Homelessness in Winnipeg Solution.mov
Matthew Scerni
Shentell Torres
Wania Touseef
Yuqing Wang
Youth aging out of the foster care system and becoming homeless is a recurring problem. Foster care systems are failing youth in Winnipeg as evidenced by the fact that 50% of homeless individuals spent time in the welfare system and over 65% of youth in foster care do not complete high school [1]. Lacking a solid support structure, they are left to navigate independent living on their own [1]. Bridging the gap between exiting the foster care system and sufficient independent living has been an issue prevalent in Winnipeg as these youth face more obstacles and require more support to overcome their already disadvantaged positions [1]. As a result, negative outcomes for youth include addiction, crime, and unemployment, often leading to homelessness [2].
Our most important stakeholders, shown below in Figure 1, are the impacted populations: youth aging out of the foster care system, nonprofit organizations who have the knowledge and resources to help tackle our problem, and the Province of Manitoba who have the power to implement change.
Figure 1: Influence-Importance Map of Stakeholders
To intercept the issue of foster youth becoming homeless, we propose the implementation of "Fostering Foundations", an 8-week summer program for foster children focusing on life skills such as communication, reading, teamwork, judgement, decision-making, critical thinking, financial skills, and time management. The program aims to foster a sense of community, provide mentorship, provide career exploration opportunities, and address mental health challenges faced by these youth.
Research suggests that emotional challenges and identity concealment hinder their educational progress, emphasizing the need for a supportive environment [3]. By providing social support through mentors and fellow youth, the program will support children and gear them towards better outcomes
The program aims to reduce homelessness among foster youth by encouraging education and providing mental health resources. It also addresses issues such as the allocation of health services and poverty by promoting preventive healthcare and providing information on scholarships and grants. Overall, the program seeks to empower foster youth to pursue further education and achieve self-sufficiency. The system map below highlights the role of various systems and our solution’s impact on our problem.
Figure 2: Systems Map
We understand that the issue of homelessness as a consequence of an unstable upbringing is complex and not limited to the factors we have identified and focused on. We also acknowledge that social sciences are not our expertise.
An assumption we made was the monetary allocation to various sections of our program. Allocation of money was not clear for other similar programs thus, all distributions are based on research. Having the program reviewed by appropriate professionals will help overcome these uncertainties.
Our overall research was limited by the time constraint of the course, and a major decision of ours was to be cautious around the indigenous population and its stake in this problem. Rather than stretch ourselves too thin and risk still having an inadequate understanding of their perspectives, we decided to focus on the broader topics as discussed in our report. We devised a solution based on our acquired knowledge and understanding of the problem.