Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Prevention Awards 2022
Sponsored by
Founding and Presenting Donor
Congratulations to our 2022 winners StepStones for Youth’s Safe at Home program and Choices for Youth’s Momma Moments program!
We’re pleased to announce the launch of the second annual Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Prevention Awards Program. Sponsored by Canada Life Assurance Co., the program is part of a broader suite of activities co-led by A Way Home Canada and the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness to transform our response to youth homelessness. Last year, we presented two awards and one honorary mention. Awards programs can be really valuable for a number of reasons, including celebrating and showcasing the important work happening to prevent youth homelessness. They can also act as mechanisms to unearth innovation, and our first year of the Making the Shift Awards did just that!
The Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Prevention Awards Program’s objectives are to:
- Further disseminate the definition of youth homelessness prevention developed for the Roadmap for the Prevention of Youth Homelessness
- Identify promising prevention programs and practices to be showcased and prioritized for the development of case studies, webinars, and other knowledge products
- Identify promising prevention programs and practices to be prioritized for research, evaluation, and/or demonstration projects
- Map the barriers to prevention programs and interventions
Definition of Homelessness Prevention
Homelessness prevention refers to policies, practices, and interventions that reduce the likelihood that someone will experience homelessness. It also means providing those who have been homeless with the necessary resources and supports to stabilize their housing, enhance integration and social inclusion, and ultimately reduce the risk of the recurrence of homelessness.
Refer to the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness’ A New Direction: A Framework for Homelessness Prevention for the full definition of homelessness prevention.
What is Youth Homelessness Prevention?
The COH’s definition of prevention underpins the Making the Shift work, including the Awards Program. Homelessness prevention refers to policies, practices, and interventions that reduce the likelihood that someone will experience homelessness. It also means providing those who have been homeless with the necessary resources and supports to stabilize their housing, enhance integration and social inclusion, and ultimately reduce the risk of the recurrence of homelessness.
The COH and A Way Home Canada developed the Roadmap for the Prevention of Youth Homelessness to not only define youth homelessness prevention, but also to showcase examples of prevention in action across a number of domains in both Canada and around the world. The Roadmap is critical, as it also points to who is responsible for what in our collective efforts to prevent youth homelessness. For the purposes of the Making the Shift Awards, we will use the Roadmap to define the parameters of prevention.
About the Awards
With support from Canada Life, we are pleased to offer two official awards, along with possible honorary mentions, to Canadian organizations and collaborations. Winners will be celebrated in the following ways:
- Winners will each receive a cash prize of $10,000, presented by Canada Life.
- Winners will be showcased in a public webinar.
- Winners will be invited to share their work in conference presentations as opportunities arise.
- Winners will be invited to join the National Learning Community on Youth Homelessness, if they are not already members.
- Winners will receive a mini case study of their initiative, produced by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. The case studies will be published in the Homeless Hub newsletter, with a national and international reach of more than 20,000 subscribers.
- Winners will be showcased in an updated edition of the Roadmap for the Prevention of Youth Homelessness.
Organizations may self-nominate their own program or initiative, or nominate another organization or initiative.
Who is eligible to apply or to be nominated?
- Submissions that can demonstrate preventative activity(ies) aiming to stabilize housing, improve health and wellbeing, promote social inclusion, and contribute to better long-term outcomes for youth and their families. Please refer to the Definition of Youth Homelessness Prevention in the Roadmap.
- Submissions that demonstrate working with youth between 13 and 24 years of age.
Nomination/Application Deadline:
Applications were due June 30, 2022. We look forward to receiving applications for the MtS Youth Homelessness Prevention Awards in 2023.
