Upstream Canada aims to tackle risk factors that are associated with youth homelessness, such as mental health issues, family dysfunction, housing precarity, poverty and school disengagement. Adapted from Upstream Australia, Upstream Canada is a social innovation led by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and A Way Home Canada and is operationalized through the collaborative and committed partnerships of schools and community-based social service organizations.

Early school leaving can lead to homelessness and can cause a lifetime of limitations in young people’s lives. Upstream Canada works to simultaneously lift social care burdens for educators and alleviate the load on health care systems and social services.

As an early intervention prevention initiative targeting youth ages 12-16, it has demonstrated great success at two middle schools in Kelowna, British Columbia. 

This research brief provides an overview of Upstream Kelowna. Check it out to learn about Upstream's school-based approach to homelessness prevention, and key highlights from this innovative success story!