Anybody with a family who has to rent will tell you that a lot of landlords don't like to rent to families. This is especially true if the head of the family is a teenager with very small children.

Today's guest is Melissa Tremblay, a University of Alberta assistant professor in educational psychology. She has received a Mitacs Award for Outstanding Innovation in the Indigenous category, presented on November 26, 2019. The Mitacs Award for Outstanding Innovation — Indigenous is presented to an Indigenous student or post-doctoral fellow who has made a significant achievement in research and development innovation during their Mitacs-funded research.

Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that has designed and delivered research and training programs in Canada for 20 years. It works with 70 universities, 6,000 companies, and federal and provincial governments to build partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada.

Melissa Tremblay received the award for her innovative work to develop and evaluate a housing support program for pregnant teens and teen moms and dads. She talked to Victoria Fenner about what her research told her about the challenges of being a teenager with children, especially in this very difficult housing market, and some of the innovative research techniques she used to get teenagers to open up about their lives.

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