Demonstration Lab
Demonstration Projects (DEMS) are an integral part of the Making the Shift research to impact cycle. Funded by the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, the demonstration projects identify, develop, test, evaluate, and mobilize innovations in policy and practice that support the prevention and facilitation of sustainable exits from homelessness.
What are demonstration projects?
Demonstration projects blend experimental program delivery with research and evaluation. Employing design thinking, our demonstration projects are intended to expand our knowledge and understanding of innovative approaches to preventing and ending youth homelessness by identifying, developing, prototyping, testing, evaluating, and mobilizing innovations in policy and practice through the implementation of comprehensive demonstration projects.
All demonstration projects involve robust program model and service design, as well as robust research and evaluation (process and outcomes). They allow for key lessons to come forward by answering questions such as: are the needs of the target demographic being adequately met? What program adaptations might be needed? What can others learn from this intervention? Answers to these questions provide practitioners and researchers critical data about their theories and practice.
Through the MtS Demonstration Projects, we have implemented various prevention programs in community settings and are conducting qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Each community site has a specific focus, and three sites have dedicated research and evaluation teams that collect feedback from program participants and staff. The national team closely monitors and guides the research and evaluation work being done at the community sites.
To date, we have focused on four distinct program models, each representing a form of prevention as defined in the The Roadmap for the Prevention of Youth Homelessness, including early intervention, housing stability, and sustained exists from homelessness (Gaetz et al., 2018):
In addition to these four program models, Making the Shift is also piloting an intervention called Duty to Assist, which is not funded by the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy.
When young people are at risk of or experiencing homelessness, there are typically adults in their lives who know what is going on, but don’t know what to do. Duty to Assist is the Canadian term for the adaptation of a highly innovative approach to homelessness prevention that originated in Wales and is also being applied in England. In those contexts, Duty to Assist means there is a statutory obligation, or a legal duty, requiring local authorities to make reasonable efforts to end the person’s homelessness or stabilize their housing. In adapting the model for the needs of young people, we envision that meaningful adults in the lives of young people — teachers, coaches, doctors and nurses, community workers — could be equipped to connect young people to key support services such as Youth Reconnect. The goal of Duty to Assist is to help support young people (as young as 13) and their families to help address underlying issues and keep young people in place in their communities and connected to school and in some cases employment. We have taken preliminary steps to consider how Duty to Assist can be adapted to the Canadian context, what the service design should look like, and through engagement with community partners, are doing the groundwork to launch a pilot demonstration project in Hamilton Ontario.
Demonstration Sites
There are currently 15 projects in 12 communities in Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Ontario that are taking part.