Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC)
“Urban Indigenous Homeward Bound (UIHB) ”
2014 – 2024
By tackling multiple barriers to education and employment success, the Urban Indigenous Homeward Bound program offers a dynamic four-year program that is proving successful in urban Indigenous communities across Ontario.
Indigenous women experience higher incidences of unemployment in Canada – more than twice the rate of non-Indigenous women. The Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls identifies economic marginalisation and exclusion as root causes of violence, noting that Indigenous women and girls experience economic marginalisation at disproportionate rates. The goal of UIHB is to generate intergenerational prosperity by systematically addressing the barriers sole-parenting Indigenous mothers face when trying to enter the workforce. The length of the program and breadth of supportive services makes the UIHB truly unique, both at a provincial and national level. While at its core, it is an education to employment program, the housing supports, cultural components, childcare delivery, mental health, transportation and other related supports all work together to breakdown the systemic barriers the families navigate.
In 2014, The Foundation funded a feasibility study between WoodGreen and the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) to explore whether WoodGreen’s Urban Homeward Bound program could be adaptable to the urban Indigenous context. The project resulted in significant and impactful outcomes, most notably the Urban Indigenous Homeward Bound Continuum: a program model based on the Friendship Centre Program Development Process. This exercise left OFIFC feeling ready to move forward with implementation in partnership with six Friendship Centres initially, with a seventh added later. The participating Friendship Centres include:
- Dryden Native Friendship Centre
- Niagara Regional Native Centre
- Timmins Native Friendship Centre
- N’Amerind Friendship Centre
- Hamilton Regional Indian Centre
- Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre
- The Sault Ste. Marie Indian Friendship Centre
A Life Skills Curriculum was later developed by OFIFC that covers a variety of skills including: goal setting, budgeting, setting healthy boundaries etc. This curriculum is meant to ease a clients transition into the program, and prepare them for post-secondary. While there is a shared program model, each UIHB site is unique (for instance, some sites have their own housing, while others do not) and there are opportunities for representatives from each site to connect and share lessons learned.
During the hardest years of the pandemic, the UIHB, like many programs, needed to shift to a virtual model which proved challenging in terms of being able to provide the same quality of support. However, staff were able to adapt and provide support to clients during this tumultuous time. This period though reinforced the need for the UIHB to be adaptable and flexible to changing circumstances.
The first UIHB client graduated from the program in 2021. Since then, 20 women have graduated and are now living in secure housing and working in fields such as nursing, early childhood education and property management. That is 20 families who are living in safe housing, with positive outlooks on the future. A lesson that has continued to be learned throughout the life cycle of the grant is that the UIHB program is not simply about supporting an individual through an education to employment program. UIHB supports the entire family unit and creates community among all the families in the program and within the larger Friendship Centre community, fostering intergenerational prosperity and breaking down generational systemic barriers.
To learn more, view this short video about the program.
A few key insights from this work
- The road to meaningful employment is long and challenging, so it’s important to recognize the successes along the way. Staff reported that devoting time and resources to culturally informed celebrations increased client’s confidence, inspired them to continue through the program, and increased overall community capacity.
- Community partnerships are pivotal to the cross-sector aspects of this program and should be in place before or supported through the development phase of program implementation. Sharing best practices and facilitating a network of support for questions and related initiatives is truly helpful to all partners involved, regardless of how different the populations served, cultures, or geographic locations may be.
- Many clients struggled both academically and mentally as they navigated the transition to and from online learning, especially as they supported their children’s learning. Having access to individual academic, employment and mental health coaching proved pivotal for these difficult periods. The mothers reported feeling more confident in their ability to remain in and succeed in the program knowing that staff were available, and any issues that arose could be dealt with.
- Often, academic and employment coaching came from community partners such as local post-secondary institutions which further reinforced how pivotal building these partnerships is to client success in the program. Ongoing engagement with these partners allowed the mothers to feel more prepared and transition more smoothly from one phase of the program to another.
About the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres
Founded in 1971, the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) works to support, advocate for, and build the capacity of member Friendship Centres across Ontario. The Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) represents the collective interests of 29 Friendship Centres in cities and towns across the province. Friendship Centres are places for community members and Indigenous people living in urban spaces to gather, connect with one another and receive culturally based services.