We are passionate about collaborating with others to end homelessness.
Check out our services below, and reach out to learn more about how we can work together.
Do You Want Insight on Your Policies or Programs?
We work collaboratively with partners to ensure their policies and programs are benefiting people experiencing homelessness and poverty. Reach out and let us know what you are looking for help with and we will make a plan with you to do one-time or ongoing consultations. We can offer help with program development (new or existing), policy development, and we can give insight on how you can meaningfully engage with your clients.
To inquire about consultations, contact [email protected]
Testimonials From Our Partners:
"Working with the Expert Steering Team was tremendous. After working with them earlier this year, I plan to seek their input on all our projects. They provided advice and insight that could not have been gained elsewhere, helping us refine our plans and avoid potential roadblocks."
- Operation Come Home
“The Expert Steering Team was a key contributor to the Ottawa Food Bank’s community co-design process. The Team’s contributions were thoughtful and insightful and laid a solid foundation for our network development plan. The Expert Steering Team model provided an avenue for us to engage people with lived experience in a way that honours the invaluable expertise its members bring to the table, with the added advantage of simplifying the engagement process on our end. We look forward to working with them again as we move into the next phase of this process.”
- The Ottawa Food Bank
Are You Looking to Gather Feedback and Learn from Your Clients?
We want to help you find a way to get feedback and learn from your clients in a way that is meaningful for them and helpful for you. We are trained to facilitate engagement groups so you can get real feedback that can help inform your program or agencies next steps.
To inquire about focus group facilitation contact [email protected]
Testimonials From Our Partners:
"We worked with members of the EST to plan and facilitate lived-experience engagement sessions and they were exceptional. They worked to plan sessions that were interesting and engaging while making sure they also met our objectives. Their facilitation style was friendly, knowledgeable, and professional and I look forward to working with the EST again for future opportunities!"
- Options Bytown
Are You Looking for More Diverse Expertise in Your Group or Committee?
Having people with lived experience on your committees and working groups is considered best practice and a way to create more effective programs, policies and events. Our team is willing to sit on groups/committees throughout the sector to help share our skills and expertise.
To inquire further, contact [email protected]
Testimonials From Our Partners:
"Having two people with lived experience involved on the planning committee for the Ottawa Food Security Conference was tremendously valuable on many levels. It gave us new insights that allowed us to make more informed decisions that were based on collective knowledge instead of on assumptions. Including folks with lived experience has also been useful because it helped us build a culture of thinking and being open to thinking beyond our individual experiences."
- Ottawa Food Security Conference Planning Committee, Ottawa Food Bank
Are You Doing Research on Homelessness or Poverty?
We believe that research can be an effective a tool for systems change. We work with researchers to develop ethical methods and design that are safe and that will benefit the people impacted by the research.
Our team has experience in:
- developing research methods
- creating surveys and questionnaires
- facilitating focus groups
- conducting interviews
- analyzing data
- journal and report writing
To inquire about partnering on research, contact [email protected]
Testimonials From Our Partners:
"We collaborated with the EST to help design our survey, interview, and focus group questions to ensure that we were as inclusive as possible and not using any stigmatizing language or methods. The EST provided feedback on our outreach strategy and the process for us to provide honorariums to participants. Collaborating with the EST in our research design helped us mitigate harms that we may have inadvertently caused when researching a marginalized and highly stigmatized population.
In addition to project design, members of the EST were also involved in our data dissemination activities: they helped us write and design public reports, and they are co-authoring journal publications with our team. The ongoing feedback we receive from the EST helps us include principles of trauma-informed research at all steps of the research process."
- Diana McGlinchey, Algonquin College
Are You Looking for Someone to Speak About Homelessness?
We believe in educating people about homelessness so they can better understand the it's causes and impacts, and how we can end homelessness. We've spoken with high school classes, University classes and others, and would be happy to hear from you if you are looking for someone to come speak with your group.
To inquire further, contact [email protected]
Testimonials From Our Partners:
“We are immensely thankful to have folks from the Expert Steering Team come to our sociology class at Carleton University. The experience of meeting and directly hearing from folks with lived experience was thoroughly eye-opening for students and enhanced their learning gravely. The presenters’ engaged and well-organized talk allowed us to discuss housing precarity not as an abstract issue, but a lived reality while reviving the hope that things can be changed.”
- Azar Masoumi, Carleton University
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