HANDS ACROSS CANADA

Hands Across Canada: Building Effective Programs to Help Youth is a nationwide initiative by the Offord Centre for Child Studies to strengthen community programming for children and youth.

Now in its second year, the project involves 37 children’s and youth organizations from coast to coast offering services from literacy skill-building and employment readiness to the integration of homeless and disadvantaged youth into mainstream community activities.

The Offord Centre is helping the organizations evaluate their programs, identify strengths and weaknesses, and incorporate most promising practices to engage and assist youth. A national conference has been held each year to give the groups an opportunity to network, share their experiences and provide professional development relevant to children’s programming and evaluation. The goal is to provide valuable, constructive feedback and ensure that promising practices are shared among programs.

In return for their knowledge and assistance, Offord Centre researchers are gathering important information that will help them identify the techniques and approaches used by community programs that provide the greatest benefit for youth.

“We hope to provide systematic ways to help programs measure their effectiveness, ensure transparency and accountability, and learn from the experience of others in the field,” said Ellen Lipman, a child psychiatrist and Offord Centre researcher who is involved in the project.

“By perpetuating that learning at the grassroots, our efforts will benefit children and communities from coast to coast.”

Hands Across Canada is supported by a $200,000 donation over two years by Sun Life Financial on behalf of its employees and Clarica advisors. This year’s grant provides for the creation of an evaluation toolkit, which is being made available on the Offord Centre website to assist organizations in evaluating the impact of their own programming.

Participating organizations