Research shows that transgender youth are often alienated from their family of origin, relying on local services, including affirming organizations and peers, for survival. Friends of Ruby, a non-profit organization based in Toronto, is dedicated to LGBTQI2S youth between the ages of 16 and 29 and provides mental health services, social services and housing.
Every youth deserves a safe space, secure housing, and access to sustainable mental health and social services. Having realized that there was an urgent need to develop better engagement with the mental health journey of youth and increase mental health services and integration from intake to discharge, Friends of Ruby applied to Capacity Canada’s Capacity By Design program.
Capacity By Design is a design-thinking program developed by Capacity Canada to help social good organizations rethink how they approach problem-solving. Capacity Canada has developed its knowledge and skills in design thinking through the generosity of the Lyle S. Hallman Foundation. The Suncor Energy Foundation has provided the resources for Capacity Canada to build resilient communities across Canada through design thinking. Friends of Ruby submitted an application to the Capacity by Design team that was accepted.
What followed was a series of design thinking workshops hosted by Capacity Canada’s Executives-In-Residence Liz Dennis and Hugh Munro.
“The design thinking workshops provided have allowed us to incorporate frameworks and strategies to address our goal. As outlined by Capacity Canada, we were able to incorporate the non-linear, iterative process of design thinking to challenge assumptions, redefine problems, and create innovative prototypes,” said Jill Oba McGrath, Director of Development & Marketing.
“We were able to develop prototypes in the form of a digital app focused on peer connection for youth and a board game focused on opportunities for youth to interact with the organization. These prototypes have allowed us to understand what youth would like to see as a part of their services,” said Jill. “Going forward, we will continue to use the design thinking process to facilitate, discuss and create an innovative strategy,” she added.
By using the design thinking framework, Friends Of Ruby was identifying and empathizing with youth, defining their problems and concerns, ideating in a manner that challenges assumptions, prototyping ideas with their input and finally, testing out those ideas in practice.
About Friends of Ruby
Friends of Ruby was founded in 2014 by Egale Canada as Egale Youth Services to meet the needs of LGBTQI2S youth in the Greater Toronto Area. The catalyst was Egale’s “Not under my roof” study that shone a light on the crisis of LGBTQI2S youth homelessness due to disproportionately high rates of family rejection, violence and trauma.
Moved to action, Egale Canada started two initiatives: the construction of a housing facility dedicated to LGBTQI2S youth and a Youth Centre to better support and understand the needs of youth while the house was under construction.
Since then, the Youth Centre has doubled in size and supports over 100 young people a month. In 2019, it became an independent charity to best support young people.
What is Design Thinking?
Design thinking is a flexible and powerful framework for innovative problem-solving. Designing for Impact was developed by Capacity Canada with support from the Lyle S. Hallman Foundation and Suncor Energy Foundation. Throughout the process, facilitators from Capacity by Design support and guide team members to develop solutions to the issues close to their hearts that bring a positive change in the community.
Design Sprint Hosted Virtually
This year, the design sprint was held using an online platform. “We were not sure how the program would work without meeting in person. It was surprising to see the level of engagement and excitement we were able to generate on a virtual platform. This is the first time the design sprint was held virtually, and the online medium was definitely not a barrier,” says Liz, Designer, Capacity by Design. As per Liz, the program’s success was a result of the dedication of the participating non-profit.
Capacity Canada invites applications from social good organizations across Canada that want to benefit from the program every year. This year, the project received more than a dozen enquiries and indications of interest. After careful consideration, three non-profits were selected. Friends of Ruby was one of the social good organizations selected this year.
To learn more about Capacity by Design, please visit our page.
