Melanie Redman, second from left, and Stephen Gaetz, third from left, speak to Prince William in Bournemouth, England.Andrew Parsons / Kensington Pala/Supplied
The organizers: Melanie Redman and Stephen Gaetz
The pitch: Expanding programs to address youth homelessness
A few years ago, Melanie Redman was working with a Toronto charity that helps at-risk young people experience the outdoors when she turned her attention to youth homelessness.
Ms. Redman moved to Canada from the United States in the early 2000s, and she had a long history in philanthropy, working with several charities and earning a graduate degree in non-profit management.
After she arrived in Toronto, she started working with Project Canoe, which gives marginalized young people an opportunity to go on canoe trips. The charity also partnered with Eva’s Initiatives for Homeless Youth, which runs shelters and a range of services.
Ms. Redman became a director at Eva’s and got involved in a national project to create strategies to prevent youth homelessness.
“We had more questions than we had answers about what prevention looks like in terms of practice, investment and policy that would enable it,” Ms. Redman recalled. “And so we knew that we needed a national voice on youth homelessness and prevention.”
That led her to co-found A Way Home Canada, a national coalition that focuses on developing practical preventative measures. She also works closely with Stephen Gaetz, a York University professor who is a leading researcher on homelessness and president of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness.
Earlier this month, Ms. Redman and Dr. Gaetz travelled to Bournemouth, England, to visit a project funded by the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Prince William has made homelessness one of the foundation’s top priorities, and in 2023, it launched a five-year project called Homewards that provides up to £500,000 ($922,000) for initiatives in six communities. The project in Bournemouth includes school surveys for children as young as 14 to identify those at risk of homelessness, and to take steps before a crisis sets in.
“Working with the Royal Foundation, we’re kind of at an inflection point where people are starting to get the idea of prevention,” Dr. Gaetz said from Bournemouth. “Being here gives us a chance to see up close what are the ways that we can be very strategic.”
Ms. Redman said the coalition and Dr. Gaetz have worked with the foundation for a couple of years. So far, they’ve developed two similar community projects in Canada.
They both had a chance to speak with Prince William and came away impressed. “He’s smart, he’s a leader, but he’s a listener. He wants to learn more,” said Dr. Gaetz. “We actually said, ‘You should come to Canada.’”