The following resources and toolkits were developed through the Welcome Home Project with the primary aim of supporting homelessness services organizations across Toronto in supporting their community engagement work.
Special thanks and appreciation to the advisory committee, community liaison workers across the sector and City of Toronto staff who provided their feedback and input on the documents below:
Annabelle Bernard (Sistering), Carolyn Doyle (SSHA), Jennifer McGowan (SSHA), Kayla Chambers (YWCA), Krystina Damyanovich (Salvation Army), Leslie O’Reilly (SSHA), Lynne McKee (SSHA), Madison Perdue (St. Felix), Meghan Dealhoy (Kennedy House), Melanie Smith (Dixon Hall), Mike Burnett (Youth Without Shelter), Morag Perkins (SSHA), Ryan Evershed (Homes First), Sa’ad Talia (Self-Advocate and advisory committee member), Suhal Ahmed (SSHA)
Instructions: Each of the toolkits and resources below can be downloaded by clicking on the respective hyperlink. There is a document within each toolkit or resource which explains how to use it. There is also a tutorial video with each toolkit to show you how to use it, right below or beside the description.
This guide provides a list of best practices examples written by different community engagement leads, managers and supervisors from various shelter programs/Toronto Shelter Network members. This guide’s aim is to provide community engagement leads with different sets of examples and ideas, so an idea doesn’t have to be reinvented.
The Toronto Shelter Network, in partnership with Homes First (Andrew Winchur & Ryan Evershed), Dixon Hall (Melanie Smith), Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre (Dana Luchsinger) and Sistering (Annabelle Bernard) created four introductory PPT slide decks on different topics related to homelessness: Homelessness 101, Mental Health 101, Harm Reduction 101 and De-Escalation 101. This toolkit's aim is to provide community engagement leads with presentation decks and resources that can be used when presenting to different audiences on topics related to homelessness.
This tool kit, developed by the Toronto Shelter Network as part of The Welcome Home Project, will aim to provide you with the necessary resources, and guidance to help manage community conflict.
This toolkit, developed by the Toronto Shelter Network as part of The Welcome Home Project, will aim to provide you with helpful resources and guidance to develop and implement a successful CLC or EMBRACE Committee. While we hope you find this toolkit useful, please make sure to consult other documents, resources and contacts, including your SSHA Agency Review Officer.
This community engagement guide aims to provide a set of guidelines to support the work of Community Liaison Workers, Community Engagement Leads/Supervisors.
5. Community Liaison Workers Guidelines
This toolkit provides a variety of ways that CLC members can help to contribute to successfully introducing the shelter into the community. Community Engagement Leads will have to download and customize this toolkit.
An example of a completed toolkit can be found the folder, which was customized for Bond Place CLC members.
Individual Resources:
Many of the resources below are also found as part of the toolkits above. Some of the most popular ones are below:
These infographics can be sent as attachments or used in different social media posts to address the myths about people experiencing homelessness and supports for them, such as shelters.
What role to shelters play in supporting people experiencing homelessness
Five Actions You can take to Help End Homelessness
How does the City of Toronto Choose a Site for An Emergency Shelter?
Six Myths About Homelessness
What is the Difference between 24-Hour Respite Sites, 24-Hour Drop-Ins, Emergency Shelters, Transitional Shelters and COVID-19 Hotels Physical Distancing Shelter Sites
Street Needs Assessment Infographic
What is supportive housing and its benefits?
2. Who to Call Resource Template
This template can be customized by community engagement leads to provide a list of contacts.
3. Managing Challenging Conversations Resource
Navigating and de-escalating difficult conversations and people with different personalities on CLCs and in the community is normal. Below are some evidence-informed strategies that may help you navigate these conversations a bit better.
4. FAQs
This is a template of FAQs which you can use to help you answer different questions from community members
5. Toronto Resident Association and BIA Contacts
A list of contact information for Toronto Resident Associations and Business Improvement Areas
6. Community Liaison Committee Evaluation Survey
A template survey that can be used to evaluate the impact of a Community Liaison Committee
Questions about the resources can be sent to:
soha@toshelternetwork.ca