Education
Ph.D., Wilfrid Laurier University
M.A, Wilfrid Laurier University
B.A, (Hon), Brock University
B.A, University of Winnipeg 
Courses Taught
PACS 490/620: Special Topics in PACS - Topic: Research for Social Action
About
Rich Janzen has worked at CCBR since 1996, becoming Research Director in 2004, Co-Executive Director in 2017, and Executive Director in 2021. Rich sees research as a tool for social innovation and change - to find new ways of bringing people who are on the edge of society to live within the community as full and equal members. Rich has an academic background in community psychology and religious studies. He is an adjunct associate professor at Conrad Grebel University College and Renison University College both at the University of Waterloo. He is also a part-time Associate Field Education Professor at the Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University.
Rich has been involved in many (over 140) community-based research and knowledge mobilization projects. These projects have focused on a range of issues including immigrants and refugee newcomers, community mental health, disabilities, family support, and faith and justice. This breadth of work has involved multi-partner research initiatives, program, and systems change evaluation, and needs assessment with direct policy impact. He is the author of over 50 academic publications, over 185 technical research reports, and a presenter at over 80 conferences.
Rich is a community facilitator and mobilizer. He regularly supports community groups in better understanding their pressing issues and in developing focused strategies to address them. The workshops and community events that he facilitates stress the importance of collaboration for collective impact. Increasingly he is being asked to coach and train academic audiences about how how to effectively engage community groups in research and action.
Rich has visited over 40 countries around the world and previously worked as a cross-cultural social planner in Toronto. He now lives with his family in Waterloo, Ontario. Rich is a member of a Mennonite church active in a multicultural neighborhood of Kitchener. He has self-published two family history books.
Rich has been involved in 90-plus participatory action research projects, many focused on issues of cultural diversity or mental health. This breadth of work has included multi-partner research initiatives, community mobilization, systems change evaluation, and needs assessment with direct policy impact. He is the author of 30 academic articles, over 100 technical research reports, and a presenter at over 130 conferences, workshops, and community events. Rich is an affiliated member of the Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS).
Rich sees research as a tool for social innovation and change - to find new ways of bringing people who are on the edge of society to live within the community as full and equal members.
Recent projects
Team Leader: Mobilizing Waterloo Region around immigrant employment.
A series of four interrelated projects that culminated in the launch and evaluation of the Waterloo Region Immigrant Employment Network (WRIEN), a comprehensive community initiative to promote local immigrant employment.
Team Leader: Churches welcoming immigrants
A national project to explore how and to what extent Canadian church congregations are welcoming and including immigrants in their church life. It also intends to identify ways to better involve immigrants within Canadian churches. Carried out in partnership with World Vision and the Tyndale Intercultural Ministry Centre.
Publications
Janzen, R. (2020). Research in service of community: Chapter 12 commentary. In M. Riemer, S.M. Reich, S.D. Evans, G. Nelson, & I. Prilleltensky (Eds.) Community psychology: In pursuit of liberation and well-being (3rd edition). 307-309. New York, NY: Red Globe Press - Macmillan.
Janzen, R. (2019). Pathways to engaging cultural diversity by Canadian Mennonite congregations. Conrad Grebel Review. 37(3), 247-266. DOI: https://uwaterloo.ca/grebel/sites/ca.grebel/files/uploads/files/fall_19_-_janzen.pdf
Janzen, R., Chapman, M., & Watson, J. (2012). Integrating immigrants into the life of Canadian urban Christian congregations: Findings from a national survey. Review of Religious Research. 53(4),441-470.
Janzen, R., Ochocka, J., Jacobson, N., Maiter, S., Simich, L., Westhues, A., Fleras, A. & The Taking Culture Seriously Partners (2010). Synthesizing Culture and Power in Community Mental Health: An Emerging Framework. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health.29 (1), 51-67.
Janzen, R. & Wiebe, D. (2010). Putting God in the logic model: Developing a national framework for the evaluation of faith-based organizations. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation. 25(1), 1-26.