MIRA | Dixon Hall Centre

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Connecting to the needs of communities

The MIRA | Dixon Hall Centre is a unique partnership between the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA) and Dixon Hall, a multi-service agency focused on addressing poverty, social injustices and isolation across the lifespan, in Toronto’s downtown East. Created in April 2021, this collaboration brings together Dixon Hall’s expertise in providing comprehensive community-based client care and MIRA’s excellence in creating innovative research programs centred around aging and older adults.

Through short- and long-term projects that are responsive to the needs of older adults, the Centre is initially focusing on issues such as housing insecurity, barriers to transportation, transitions in care (such as from the community to hospital) and equitable access to digital technology for older adults.

If you are a MIRA member or trainee, or a community member or agency interested in getting involved with the MIRA | Dixon Hall Centre, please contact Gésine Alders (aldersgl@mcmaster.ca).

Visit this page for exciting updates about the MIRA | Dixon Hall Centre as they happen.

Related Projects

The MIRA | Dixon Hall Centre supports community-engaged research.

PACIFIC – A Post-Acute Care Intervention for Frailty using Information and Communication Technology
Leveraging today’s health technology to co-design a complex community-based frailty intervention for older post-acute care patients.
EMPOWrD – Enhancing Mobility and Participation for Older Adult Wellness through Digital Inclusion
Improving mobility and wellness among older Canadians by utilizing effective design to bridge divides in access, use and embracement of technology.
Dixon Hall’s rooming house initiative: Scoping the design and implementation of social housing in Ontario to inform priorities and practice
2024 MIRA | Dixon Hall Knowledge Synthesis Grant
The promotion and sustainability of digital literacy skills for marginalized older adults
2024 MIRA | Dixon Hall Knowledge Synthesis Grant
McMaster Monitoring My Mobility (MacM3)
Major Program of Research
The EMBOLDEN trial: Enhancing physical and community MoBility in OLDEr adults with health inequalities using commuNity co-design
Researchers, older-adult citizens and community service providers co-design, implement and evaluate an innovative community-based intervention with the goal of improved physical and community mobility, nutrition, and social participation in older adults.

Videos

Updates and presentations on the work of the MIRA | Dixon Hall Centre, researchers and trainees.

Multimorbidity, frailty and delayed hospital discharge — MIRA Aging Research Spotlight

Related Funding

Opportunities for MIRA researchers and trainees to engage with our partner Dixon Hall and participate in community-engaged research.

The MIRA | Dixon Hall Centre is a partnership between MIRA and Dixon Hall, a multi-service agency focused on addressing poverty, social injustices, and isolation across the lifespan in downtown Toronto East. Knowledge Synthesis Grants will support the synthesis and mobilization of existing knowledge and the identification of knowledge gaps and opportunities related to the following themes identified as priority areas in consultation with staff, leadership, and other stakeholders from Dixon Hall:

Loneliness, social isolation & emotional well-being
Housing & aging in place
Precarity, financial well-being & food security
Physical & cognitive decline
Ageism, vulnerability, & loss of agency

Successful proposals will include a comprehensive knowledge mobilization plan for disseminating findings, such as a knowledge mobilization forum, in-person workshops, videos, education materials, infographics or other knowledge mobilization approaches.

Applications due

January 15, 2023

Award Values

Up to $70,000 (over one year)

Download the Funding Call