Cities Changing Diabetes Mississauga has taken a step forward in the development of a Mississauga Diabetes Prevention Strategy with the onboarding of two new City Connectors, Vera Famme and Gurpreet Rosales. The City Connectors will design, plan and execute community engagement to create a city-led and community-informed strategy. Mississauga is one of three municipalities which comprise Peel Region in Ontario, Canada. Mississauga is a richly diverse community. Over 50% of Peel residents identify as Asian, Arab, Black, Hispanic or Indigenous peoples and are at an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. 

Cities Changing Diabetes Mississauga begins planning for community engagement

Meaningful engagement with these communities will be a priority in developing the Mississauga Diabetes Prevention Strategy. Vera and Gurpreet will develop an engagement plan to engage with these groups and others, including the not-for-profit sector, local businesses and academic research collaborators like the Novo Nordisk Network for Healthy Populations (NNNHP) and the Cities Changing Diabetes Research Leads at Trillium Health Partners Institute for Better Health. 

Through engagement with the community, the City will seek to understand what interventions will be of most value and effective for consideration in the strategy. Welcome onboard to Vera and Gurpreet, who bring extensive and complementary experience working with marginalised communities through a health equity lens. We look forward to learning more about the strategy in due course!