United Way leaders including local NWT representatives have made their way to the east coast for a biennial national conference bringing together collective efforts to support communities facing housing, shelter and mental health crises.
The conference is a chance for community leaders to “connect, learn and collaborate” to strengthen collective efforts to improve lives and build strong, resilient communities. “Leading Forward 2026, Navigating Change, Accelerating Impact,” is taking place Tuesday to Wednesday in Halifax. Staff, volunteers, and partners from across the country are meeting including representatives from the North taking in presentations, interactive workshops and networking.
Erika Jacinto with United Way Centraide Canada explained that within a territory and country wide network of local community experts, United Way Centraide works in communities of all sizes to address complex social issues, including poverty, mental health, social isolation, homelessness and food insecurity.
Each year, United Way Centraide supports over 8 million people in 5,000 communities through partnerships with more than 3,800 community service organizations delivering essential services.
Jacinto explained that the organization’s focus on housing and mental health is informed by discussions from community leaders as well as other data. Data drawn from their 211 services from has shown that housing, shelter and mental health remain emerging issues across the country.
“[These] most consistently remained within the top five identified needs annually in the last few years,” said Jacinto.
A United Way survey found that more than 50 per cent of people across the country experience anxiety about their personal finances. About 41 per cent reported physical stress symptoms when talking about money and 42 per cent said they would only be able to cover their basic expenses for less than one month if they lost their main source of income.
“Affordability challenges are deep as economic uncertainties grow. Essential community services are seeing an increase in demands for support. There’s significant financial stress facing people in Canada, especially those low-income individuals and families and that stress is affected as well mental health and well-being, and so all that is driving a rising need for strong, community-based support,” said Jacinto.
The needs are higher especially for community members who are more at risk, so the need for the support for those facing poverty, mental health issues, social isolation, homelessness, food insecurity is greater.
“We see the need, and we are stretched in what we are trying to offer towards the program, but we have funded community agencies that provide counseling, food security, housing stability, financial literature services to help ease a bit of the burden of financial stress,” said Jacinto.
“We also have investments in homelessness prevention strategies, such as housing assistance, poverty reduction strategies and providing access to services via 211. We also offer street outreach that provides clothing, hygiene products, emergency shelters included drop- in centres, domestic violence shelters, youth and family shelters, housing access programs and harm reduction,” added Jacinto.
Jacinto explained that one thing the United Way Centraide does as a network is drive policy and systems change. One way they do this is by providing data driven insights to stakeholders to address affordability and housing, including the communities they serve. They also make federal budget submissions and advocate for investments in the community service sector. They call on the federal and territorial and provincial governments for long-term affordability measures.
Jacinto said that the United Way is also leading a labor force strategy calling on government to strengthen the non-profit sector workforce. The sector is seeing a lot of workers experiencing burnouts because communities are often left with low resources despite high needs.
“The idea is that we can ensure people living in Canada continue to receive social services.”
The network of leaders from the United Way Centraide meets every two years to bring together shared learnings, practices and talk about opportunities to collaborate on emerging and urgent issues.
Representatives with United Way NWT are taking part in presentations, interactive workshops, networking opportunities and special events. The conference is a chance for community leaders to “connect, learn and collaborate” to strengthen collective efforts to improve lives and build strong, resilient communities.
Discussions will include a variety of topics from mental health to A.I. to making community impacts through government policies.
“We have deeper conversations about how can we impact or better support those with mental health challenges that many people are experiencing through the different programs that we have, maybe through partnering with different community partners beyond so that we have more supports that can be offered to them,” said Jacinto.
Network participants plan to continue discussions on housing strategies that different United Way chapters have adopted and are using in Canada that are successful and can be inspired for others to apply, explained Jacinto.
At the conference this year, the United Way Maritimes is being recognized for affordable housing initiatives with the launch of three signature programs. These include the Sackville Tiny Home Community, which opened in late 2024 and is home to 60 residents, who receive wraparound supports from the United Way.
“Communities are under real pressure, particularly when it comes to housing, but we are also seeing resilience and innovation take root,” said Sara Napier, President and CEO of the United Way Maritimes.
Dan Clement, United Way Centraide’s President and CEO said the conference reflects the strength of the national network and deep local expertise.
“By coming together in Halifax, we are celebrating the innovation, partnerships, and community leadership happening across Canada, while working together to address some of our most pressing social challenges.”
