Building Bridges: Youth Education on Homelessness

Project Overview

The Building Bridges project will develop evidence-based, engaging, and accessible learning materials for secondary students (grade 9–12). These tools will promote critical thinking, civic dialogue, and problem-solving skills, empowering youth to better understand the complexities of homeslessness in their communities. This initiative builds on the work of the documentary Bridging Divides: Voices & Visions about Homelessness in Mid-Size Cities. The film explores perceptions of homelessness between people with lived experience of homelessness and housing precarity, a service provider, a business owner, and a member of law enforcement.

Project Objectives

1. Engage youth in dialogue about homelessness to support the development of critical thinking skills about complex social issues.
2. Develop and share practical educational resources to facilitate and foster critical thinking skill development.
3. Mobilize the developed resources across Canada to support the secondary school curricula.

Methodology and Timeline

Project Team

This project is led by an interdisciplinary team of homelessness and education researchers, community-engaged scholars, and lived experience experts.

• Principal Investigators: Erin Dej, Carrie Sanders
• Co-Investigators: Ryan Broll, Stephanie Howells, Kelly Gallagher-Mackay, Jessica Braimoh, Marcus Sibley
• Lived Expert Researchers: Barb McPhee, Simon Lazanja, Deborah Hill
• Research Support: Jenny Salisbury, Allison Hudson, Claire Rahija