2 SHIP

April 4

2017

Peel Housing &

Homelessness Summit

Community Engagement

Developing stronger relationships with members of our

community to plan and deliver services

Presented By: Shirley Hannigan, Manager

Lina Termini, Manager

We were asked…

• Does SHIP have some interesting practices it

would like to share?

• Could we have clients who have been involved in

these kinds of initiatives speak to their experience

We’ve ready to respond

to both today!

First, a little bit about SHIP

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Who is SHIP? • A champion of the fundamental right of housing for

nearly 30 years providing housing and community

based supports to vulnerable individuals

• We advocate for Healthy Housing™ by forming

lasting relationships with landlords and developers

• SHIP counts on the collaboration and support of

our partners and funders to enable us to work

toward keeping pace with ever-growing demands

for health service and housing support.

MISSION:

To optimize quality of life through community-based

housing and mental health services

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Who is SHIP?

Wait

List

Our

Portfoli

o

Our

Portfolio

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Who is SHIP?

250 staff

About SHIP

What do we do? • SHIP has championed the fundamental

right of housing for nearly 30 years. As a respected health service and housing support provider, we advocate for Healthy Housing™ by forming lasting relationships with landlords and developers.

• We advocate for mental and physical health services through in-house service teams and partnerships with community-based agencies. SHIP is known for our record of identifying gaps in available service provision and directly addressing those needs. Many of our programs and service models have gained national attention within the health care field.

Some of our Programs

• 2 ACTT Teams

• Transitional Support Housing Programs(AP/PYV/SSCSP)

• RMST

• High Support

• Housing First

• In-STED

• Central Intake

• Psychiatrist

• Housing Stock

• Tenant Relations / Alternative Dispute resolution

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SHIP’s Communities

• Clients

• Families

• Community members

• Residents

• Tenants, Landlords & Supers

• Partners

• Business

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They are all

connected!

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Community Engagement

Like safety, privacy and quality, engagement with

internal and external key partners and stakeholders

touches every program and service at SHIP.

We recognize that:

• community engagement is integral to realizing our

values.

• community engagement is fundamental to

effective planning, service design and evaluation,

and is a central component of quality,

accountability and equity.

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Community Engagement

• The literature on community engagement draws

from many fields of study and practice such as

community development, health service delivery,

system design, patient/family engagement and

citizen engagement

• At SHIP, engagement with community is broadly

defined and includes clients, families, staff,

community residents and businesses, other

service providers, agencies, as well as health

system partners and beyond.

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Community Engagement

• Research suggests that there are measureable

improvements when communities are meaningfully

engaged.

• Engagement shifts providers from doing

something for the individual/community to doing

something with the individual/community.

• The fundamental principle is that those who are

affected should have a say and that engagement

builds both better health outcomes and health

services and systems.

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Community Engagement

at SHIP

Examples:

1. Client Program Advisory Committee (CPAC)

2. Social Recreational Activities

3. Social Purpose Enterprise (SPE)

4. Peel Youth Village (PYV)

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Client Program

Advisory Committee

• How it came to be

• Why it works:

– We have a Terms of Reference (TOR)

– We meet every month

– We offer a venue for open & safe

communication

– Inclusive

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CPAC - TOR The intention of the Client Program Advisory

Committee is to:

• obtain client and tenant input to services, programs,

activities, events & housing

• represent the interests of clients and their families,

referring agencies and the local community

• develop and maintain good communication with the

community, and provide opportunities for community

representatives to have input into planning local mental

health

• promote partnerships, community awareness and

understanding of mental health review and make

recommendations on the organization’s strategic plan

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CPAC - TOR

• With no direct authority, the Committee can and

does influence the direction of the organization

• Recommendations, feedback or queries by the

Committee are brought forward for consideration,

feedback or action

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CPAC Accomplishments

• Housing Application

• Terms of Reference

• Committee Workplan & Comfort Agreement

• Emergency Response Team presentation

• Opinions, Concerns and Compliments

• Client Declaration of Values/Bill of Rights

• Client Satisfaction Survey input

• SHIP Network News – client newsletter

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Other Engagement Opportunities

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Building community through social and recreational

opportunities:

• 30 regular groups

• 15 locations

• 20 different programs

SPE in the Community

How it started……..10 years ago

• An empty building and a group of SHIP clients

• A discussion

• A plan

• And an employment initiative

• And more…….

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Social Purpose Enterprise

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What is SPE?

Social Purpose Enterprise (SPE) is…..

a community based business with a social mission

to provide all staff with a safe, flexible and supportive

work environment, competitive compensation, a

sense of purpose and the dignity and respect that

comes with employment.

