2021

SPECTRUM Partners meet virtually to discuss working group updates and have a facilitated discussion about ani-oppression and decolonization.

 

November 2021

SPECTRUM Partners meet virtually to learn about the public policy cycle. Updates from working groups including the Demonstration Project progress were discussed.

 

April 2022

SPECTRUM Partners meet virtually to further dive into the public policy process with guest speakers Dr. La Royce Batchelor and Dr. Andrea Rounce.

 

May 2022

SPECTRUM Partners meet virtually over 2 days for a workshop facilitated by Jackie Hogue focusing on the future of the SPECTRUM Partnership. Topics workshopped include Equity, Antiracism, Demonstration Project preliminary results, SPECTRUM’s Policy Option Development Process, employing SPECTRUM Values in research, identifying criteria, themes and topics for future research projects.

 

March 2023

SPECTRUM Partners meet for our first all-day in-person (with virtual option) workshop since the pandemic began. Demonstration Project results were presented and discussed, with the Deputy Minister of Families responding to the results. Ideas and feedback about policy option implementation were generated, and there was an update and discussion on the SEEK (Space for Emerging and (re)Emerging Knowledges) working group.

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April 2023

SPECTRUM's stage 1 application in the SSHRC Partnership Grant application is successful and are invited to submit a stage 2 application.

 

June 2023

SPECTRUM’s summer workshop took place on June 14th at the West End Cultural Centre, continuing the conversations from the spring workshop that took place in March. This workshop was an opportunity for all partners across community organizations, government, and academia, to foster relationships with each other, collaborate, and dive deeper into the next stages of SPECTRUM projects.

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September 2023

SPECTRUM’s fall workshop took place the Manitoba Museum. This workshop was focused on obtaining partner feedback. Partners worked together to develop an equity statement, vision statement, and we worked together to hone in on possible research questions for our priority themes of CFS, Mental Health/Addictions, Housing/Homelessness, and Basic Income.

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October 2023

SPECTRUM's SSHRC Stage 2 Partnership Grant application was submitted! Congratulations to the entire partnership for coming together on this achievement. 

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