The Organization:
Youth Without Shelter came to Lynn as an emergency shelter for youth, located near the Toronto Airport.
The Assignment:
YWS was looking for strategic clarity and a plan to create greater impact. They gained Lynn’s support to develop an intended impact statement, Theory of Change, and short term action plan, followed by a 5-year Strategic Plan.
Overall Outcomes:
Like so many of Lynn’s consulting engagements, with her guidance, the team gained a deeper understanding of the issue they aimed to address and the barriers to success. They committed to delivering a specific, measurable, stretch-goal social impact and developed the stakeholder-validated plan necessary to direct and communicate their work. Overall, they gained impact-focused strategic clarity and alignment to make a meaningful difference.
Outcome #1:
Through surveys and focus groups, the staff-board team was shocked and discouraged to uncover a cycle of homelessness - that many youths were recurring shelter visitors. This insight emboldened YWS to make a shift at its core. It moved its focus from how many beds their emergency shelter could fill, to the difference that YWS could make in the lives of these youth, becoming accountable for the youths’ outcomes beyond the shelter. They set a 5-year impact goal of 500 youth exiting homelessness, and had youth define this outcome, described as a roof over their head, an income, a support network, and the opportunity to pursue interests or goals.
Outcome #2
For youth to successfully exit homelessness, YWS recognized their Theory of Change needed to account for supporting youth beyond the shelter. They needed to plan to provide youth the same excellent supports available in the shelter (e.g., with education, mental health, and employment) after moving out – an investment previously seen as beyond their scope but now crucial to delivering their intended impact. Working towards a permanent solution rather than a band aid solution, the plan excited staff and donors alike, and supported their fundraising efforts, enabling them to resource their organization accordingly.
Outcome #3
Through surveys and focus group discussions, YWS gained insights into the people they served, developing and later testing a hypothesis that their clients fit into three categories (bridge, chronic, and refugees), with varying needs. This highlighted the need to implement an intake and measurement system to be able to validate and refine their theory of the types of youth they support, to better understand and continuously work towards improvement in meeting their youths’ needs.
Find Out More:
Foundational to their work today, you’ll find YWS’ Theory of Change in their 2019-2024 Strategic Plan and described in this video.
For a snapshot into developing the plan in the early days, have a listen to their interview with Lynn on this podcast.
Testimonial:
Lynn provided outstanding guidance to our team throughout the entire strategic planning process. She took the time to truly understand who we are as an organization and who our clients are. The insight provided us with data informed goals and achievable milestones not only in our services and planning, but also our fund raising efforts. I highly recommend Lynn to any organization looking to improve their operations.
Steve Doherty, Executive Director, Youth Without Shelter