How We Help
We provide wraparound support so our youth can change their trajectories through community, permanency, health, and belonging. We help build connections, navigate education and employment goals, and stabilize housing and mental health.
Building Connections Program
We help young people develop strong circles of supportive adults, because positive outcomes are only achievable when youth feel safe, supported, and empowered.
Why We Build Connections
- To create positive and meaningful community and cultural ties
- To strengthen a sense of belonging
- To improve mental and physical health
- To secure long-term and stable housing
- To increase school engagement, high school graduation, and post-secondary enrolment
- To build strong support networks young people can rely on for life
How We Build Connections
- We connect youth with long-term mentors, caregivers, family members, and community allies
- We find relevant and culturally-appropriate mental health service providers
- We provide one-to-one academic and career counselling and support
- We help increase young people’s self-esteem, access to opportunities, and goal achievement
BUILDING CONNECTIONS PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Our dynamic program allows youth to grow into their full potential and become leaders in their community.
youth programsHomelessness Prevention Focus
To effectively address youth homelessness and remove barriers to long-term, stable housing for youth who are, or are at high risk of becoming, homeless, StepStones facilitates:
- Long-term, community embedded housing solutions with extended family and other supportive adults
- Connections with kinship and community allies to increase access to long-term housing
- One-to-one, long-term mentorship for youth to develop trust and positive relationships with trusted adults;
- Service navigation support for the housing rental market, specific housing services, and guidance for applying for StepStones housing grants;
- Housing subsidies paid directly to landlords while young people continue with educational pursuits and stabilizing mental health
Education & Employment Focus
We create the conditions that allow youth to focus on, have agency over, and find success in their educational endeavours. We:
- Create educational plans and pathways with ConnectionCoordinators and volunteer mentors
- Offer ongoing educational counselling, advocacy for learning disabilities and mental health issues, and tutoring
- Assist with applying to post-secondary programs, visiting schools, navigating the school system, and achieving success
- Celebrate milestones and accomplishments along their educational journeys.
Belonging & Mental Health Support Focus
With a full case management approach and critical one-to-one support, we employ early intervention and preventative measures aimed at reducing the onset, development, and severity of chronic disease and mental illness for which youth involved in child welfare who have suffered Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are at very high risk. To do this:
- Connection Coordinators are trained in and offer dialectical behaviour therapy and suicide prevention counselling for young people with severe mental health concerns
- We offer inclusive access to a permanency- based and trauma-informed psychotherapist and offer subsidies to cover costs associated with counselling sessions
- Youth are connected with physicians and counsellors and are supported locating appropriate services as well as being accompanied to appointments
- Youth are supported in developing broad networks of caring, non-professional adults such as mentors and community allies that they can rely on for myriad supports
- Youth receive subsidized travel and meals during holidays to increase opportunities for spending time with family, friends, and their communities
- Youth are assisted in engaging with cultural, social, spiritual, and interest groups with whom they identify and where they can increase self-esteem, belonging, and community
Housing Subsidy Program
StepStones created the Youth Housing Subsidy Portal—a secure, online system that allows young people to directly apply for housing grants in a fast, youth-friendly, and automated way.
Why We Provide Housing Subsidies
For youth transitioning out of foster care, stable housing can make the difference between pursuing education or employment and falling into crisis. But in today’s housing market, even with multiple supports, rent can still be out of reach. To address this gap, StepStones created the Youth Housing Subsidy Portal—co-designed with experts across the youth homelessness and child welfare sectors, and it is built to expand. As more partners adopt the system, we move closer to a coordinated, scalable solution to youth homelessness. Our grants support youth who face significant financial hardship, covering rent top-ups and first/last month’s rent for those living below the poverty line with no family supports. With the right tools in place, youth can build the stability needed to pursue their goals and move forward with confidence.
How We Provide Housing Subsidies
- A secure, youth-accessible online portal to apply for housing subsidies;
- Automated eligibility checks, ID verification, and direct payments to landlords;
- Grants covering first and last month’s rent and monthly rent top-ups for up to 12 months;
- Clear eligibility criteria ensuring support reaches youth with the greatest need;
- Collaborative partnerships across the sector to expand access and scale impact
Engagement Program
Through skill-building workshops, recreational events, seasonal celebrations, and a unique weekly community dinner, StepStones’ Engagement Program improves the sense of belonging for youth while providing an entry point into StepStones’ services.
Why We Provide Workshops and Events
Two decades of work with youth involved in the foster care system has informed our knowledge that this youth population requires differentiated and inclusive strategies to feel comfortable and motivated to engage with staff and programming. Youth who have lived in foster and group home care have experienced institutionalization, the eroding of trust in adults and systems, and have only been able to depend on adults who are temporarily paid to take care of them. To be able to achieve our targets for improving outcomes for the youth we serve, we have learned that we must first earn their trust for building supportive foundations and relationships.
How We Provide Workshops and Events
- Diverse workshops featuring cooking skills, nutrition knowledge, arts and creative expression, health and wellness, financial literacy, and small-business development led by experts;
- Group recreational events including go-karting, bowling, and roller skating for physical fitness and peer comradery;
- Inclusive events celebrating diversity through the calendar year during Black History Month, International Women’s Day, Pride, and National Indigenous People’s Day;
- Seasonal celebrations including our Fall Harvest Feast, our Youth Holiday Dinner and Party in December, and our annual spring BBQ;
- Weekly Youth Community Dinners for youth involved in child welfare in our program, on our waiting list, and from the broader community
IMPACT
We help increase the stability, well-being, and connectedness for young people from foster care
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