Roots & Wings

Members: Melissa Dubois Belanger, Ishika Tripathi, Senya Muthumudali and Bowen Wright

Inspiration;

Many community services operate in silos, making it difficult to know where to refer youth or how to navigate the system; especially for those experiencing homelessness. Even service providers often lack clarity about each organization’s mandate, programs, and goals. As a team of settlers, we intentionally chose not to design “solutions” ourselves. Instead, we want to amplify existing Indigenous-led resources and support smoother transitions between services through improved knowledge sharing, collaboration, and accessibility.

What it does

Roots & Wings aims to create an interactive map of resources that a youth experiencing homelessness may need. The map will show nearby supports and allow users to generate customized resource lists based on proximity to one another or to the client, by offering different interface levels (simple to complex), as well as filters to identify key resources. These resources include organizations, shelters, food banks, youth hubs, cultural services, and more. Each mapped location will include an overview of what it offers, helping youth and service providers understand the options available and make informed decisions.

How we built it

Indigenous leadership is central to the development of this tool. Indigenous partners will co-lead the design, decide which landmarks to include, and determine how information is shared. This includes identifying areas that have higher security risks (such as, King Edward Street) and offering guidance on how to navigate local spaces safely, which is especially important for people who are unfamiliar with the area.

Challenges we ran into

Building trust with Indigenous communities takes time, especially given that our team currently has no Indigenous members and past “collaborations” have often lacked true self-determination. One mentor highlighted that the coalition we hope to partner with can be difficult to access as settlers, and the process may involve bureaucratic steps or skepticism. We understand and respect that trust must be earned through accountability, humility, and long-term commitment, therefore we allocated extra time to account for that.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of our work in addressing this complex issue. With the guidance of our incredible mentors, we developed a solution that amplifies Indigenous voices and centers Indigenous approaches by improving accessibility and strengthening knowledge transfer for services that already exist. As settlers, our intention was always to collaborate respectfully and support Indigenous self-determination, ensuring that Indigenous voices shaped the direction and the realization of our shared vision.

What we learned

That there is controversy within Indigenous communities; seeing as not all Inuit consider themselves as Indigenous people and view themselves as a separate category. We want to have the option to be able to custom is to only include Inuit services if that's what the client is looking for.

What's next for Roots & Wings

Build formal partnerships with Indigenous organizations to guide the next phase of development. Hold consultation circles or interviews with Indigenous youth, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and frontline workers. Develop a user-friendly interface to pilot, and work toward updating it collaboratively as the tool grows. Expand accessibility and functionality while establishing a long-term stewardship model where Indigenous partners maintain decision-making power over the map’s content and its future evolution.

Built With

• english
• slides