Join the MtS Board of Directors!
About Making the Shift Inc.
Making the Shift (MtS) is a Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab with a mandate to contribute to the transformation of how we address youth homelessness through research and knowledge mobilization specific to youth homelessness prevention and housing stabilization. MtS is predominately funded by the Government of Canada’s Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program, and hosted at York University. MtS is co-led by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness at York University and A Way Home Canada.
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors is the governing body for Making the Shift. As a member of the Board, each Director acts in a position of trust and the Directors are collectively responsible for the effective governance of the organization. Directors are required to act diligently and in the best interests of the organization. It is not the responsibility of the Board to directly manage the organization’s day-to-day activities. Rather, the Board provides a framework in which MtS operates, attends to strategic and other key decision-making for the organization, and ensures through the organization’s governance structure that MtS is appropriately pursuing its mandate.
The Board is comprised of at least three and no more than twenty members. The full Board will meet at least four times annually and as often as necessary to carry out its responsibilities.
Term of Office and Expertise
MtS is predominantly funded by a 6-year NCE grant, with the funding scheduled to end on March 31st 2025. To allow for continuity and stability, we are seeking Board members to serve one 3-year term (until the end of the grant).
At this time, MtS is specifically interested in recruiting:
- People with lived experience/expertise of homelessness
- Indigenous peoples
- Principal Investigators of MtS-funded projects or other persons with expertise in conducting and peer-reviewing research.
Requirements of Board Membership
Requirements of Board membership include:
- Commitment to the work of the organization
- Knowledge and skills in one or more of the following key areas : legal, finance, governance, subject matter expertise, service delivery, and/or research.
- Commitment to attend at least 75% of Board meetings annually (these generally include: quarterly meetings or video/teleconferences, each approximately 3 hours in duration)
- Willingness to act as an ambassador for the organization with commitment to its success
General Duties
A Director is fully informed on organizational matters pertaining to good governance, and participates in the Board’s deliberations and decisions. The Director must:
- Review recommendations put forward by the Research Management Committee and make final decisions on project funding
- Approve Making the Shift’s budget and provide financial and risk management oversight
- Develop, revise, and generally facilitate appropriate structures, policies and procedures to allow the Board and its Committees to function effectively
- Approve the annual report to the NCE Secretariat
- Promote and support equity, diversity and inclusion within the MtS governance structure
- Participate in the ongoing development and refinement of MtS’s strategic priorities
- Support and participate in evaluating the Scientific Director’s and Partnership & Implementation Director’s work
- Assist in developing and maintaining positive relations among the Board, committees, staff members, and community to further MtS’s mission
Information to Apply
Please email a cover letter and CV to makingtheshift@yorku.ca. Deadline to apply is December 15th 2021.
We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only chosen applicants will be contacted. Chosen applicants will likely be contacted in mid-January 2022.
To address issues of systemic inequity within the Canadian labour market, we strongly encourage applications from individuals from communities and groups that have historically been disadvantaged and/or marginalized, including First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples, Indigenous peoples of Canada, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, individuals who identify as women and/or gender diverse, 2SLGBTQ+ persons, and persons with lived experience of homelessness.
