Durham Workforce Authority to Host First Data Walk Event
On Thursday March 28th 2019 the Durham Workforce Authority (DWA) will be hosting their first Data Walk, at the Tribute Community Centre in Oshawa. A Data Walk is an interactive way for community stakeholders, including residents, researchers, program administrators, local government officials, and service providers, to engage in dialogue around research findings about their community.
The DWA values dissemination of our labour market information (LMI), however thus far our focus has generally been on publishing results and sharing them in professional meetings and conferences. Researchers, program administrators, and policymakers are accustomed to presentations full of technical jargon and graphics that community residents and practitioners may perceive as intimidating, and confusing.
We would love to bring forth this data, and other relevant information to the community in a way that will help residents, and stakeholders gain a comfort level with the breadth and depth of the data, and how this solid research can be used for their own work. As such, we present the Data Walk event.
What to expect from this event
Attendants of the Data Walk will experience small group discussions based on rotating posters of locally sourced data information regarding: employment data, top occupations, top sectors, employer survey, employee survey, Durham under 30 survey, apprenticeship data, and immigration data. Each group will be lead by a member of the DWA, with an invitation for facilitated discussion and questions. Individual discussions of each data set will then be followed by a community conversation lunch, to examine suggestions and recommendations for the future.
Our biggest goal of this event is to share key data and findings with community residents and program participants. We also hope to:
- Foster a shared understanding of local labour market information possessed by the DWA
- Inform, engage, and empower Durham Region Community members to gain a level of comfort in the local LMI data
- Build the capacity of individuals who may not commonly approach community problems quantitatively to read and interpret data, apply it to real life, and assess and discuss how the data align with their personal experiences
- Explore other community data to tell Durham Region stories and,
- Gain insight about the results and what those results might mean for the community.
This event will be one of a kind in uniting community members, educating about Durham Region specific information, and receiving feedback and insight from unique perspectives. If you are interested in attending please register through our Eventbrite link below, we’d love to see you there!