by Kira Locken, CFICE Volunteer
When it comes to the issue of homelessness, Mike Bulthuis understands his career path as working at the intersection of three things: policy, research, and community practice.
Currently the director of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness’s Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab, Bulthuis became involved with the issue of homelessness while working on policy development for a National Homeless Strategy in the Canadian Federal Government.
“I think I was drawn to that because of my interest in social policy and a welfare state but also these notions of building cities where everybody feels a sense of belonging and welcome,” said Bulthuis of applying for his job with the government.
Bulthuis eventually moved from working in the government to non-profit organizations. He became the executive director of the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa (ATEH) in October 2013.
The mission of the Alliance reflected Bulthuis’ idea of intersecting policy, research and community practice in that its mission is to eradicate homelessness by informing, supporting, and conducting research with community partners.
“What’s important is that those three things are always speaking to one another…within a community context,” said Bulthuis.
Work with CFICE
Mike Bulthuis presents on homelessness.
Bulthuis became involved with CFICE while at ATEH. Through the partnership between CFICE and ATEH, Bulthuis became a community co-lead for the Tools for Community-First Community Campus Partnerships Working Group.
The purpose of this working group is to create a Community-Campus Engagement Toolkit for community-based organizations which would assist them in establishing and sustaining relationships with post-secondary institutions. ATEH became involved with CFICE, said Bulthuis, because the research and community components of their work align with the goal of the toolkit.
“What the Alliance was really interested in was supporting the community to develop a greater capacity to do their work better, and obviously research is really helpful for that.”
Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab
In April 2017, Bulthuis left ATEH to become the director of the Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab. The lab was created through of a partnership between A Way Home Canada, the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, and the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing, along with other community partners.
The Lab consists of multiple demonstration projects hosted by community organizations across Canada that aim to support homeless youth towards housing stability. Bulthuis’ team works to support these projects by researching and evaluating their effectiveness and overall impact.
There are two main aims of this research, said Bulthuis: To inform policies that allow these projects to occur, and to develop resources for other communities.
For more information on Bulthuis’ work or youth homelessness, please check out the links below!
Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab: http://homelesshub.ca/content/making-shift-youth-homelessness-social-innovation-lab
Alliance to End Homelessness
This report is published annually on ATEH’s website.
This is hosted during fall every year, while not all of the presentations are available online.