A Way Home

In November 2016, the CDF approved a new commitment of $1.25 million over 5 years. A Way Home supports and enables communities to make this shift through a Collective Impact framework and a coordinated constellation of strategic and practical resources, activities and supports, and at the same time advising and assisting national, regional, and local governments to develop, fund and implement effective solutions to youth homelessness.

Helping Communities Go Further Faster: Youth Homelessness Community Planning Toolkit

By Melanie Redman, Executive Director, A Way Home Canada

I am pleased to announce the launch of a free and open-source online resource to support communities and planners in their quests to develop and implement comprehensive plans to prevent and end youth homelessness, the Youth Homelessness Community Planning Toolkit Link opens a new window .

So what’s this Toolkit all about? Communities across Canada and the U.S. are recognizing the need for targeted strategies to prevent and end youth homelessness. I might be preaching to the choir on this, but the causes and conditions of youth homelessness are unique, and so must be the solutions. These community plans specific to youth homelessness must align with plans to end homelessness as well as other existing plans such as poverty reduction strategies.

Given that communities are recognizing the importance of developing and then doing the really sticky work of implementing these plans, it makes sense to help communities go further faster by drawing on the collective learning from Canada and the U.S. The Toolkit includes learning from communities such as Kamloops, Edmonton, Kingston, and Seattle, as well as the Government of Alberta and the State of Minnesota. It provides resources and a step-by-step approach to facilitate plan development, incorporating a long-term focus and placing emphasis on the importance of prevention and Housing First for Youth Link opens a new window .

The Toolkit also encourages a Collective Impact  Link opens a new window approach with community planning tables to ensure that those who can impact the systems that drive young people into homelessness are meaningfully engaged. It encourages the inclusion of ‘unusual suspects’ such as landlords, police, and the business community. Everyone has a stake in ensuring young people are supported to make healthy transitions into adulthood, and thus we cannot place the responsibility solely on the homeless youth-serving sector to prevent and end youth homelessness.

While the Youth Homelessness Community Planning Toolkit is a fantastic resource for organizations and individuals working to develop a plan to end youth homelessness in their communities, it does not aim to ‘reinvent the wheel’. Rather, the Toolkit points readers to resources that are readily available (when appropriate), drawing on existing materials throughout. The Toolkit is also not a ‘plan in the box,’ but instead offers a systematic approach for how to get to a comprehensive strategy and who to engage along the way.

The Youth Homelessness Community Planning Toolkit was developed by A Way Home Canada Link opens a new window  with support from the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Link opens a new window  and with funding support from the Province of Ontario. The Toolkit contains a special Appendix that speaks to the unique Service Manager structure in Ontario and the specific opportunities the Service Managers have to lead and/or support the charge to develop and implement comprehensive plans. Dr. Alina Turner Link opens a new window  is the primary author of the Toolkit.

A Way Home Full Report – City of Kamloops

Kamloops was identified in 2012 as one of two pilot sites in the national Mobilizing Local Capacity to End Youth Homelessness Program (MLC).

Nearly two years of research and community consultations followed. It was led by the City of Kamloops, Thompson Nicola Cariboo United Way, the Kamloops Homelessness Action Plan, and the Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society in partnership with Eva’s Initiatives, the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, the National Learning Community on Youth Homelessness, and the financial support of the Catherine Donnelly Foundation.

In the spring of 2014 the plan to end youth homelessness in Kamloops was completed. Three potential names were put forward from the Kamloops HomeFree Council to the MLC, and the name A Way Home was chosen to represent the plan.

Kingston Youth Action Plan: A Way Home

United Way of KFLA has developed a Community Action Plan, in close collaboration with youth and a steering committee. This is part of a national pilot project, originally part of the Mobilizing Local Capacity to End Youth Homelessness program, but now part of the A Way Home, national coalition to end youth homelessness.