J Consulting Group, in collaboration with Vink Consulting, worked with the Region of York to conduct a series of community consultations as part of the Region’s 5-year review of Housing Solutions, York Region’s 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan. The consultation activities were designed to identify housing and homelessness needs within York Region, and identify actions and strategies to address housing and homelessness needs. Community engagement included a series of conversations with staff, community support organizations, and directly with people with lived experience of homelessness.  Building on the results, workshops were planned and facilitated with staff from 23 community agencies to identify and prioritize needs and build consensus around desired outcomes.  Overall, activities heard from 48 community groups, 265 staff, 12 people with lived experience, 7 housing developers, and 320 survey participants. 

J Consulting Group, in association with Vink Consulting, conducted a review of the City of Greater Sudbury’s emergency shelter system. To identify current strengths and gaps in the current shelter system, J Consulting Group facilitated a series of engagement activities including interviews with key stakeholders and ‘kitchen-table’ style conversations with shelter users.  A workshop with shelter operators and partners was designed and facilitated to support the development of a model to effectively deliver an integrated homelessness service system.

As part of the Vink team, J Consulting Group worked with the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, to design and facilitate a series of workshops aimed at bringing a range of stakeholders together to identify and co-create solutions to improve health services, and increase the use of these services, among people who are homeless in North Bay.  To achieve this goal, three distinct iterative community engagement sessions were held.  These sessions were facilitated using a co-design approach.  Several methods and tools were incorporated into the co-design process including group brainstorming, prototyping, and road mapping. The workshops resulted in the identification of eight solutions for collective action.

The objectives of this project were to understand the root causes and factors impacting newcomers that put them at risk of homelessness; identify ways to address homelessness among the immigrant community in York Region, and determine the most efficient way of connecting newcomer individuals experiencing homelessness to services in York Region.  Focus groups were facilitated with approximately 60 newcomers who have experienced hidden homelessness after coming to Canada.  Members of a Reference Group of The Housing Help Centre’s clients provided interpretation for the focus groups.

J Consulting Group was pleased to contribute to the 2018 homelessness count for the City of Peterborough. This work is essential to understanding homelessness in the City and County of Peterborough and provides valuable information to informing plans for working towards ending homelessness. J Consulting Group co-facilitated community training and information sessions and participated in the count in March 2018. 

Jodi conducted quantitative and qualitative research and facilitated a series of conversations aimed at identifying opportunities for greater efficiencies within the Centralized Waiting List, for social housing, system in York Region. Consultations included full day observation sessions with staff, interviews with social housing applicants, and focus groups with staff across departments. As part of the final report, 10 recommendations were put forward for moving forward with a more efficient and effective system. Recommendations included a 3-phase approach to restructuring the current Centralized Waiting List application process. 

J Consulting Group co-facilitated a series of broad multi-stakeholder consultations to establish key priorities, opportunities and recommendations to address housing needs across the City of Edmonton. This process incorporated a systemic design approach to engaging stakeholders using methods and tools such as user journey and system maps, storytelling and other hands on interactive activities.

J Consulting Group led the design and implementation of a community engagement strategy aimed at hearing from a broad range of community stakeholders and residents on the direction of parks, recreation and culture across The Nation.  Engagement activities were conducted in both official languages and included: pop-up events, community workshops, community open houses, a statistically valid telephone survey, on-line survey, stakeholder focus groups and interviews with key staff.

J Consulting Group, in collaboration with PRC Solutions, worked with the Town of Hanover to conduct a robust engagement program to inform the development of a 15 Year Parks, Recreation and Cultural Master Plan.  The consultation program incorporated traditional techniques such as interviews, focus groups, surveys and open houses, as well as more creative techniques such as community visioning boards, and hosting an interactive conversation café using tools such as Feedback Frames. 

As part of the PRC Solutions team, J Consulting Group was the consultation lead in the development of the Clearview Township’s Recreation, Parks and Culture Master Plan.  Our team designed, planed and facilitated a full spectrum of engagement activities including key informant interviews, stakeholder focus groups, community pop-up events at local farmers’ markets, and multi-stakeholder workshops.  Engagement techniques incorporated group brainstorming, storytelling, photovoice, and world café.  Consultation results provided valuable insights in setting the future direction of parks, recreation and culture in the Township.

J Consulting Group was retained by Community Development Halton to conduct qualitative analysis of the Physical Literacy Project.  A series of engagement activities were designed, planned and facilitated to hear from parents/caregivers, staff, partners, and children attending the programs.  Using a photovoice engagement technique, children were engaged in the process through drawing and sharing their experiences in the program.  Findings from the consultations formed part of the program evaluation. 

Following the release of the Senior Care Research Project, J Consulting Group partnered with Addrenaline Media to create a video series highlighting various careers in senior care in Chatham-Kent.

As part of a review of the City of Windsor shelter system, J Consulting Group facilitated a consultation process aimed at understanding current service strengths and gaps in emergency shelter services in Windsor Essex. This process incorporated interviews with City staff, shelter service providers, and community partners. Focus groups with shelter users and brief ‘intercept’ interviews with non-shelter users (individuals sleeping ‘rough’) were also conducted.  J Consulting Group also facilitated a series of conversation with comparable municipalities to explore best practices and promising approaches in homelessness system planning.  The key outcome from this work was a recommended service deliver model that aimed to improving access, providing diversion supports, promoting dignity and respect, incorporating housing-focused services, and measuring performance through data collection. 

As part of a review of the Women’s Transition House, J Consulting Group facilitated a series of interviews with comparator shelters from across Canada. Results from these interviews helped strengthen the services for survivors of domestic violence in Whitehorse.