This report summarizes the final activities of the Alleviating Homelessness: Work Integration Social Enterprise (WISE) research project. The first study of its kind in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), this five-year research study was designed to provide a longitudinal examination of the effectiveness of work integration social enterprises (WISEs) in supporting people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The study involved a quasi-experimental design to provide insights into the impact of the of WISEs on outcomes such as employment and housing stabilization, in comparison to other training and employment supports available to this population of job seekers. The project partnered with five WISEs and three community organizations in the GTA to compare employment and training models with the objective of identifying effective practices to support job seekers who currently are, or are at risk of, homelessness.
Funded by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), the project was led by the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet) in partnership with Allan Day of the Social Enterprise Toronto (SET) and the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC), which was responsible for designing and conducting the evaluation of this project.
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