Coming of Age – Report Launch PresentationPresented by – Erika Morton

Feb 24th, 2014

1

2

Addressing the needs of street-involved and homeless youth, who are also:◦ Pregnant and parenting ◦ Aboriginal◦ LGBTQ◦ Newcomer◦ From a range of geographic communities

3

How we are doing Community Development work, Systems Integration and Systems Level Planning work in Hamilton◦ Which is to say that we are building the resilience

and enhancing the capacity of the community to address the unique and complex needs of youth

4

Directors from street-involved youth agencies have a long history of ad-hoc communication

Over ten years ago, a group of service providers began meeting formally in order to address community gaps

Separated the directors and front line staff to enhance communication

5

The directors table partnered with the SPRC in 2004 to develop a community plan that would address the needs of street-involved and homeless youth

In October 2005, the Addressing the Needs document was released

The subsequent recommendation implementation phase helped us understand how the three stakeholder groups would work together

6

Mission Statement: The SYPC strives to advocate for, support and facilitate an enhanced, seamless system of services for street-involved and homeless youth.

DirectorsCommittee

Front Line

Advisory Committee

Youth Leaders

Committee

7

8

Addressing the Needs of Street-Involved and Homeless Youth in Hamilton (October 2005) and Evaluation (August 2009)

Strategic Planning Sessions Monthly Planning Meetings Dedicated Community Development Support

9

The collaboration model-3 stakeholder groups Commitment to systems planning; systems level perspective Documentation of community conversations and use of

research in work Community development support Increase of the profile and community awareness around

street-involved youth issues Enhance communication between service providers-address

barriers Share resources, projects, programs Joint planning and program development

10

Youth Housing Support Project Youth Outreach Workers of Hamilton project Angela’s Place and Wesley Youth Housing transitional housing

projects Living Rock’s Weekend Open Access Support The Addressing the Needs report and subsequent Interim

Project Check-In Increased capacity and training for front-line staff Increased mental health services, including clinical services

11

12

Time Balancing inclusiveness and getting work done Working with diverse agencies A funding climate that expects collaboration but does

not foster it Meaningfully valuing the perspective of front line staff

and youth

13

Thank you to the Government of Canada for their generous support

14

For more information about the SYPC or YHSP please contact me at:

emorton@sprc.hamilton.on.ca 905-522-1148 ext 303 Follow us on Twitter at @SYPCHamOnt

15

16