FHS graduands promote road safety for newcomer youth

This story was originally published on SFU News, as part of the lead up to the virtual June Convocation 2021 (June 24-28). More convocation stories can be read here. 

By Geron Malbas and Rachel Wong

Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) graduands, Hanah Damot and JV Flores, are working on a project to engage and educate newcomer youth in the City of Surrey on road safety.

Damot and Flores, who both are members of the BIPOC community living in Surrey, understand the first-hand challenges that newcomer youths face. Through their own experiences, they came together to start Art On the Go (formally known as the Vision Zero Art & Road Safety for Surrey's Newcomer Youth project) as a way of empowering newcomer youth and promoting road safety.

“As a Filipino immigrant, I experienced the challenges and differences in navigating a new place,” Flores explains. “Utilizing my lived experiences during our project development, I thought it was a great opportunity to give back to the community that I was a part of.”

Damot was similarly drawn to working with newcomer youth. “My family and I moved to Canada in 2006, so as a first-generation immigrant myself, I understand the challenges that newcomer youth face, especially in navigating unfamiliar cultural contexts and making new connections.” 

The idea for Art On the Go was sparked when Damot and Flores learned that in Surrey, more traffic-related injuries and fatalities occurred in neighbourhoods with higher percentages of newcomers.  Furthermore, between 2017 and 2018, a significant increase in motor vehicle fatalities occurred among youth aged 15 to 24, according to RoadSafetyBC, representing the highest proportion of deaths in Surrey in 2018.

Through Art On the Go, Damot and Flores aim to improve safety outcomes by engaging newcomer youth in dialogue related to traffic safety, promoting community resource information sharing among youth and extended family networks, and improving newcomers’ well-being through meaningful community relationships with established organizations such as MOSAIC BC and Options Community Services Society.  

Damot and Flores both have a history of supporting FHS and SFU communities throughout their undergraduate years. Flores worked with the Health Sciences Undergraduate Student Union (HSUSU) as their VP internal relations and dean liaison and is passionate about connecting with and helping his FHS peers. Damot participated in the Health Change Lab, addressing barriers for Surrey youth in care transitioning into adulthood by creating a social innovation intervention with an interdisciplinary team of Business and Health Science students.  

After graduation, Damot will work on her professional and personal development in pursuit of a master of public health degree, while Flores plans to publish his work on the COVID-19 Health Literacy project before pursuing graduate school. By using their experiences and health sciences studies to inform their ongoing work, Damot and Flores hope they inspire others to take up the call to engage their communities.

“I hope that this work inspires more collaboration and engagement among community members and stakeholders to address road-related challenges and to ultimately reduce traffic-related injuries and fatalities in the Surrey community,” says Damot.

Flores hopes that Art on the Go will inspire others to take initiative on a particular challenge within their community and find a way to give back. “This work shows that there is always something we can do to improve the well-being of our peers and community.”

As for advice for SFU students, Flores reminds students that while their undergraduate careers will be challenging, it is important to press forward and never give up. Damot advises students to take advantage of experiential learning opportunities to not only apply your skills, but to help you learn a lot about yourself.