Team 9 - EarlyConnect

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  Team 9 name: SafeStart. Project name: EarlyConnect

Inspiration

Our project was inspired by our teammate's story about a student in her high school class whose clear signals of distress were overlooked and not properly identified by educators and school staff. Not because they chose to ignore them, but simply because they weren't trained to recognize the early indicators of a crisis. That personal experience reflected how easily youth can fall into a crisis and how early intervention should be to avoid homelessness.

What it does

EarlyConnect is a streamlined, school early-screening system that would act as a checklist, designed to capture early risk indicators, assign a scoring system, document them in individualized profiles, and trigger timely intervention. Additionally, it proposes a comprehensive training program for teachers, counsellors, school psychologists and peer (university) mentors, connecting them to local and national resources to equip them with the skills necessary to recognize early signs of distress. This initiative contributes to ongoing efforts to reduce the incidence of youth homelessness through prevention-focused interventions.

How we built it

We mapped existing school monitoring workflows, created a standardized behaviour categories based on literature review and existing program initiatives such as Upstream Canada, and built a risk-scoring model that triggers 4 levels of responses based on the risk threshold. Combined with existing training programs that are self-paced and free for educators, we focused on simplicity to ensure the system fits seamlessly into the existing responsibilities of teachers.

Challenges we ran into

The main challenge was tackling such a complex issue in a short timeframe and balancing accuracy with simplicity while building a feasible solution that would not be seen as an additional burden to the staff. Through cycles of brainstorming with the team, we were able to overcome this challenge in a timely manner while delivering an innovative solution.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

There are many aspects we are proud of as a team, from building an entire project to connecting with other brilliant minds. In few hours, we built a practical, scalable model that addresses a real social issue. We expanded our knowledge on a complex issue while developing a solution grounded in real experiences shared by youth mentors from Ottawa shelters.

What's next for Team 9 - EarlyConnect

Our next step is to connect with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB), specifically South Carleton High School, as part of the pilot phase of EarlyConnect. This will allow us to iteratively refine the interface, test its integration and feasibility and refine risk thresholds by consulting professionals. From there, we are planning on expanding to additional schools and increase our rate of adoption based on continuous feedback. Let's all work together to end youth homelessness in Ottawa !

Built With

• canva
• figma
• upstreamcanada