United Way of Peterborough & District announced the recipients of the organization’s Innovation Fund launched in February 2018. A total of $75,000 will be shared between two ground-breaking projects addressing issues of housing and homelessness in our community. United Way Peterborough’s funding model is based on extensive engagement and consultation with the community. The Innovation funding stream was developed based on advice from close to 2000 donors, partner agency representatives, volunteers and community leaders.
United Way will be providing $37,000 in funding to Homeward Bound. Homeward Bound as a whole Community partnership, provides the most vulnerable women and their children an opportunity to grow, to achieve a sense of wellness and belonging, have improved self-esteem and sustainable employment that will allow them the capacity to manage their own personal finances, build assets and be contributing members of the community rather than users of a service and a drain on the economy. Jim Hendry, Chair of United Way’s Community Impact Committee stated “United Way was very interested in funding the work of the Homeward Bound program due to its innovative wrap-around approach which has not been seen before in our community.”
The second project funded by United Way Peterborough is the Host Homes project lead by A Way Home Peterborough. United Way will be providing $38,112 in innovation funding to kick-start the development of a Host Homes Project in Peterborough. Host Homes are a community-based, early intervention and prevention program for youth experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Host Homes provide an alternative to emergency shelter, couch surfing and sleeping outdoors by matching youth at risk of homelessness with community volunteers willing to provide a safe place to stay in their home. This can be a short-term, respite stay or for longer than a year to support transition to permanent housing depending on the youth’s situation.
Jim Russell, CEO, stated “these projects speak to United Way’s strategic investment of donor dollars in our community. United Way is currently funding multiple projects working to address homelessness and the effects of poverty in our community. These two projects allow us to support new ideas and approaches that also work further upstream to begin to prevent the issue from happening in the first place.”
United Way will be announcing the recipients of its neighbourhood funding at a press conference on Thursday May 10th.
Maegan (YES Shelter for Youth & Families) and Maddie (Host Homes)
Jim Russell, CEO United Way Peterborough & District
Bonnie (Ptbo Housing Corp) and Sheila (COMPASS)
