Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth

Program Redesign

(January 2014 – July 2015)

The project is intended to support the design of the “Supports to Collaborate toward Community Impact” program. The overall purpose of the project is to ensure that current collaborative work Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth (USAY) aligns with both USAY and United Way requirements and directions. The project activities included program design, alignment, best practice review as well as the development of the program logic model and evaluation tools.

Circle of Supports Evaluation

(January 2012 – December 2014)

This demonstration project is part of the United Way’s Aboriginal Youth and Education Strategy that has been adopted, in 2011, as a priority by Upstart, a collaborative impact initiative of United Way. The project is a partnership of three agencies including Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth, Boys and Girls Clubs of Calgary and the YMCA of Calgary as well as many other agencies that support program referrals and services. The purpose of this demonstration project is to strengthen school engagement and achieve high school completion among the Aboriginal youth. The focus of the evaluation is to identify and document lessons learned in the course of project implementation, as they relate to the impact of the project on the project participants and on service integration in the broader service providing community.

Environmental Scan of Programs for Urban Aboriginal Children and Youth in Calgary

(October 2010 – February 2011)

The Environmental Scan is intended to support the work of the United Way’s Aboriginal Youth and Education Strategy, and it’s Full Circle: Support the Success of Aboriginal Initiative. Thirty three agencies/organizations, and both the Public and Catholic school boards, delivering a variety of education, child, youth and family related programs, were included in the Scan. The participants described services provided in the community and shared their opinions about the gaps, successes, challenges and recommendations with regards to supporting Aboriginal youth to stay in school and graduate. The scan described programs and services provided in Calgary that support Aboriginal children to stay in school and graduate and provided 17 recommendations for integrating Aboriginal culture and traditions, connecting to schools and addressing service delivery gaps.