News for June, 2008

Feature: New Documentary Series Focuses on Homeless Children and Families

Canada

Known for producing films that “challenge for change,” highly acclaimed director Laura Sky and Sky Works Charitable Foundation will soon release the first of four—and perhaps a fifth—documentary in a series that promises to deliver a compelling voice for families with children who have faced homelessness.

Although there has been much research, study and reporting of the issues facing the homeless, families and children remain mostly invisible, says Sky. In Home Safe, Sky Works Foundation, which has been producing cutting edge independent films on social issues since 1983, is working directly with children and their families to address the issue of being homeless from their perspectives.

Home Safe aims to be more than just films—its goal is to mobilize communities to “engage in positive action by providing children and families in crisis with a forum for expression, engagement and action.” The Executive Producer is renowned for her work with people who are homeless—Cathy Crowe. She is the current recipient of the Atkinson Charitable Foundation’s Economic Justice Award and recently published Dying for a Home: Homeless Activists Speak Out (Between The Lines, 2007).

Filming has been completed for the first documentary, which was taped in Calgary, and if all goes as planned it will be ready for release by the end of the year. The next three films will be shot in Ontario in Toronto, Hamilton and Sault Ste. Marie. Distributed by V-Tape, each film will cover different issues. There could be a fifth film, a compilation, when the work is nearing completion.

The Home Safe project will be a means by which families and children do real work for real change, said Sky, who spent eight years with the National Film Board before establishing Sky Works. Participants are actively involved at every stage of the film, from research through to the final edit. Once the documentary is completed, the film participants will facilitate Home Safe screenings, workshops and meetings. “Our shared goal is to encourage learning, discussion and action for social change.”

At the same time, Home Safe will connect audiences—who may have become overwhelmed and desensitized to the economic suffering of others—to the human face of poverty, Sky says. Through the films, the viewers will meet children under the age of 14 who have been forced into shelters by extreme poverty, the housing crisis, and escape from international conflict zones, or domestic violence.

Laura Sky and Sky Works Foundation have a history of building programs to encourage positive social change, focusing on children, youth and families (Kids Care, Jake's Life), on mental health, community health issues and the criminal justice system (Working Like Crazy, Crisis Call). The Home Safe series promises to shed an important spotlight on the issues facing homeless children and their families.

Community Spotlight: Sudbury Network Provides Coordinated Support for Homeless Youth

Sudbury, ON

In March, Housing Again announced the three winners of the annual Eva’s Initiatives Award for Innovation to recognize outstanding work with homeless youth. The winners were chosen from 52 applications received from dedicated organizations working with homeless youth in ten provinces and territories. One of this year’s finalists was the Network of Services for Homeless Youth in Sudbury, Ontario. The network is a partnership of five non-profit organizations in the City of Greater Sudbury, which provide services to homeless youth and youth at risk of homelessness, including the Sudbury Action Centre for Youth (lead agency), Foyer Notre Dame House, Salvation Army, N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre and YMCA Employment Services.

The Network of Services for Homeless Youth is a pilot project aimed at enhancing community partnerships and increasing the coordination of services for homeless youth. Based on previous research and Best Practice Service Standards, a model for the provision of Intensive Case Management (ICM) for homeless youth was developed and piloted. The network involved homeless youth in the development, implementation and evaluation of the project.
In October 2006, a full-time coordinator and seven case managers were hired to work at the partner agencies with homeless youth on goals related to meeting their basic needs, creating networks of formal and informal support, improving access to services and establishing skills for goal achievement. Staff were trained in suicide intervention and prevention, crisis intervention, cultural awareness (many of the youth identified as Aboriginal), mental health and case conferencing.

The innovative pilot was a huge success in helping young people exit the street and in identifying the underlying issues that contributed to their homelessness. It was also successful in addressing some of the gaps in services the youth experience, such as transportation; securing income; accessing mental health and addiction services; life skills; and advocacy through the various systems.
The network partnered with Laurentian University and the Social Planning Council of Sudbury to assist with the evaluation of the project. Those supporting the project include Carole Kauppi, Associate Professor at the University and main researcher in the Time Studies on Homelessness, and Jeff Karabanow, Professor at Dalhousie University and Researcher on the Exiting Process of Street Youth (2005). As part of the evaluation, youth participated in a photo voice initiative and prepared a moving presentation to city council.

NEWS BRIEFS: New on Raising the Roof’s Shared Learnings on Homelessness Web site

Child & Youth Advocate, in St. John's, is an independent office of the house of assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador. The office has the authority to represent the rights, interests and viewpoints of children and youth who are entitled to receive services. Their mission is to protect and advance the rights and interests of children and youth through the provision of advocacy service.

Central Nova Women's Resource Centre in Truro, Nova Scotia is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for all women by providing resources and strengthening families by empowering women.

The Greater Vancouver Foodbank Society, in British Columbia, provides food and related assistance to those in need.

Confronting Nimbyism

Toronto, ON

Written by Alice de Wolff for the Wellesley Institute, new research was released recently in Toronto that confirms that “good supportive housing makes for great neighbourhoods.” Entitled We Are Neighbours, the report from the “Dream Team” includes specific recommendations on how to deal with local opposition that often is sparked when affordable housing is proposed for a neighbourhood.

Liberals MPs Describe Housing as Foundation of Cities

Canada

According to a new “urban blueprint” released by Liberal MPs, the federal government must implement a national strategy to address affordable housing which has reached “crisis” levels in Canadian cities. The 27-page strategy paper, which was drafted after six months of consultations with mayors and councillors across the country, recommends new funding commitments to build housing, creating a national strategy with provinces, and suggests converting decommissioned military bases into affordable housing. Entitled “Foundations for a Nation,” the paper makes it clear the Liberals plan to make an urban agenda a key part of their platform in the next election (which some speculate as early as this fall).