Projects

NACY Projects

Our projects produce research and develop strategies and tools to meet the needs of the child and youth sector. NACY was awarded funding for these projects through a competitive process. Recent funders include: Human Resources and Social Development Canada. Projects have been guided by an Advisory or Steering group. See below for breif summaries of each project or click on the titles of our projects (to the left) for more information.

Currently Underway

At its annual meeting held September 12, 2017, the National Alliance for Children and Youth adopted an ambitious new plan of action, to help better coordinate and network child and youth service organizations in working together to meet key Canadian commitments to the United National Sustainable Development Goals, and bridging the gap in the quality of life for Canada’s Indigenous youth and children and the Canadian average. While a lot of effort is being invested in engaging youth to identify priority areas and create benchmarks and goals, Canada’s capacity to achieve those targets will depend largely on strengthening the capacity and coordination of children and youth service organizations to align with those goals and deliver on results. A logical first step is to provide a national map of where and what organizations are currently working to address these goals. To find out more, read the position paper or to get involved in the consultations, contact us at info@nacy.com or dmorrison@experiencescanada.ca.

Taking Stock

NACY has been funded by HRSDC’s Social Development Partnership Program for a 3 year project titled Taking Stock: Supporting Canadian Child and Youth Agencies in Times of Economic Crisis. The downturn in the economy is causing a two-fold effect on the nonprofits that provide supports and services for Canada’s children, youth and their families. We anticipate that financial resources will be, or already have been, significantly reduced, yet the community’s need for supports and services continues to increase. For NACY, it is important to understand how the economic turmoil has affected the organizations we work with. Informal conversations with sector leaders among our members have confirmed that supporting their member agencies during this time of economic crisis and uncertainty is a key priority for them. Through this project NACY will set out to provide knowledge and leadership to mobilize communities across Canada to “Take Stock”, by identifying the impacts on our sector, devising ways and means to ensure that Canadian families continue to have access to supports and services they need, and to emerge from this crisis with strengthened agencies within a stronger sector. To find out more about the project and our current activities, click here.

Middle Childhood Initiative (completed)

Through funding from the Government of Canada’s Social Development Community Partnerships Program, the Middle Childhood Initiative was created to identify and promote comprehensive policy options for school-aged children 6 to 12 and their families and to foster Pan-Canadian alliances and learning networks with specific emphasis on engaging regional and local groups working with children and their families. The key objectives included:

• Create a pan-Canadian Policy Framework and recommendations for Middle Childhood
• Encourage its networks to pursue research and share knowledge on Middle Childhood

Read more by viewing the Middle Childhood Initiative and Framework presentation and also clicking here.