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What it’s created

• Employment opportunities for more than 76 staff

since the inception of SPE

• A sustainable business that provides employment

opportunities for individuals living with significant

barriers to employment

• Provides a sense of belonging

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More value

• Clients drive their success

• Provides dignity for individuals engaged in

employment and volunteering

• Competitive compensation

• Opportunity to give back to the community

• Creating businesses…..

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• Located in Port Credit (Mississauga)

• 7 clients work here – roaster, baristas,

administration, marketing support

• Features a fair trade organic café

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• Located in Orangeville (Dufferin County)

• Employs 8 staff and volunteers

• Featuring a community café and catering service

• Operated through a partnership of SHIP, Georgian

and CMHA Peel Dufferin

•

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• Located in Mississauga, Brampton and West

Toronto

• Employs 15 clients

• Provides cleaning services at:

• SHIP’s Capital buildings - 7

• Short Stay Crisis Support Programs – 2

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• Located in Peel Youth Village

• Employs 9 - 11 residents and community

members

• Provides:

• catering and a community café

• cleaning services

• Launching Community Painters – Spring

2017

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About Peel Youth Village (PYV)

Residential Services: • Stay of up to 364 days

• Up to 48 youth occupy PYV with support from a multidisciplinary team of professionals

• Support services 24-7, 365 days a year

• Onsite Ontario Works caseworker

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Safe, stable, transitional housing & support services for youth 16-30 Located in Mississauga, PYV is a mixed-use development

incorporating both housing and a community centre

PYV is Unique • 48 bed facility

• Multi disciplinary on-site team available 24/7

• First 30 days operate as an emergency shelter

• 2 on-site SPE’s

• On-site community center (amalgamates residents with

community & visa versa)

• Access to housing stock

• Access to psychiatric services

• Professionals dedicated specifically to aftercare

• Multidisciplinary team is also available to the

community

• PYV App

• Research

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Phases of Independence

Transition

Action

Preparation

Engagement

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Rooflessness vs Rootlessness

Why is it important to foster community engagement?

• Homelessness is more than the absence of

shelter (rooflessness), its also about the absence

of support & inclusion in one’s community

(rootlessness)

• Homeless individuals, like all others, have an

intrinsic need to put down roots

• Build a sense of community,

• Create pride, belonging and dignity

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Community Engagement

BEFORE AFTER Secretive and insular Community relationships

Separation was created, fostered and maintained

Community built on collaboration and fostering and maintaining inclusion

Lack of interaction with PYV and the Acorn Community, e.g. trips, programming, workshops and services were provided separately to the community and residents

Events and activities are offered to the community and residents together; no longer separated with workshops, events, trips & services now provided collaboratively

There was community and residential staff

Now there are staff who provide services to both community and residents

Conflict, fear, mistrust existed

Has diminished significantly through community development

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Community Engagement

The Protective Factor As a result, residents of the programs began to

express a reluctance to leave the sense of

community they achieved and (re) integrate into the

community that cast them off

The Collective Response We began to include and infuse the Acorn community

into our programs and services through employment

& community engagement opportunities and include

and infuse resident participation in our community engagement & development initiatives.

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Resident Engagement

• Governance

• Learning as We Lead

• Program Calendar

• Staff Locator (Whiteboard)

• Curfew

• Food bank (extra day)

• Engaging residents in development of services, encourages

buy-in, drives success of program (difficult conversations

with professionals/staff) – not a supervised program –

• Skepticism – motive behind, i.e. creating resident led own

workshops

By whose scale are we measuring the success of our

programming? 34

Building a Community

What we noticed: • a community developed within our programs

illustrated by acceptance, companionship,

inclusivity, belonging & safety.

• The solution to homelessness needs to be a

holistic approach; housing of course is the biggest component but so too is supporting regional, federal and municipal like minded players trying to make a difference.

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Successes

• Transformed how the community felt and treated

the building, staff & residents

• Delivered more than what was expected to the

point where people responded in kind

• Clients were able to identify their barriers and

create success through the reduction and/or

elimination of barriers

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Lessons Learned

• The solution needs to create a sense of community

for individuals to be successful

• Importance of identifying and removing barriers to CE

• Recognizing the lens that must be looked through

when seeking engagement within the community

• What people think/learn through engagement

• One of the things professionals rarely talk about or

strategically address, is the loss of community when

people become homeless & the depression and

addictions that this may lead to

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Recommendations

• Find a community engagement framework that can be

adapted to the organization

• Ensure community engagement is an organizational

priority embedded in strategic plans

• Provide staff with the time and training to be able to

implement community engagement activities

• Understand that community engagement is a culture

shift and may take time

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Questions

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