In this episode, Lynn interviews Angie Peters, President & CEO at the Yonge Street Mission (YSM) in Toronto.
YSM has identified a focus beyond activities, on outcomes – the results the people they work with are striving for. They have labelled this outcome as “people thriving”, and Angie shares the framework they use, based on research, that identifies the key elements and milestones for each element for a person to be thriving.
These include elements such as family stability, employment readiness and having a sense of power. They have taken something nebulous and made it tangible and quantifiable in this tool they are piloting.
YSM frontline workers then determine how best YSM and its partners can help individuals move to the next milestone, across these elements. They have a similar model for communities to be thriving, considering components such as system navigation and stakeholder collaboration.
Angie highlights what they’ve learned to date about implementation as well as insights into the key elements to focus on with an individual.
We encourage you to access the YSM transformation frameworks in the episode notes, and to reach out to YSM to learn more and even join in, as they’d love to have many players join the “user group”, testing, and sharing feedback. Ultimately, YSM would like to create some city-wide goals, as they boldly work towards the end of chronic poverty in Toronto in a generation, in partnership with others.
Resources:
- The Yonge Street Mission Individual Transformation Framework: (attached)
- The Yonge Street Mission Community Transformation Framework: (attached)
- YSM website: https://www.ysm.ca
