This report was published by Trent University’s Research for Social Change Lab.

HERE’S HOW THE AUTHORS DESCRIBE THIS REPORT:

This project was conceived by Dr. Naomi Nichols in 2020 shortly after she moved to Peterborough to work in the Sociology department at Trent University. Back when she was working at McGill, she had been interested in how the data that gets collected from and about youth affect their life trajectories, starting right from birth, through day care and school systems, and into wider social service delivery systems like child welfare and the homeless-serving system.

From this first curiosity grew a few different, but related, projects: one focusing on the data systems and processes at work in the child welfare system, another on the youth homelessness system, and even more projects focused on the local operations of these systems and particular institutional sites where they intersect – places like residential care facilities.

Along the way she built out a team to help her with the work. The project we describe in this zine series is focused on the youth homelessness system in Ontario, and tracing how it relates to other social services. It’s been up and running since the summer of 2021 and has had several people join and contribute along the way.