What is CI-TRRUST?
TRRUST (Transition in Resources, Relationships, and Understanding Support Together) is a Collective Impact (CI) initiative which began in April 2014. TRRUST is a shared effort, now composed of over 60 organizations and 250 members, including non-profit organizations, government agencies, and young people with lived experience in care. The common interest of all TRRUST members is to achieve system-wide improvements in the outcomes for youth transitioning out of government care in Vancouver, British Columbia.
TRRUST is organized into clusters, or sub-groups, which meet regularly and focus on more specific opportunities for youth aging out of care as well as barriers they may face. There are five clusters: Education; Employment; Health, Wellness, and Culture; Housing; and Meaningful Connections. The initiative is supported by the leadership of both the Collective Young Leaders (CYL) and the Strategic Advisory. The Project Manager, Erica Mark, oversees the collective, and McCreary Centre Society acts as the backbone organization who provides coordination and organization. To learn more about our governance and structure, please click here.
Why TRRUST?
In British Columbia, when a youth in care (i.e., in a foster home, group home, etc.) turns 19 years old, they formally transition or ‘age out’ out of the government care system. This means that the financial and emotional supports that youth previously relied on are often lost. While 92% of parents in B.C. continue to provide their children with some form of support, whether financial, emotional or material, after they turn 19 (Fostering Change, 2016), many youth who have left government care are not able to rely on such supports and often experience financial hardship and problems finding and maintain housing. For example, 29% of young people report that aging out of care led to their first experience with homelessness/ housing insecurity (Representative for Children and Youth, 2020).
TRRUST’s work centers on closing gaps in support and ensuring that young people with care experience thrive. TRRUST affirms that youth in care deserve a transition into adulthood that is as extended and supported as that of their peers and we are dedicated to making this a reality.
An Introduction to Collective Impact
Collective impact is a concept that helps communities build a shared vision for impact on complex social issues such as youth aging out of care. It works towards bringing together different organizations, governments and members of community to achieve long lasting change.
Collective impact isn’t just collaboration. It requires a sense of urgency to work towards better solutions.
Collective impact can be looked at as a puzzle. The overall picture of the puzzle is the vision that everyone shares of the desired long-lasting solutions. In order to build the puzzle, you need pieces, which are the different organizations, government ministries, and young people. With this puzzle, the pieces need to be adaptable. Not all pieces in the beginning fit easily into place. It takes time and teamwork and can take years to reach the desired impact.
CI-TRRUST brings together organizations that work in areas such as housing, employment, social and community services, and government. Together, these organizations coordinate their efforts towards a common goal, in this case, the future success of youth transitioning out of care. Youth aging out of care need a variety of supports working with each other in order to be successful. For example, to succeed in college a youth might not only need financial support to cover the cost of tuition but also a safe place to live and money for food and other costs of daily living.
In order to support these young people, organizations need to work side by side with each other and with youth. The community, government systems, service providers, and young people need to share in the same plan in order to have a positive impact. The goal of this collective impact is to ensure all youth aging out of care have their fundamental needs met to pave the road to their own success.
For more information, this video explains some of the key principles of collective impact initiatives further.
Evaluation
Phase Three
TRRUST is currently in phase three (2017-2020) of its process. Phase three is a period of action and impact. The clusters have developed action plans and are working towards tangible goals and results. Please see our Projects and Resources tab for an update on what some of our clusters have been working on in phase three!
Phase Two
Phase two of TRRUST was from 2016-2017, and it saw the creation of clusters to assist in developing action strategies for the shared vision. McCreary Centre Society became the backbone agency for the initiative in phase two as well. A model of CI-TRRUST Governance was created.
View or download the evaluation report for phase two here.
Phase One
Phase one of TRRUST was from 2014 to 2016. The first year of phase one consisted of workshops introducing the concept of collective impact that captured the interest of many stakeholders. The small group of influential champions originally came together to talk about youth homelessness and by the end of 2014 the common issue of youth transitioning from foster care had emerged.
Year two of phase one was highly process driven – a challenge in a service community that is deeply engrossed in taking action and hoping for immediate results. The collective impact lens is effective in dealing with complex social issues, but it is a long-term approach known to take up to five years to reach the desired impact. Although faced with changing participants at the four community gatherings, stakeholders demonstrated their commitment by investing in the processes that led to a strong foundation moving into phase two.
View or download the evaluation report for phase one here, and the relevant factsheet with key findings here.
Contact Us
If you would like to contact TRRUST, please email our project manager Erica Mark at Erica_TRRUST@outlook.com.
The information on this page is developed and maintained by members of TRRUST Collective Impact.