Family Wellbeing Program

The Family Wellbeing Program applies a holistic approach in service to parents, guardians, and/or caregivers that support youth (ages 10 to 29) vulnerable to violence and/or crime to better navigate and connect with services and pro-social opportunities in their communities. The program has been providing services to families in Scarborough since 2023 and expanded its service provision to York South-Weston in summer 2025.

By leveraging the lived experience and deep community connections of the Family Wellbeing Ambassadors, the program aims to build family confidence, raise participation levels, build resiliency, and improve youth outcomes through a healthy family and community approach by providing:

• One-on-one system navigation supports
• Group workshops/education sessions
• Engagement opportunities

Through a collaborative approach with the City of Toronto, key partners and stakeholders provide education, resources and referrals to programs and services that will allow families to improve their well-being.

The Family Wellbeing Program works to:

  •  Increase awareness amongst parents, guardians and/or caregivers of the risks and protective factors (Youth Service Review - Investing in Youth Outcomes) for youth involvement in violence and crime catchment area.
  • Increase education and participation in prevention and intervention programs and support services available to parents, guardians and/or caregivers for reducing youth involvement in violence and crime.
  • Improve and support in systems navigation to increase collaboration between partners, systems and services for parents, guardians and/or caregivers who support youth impacted by community violence using a hyper-local, peer-based ambassador model.

Focus Audience

Parents, guardians, caregivers, families, and community members that support youth (ages 10 to 29 years old) most vulnerable to involvement in crime and violence in areas of Scarborough and York South-Weston.

Catchment area

The Family Wellbeing catchment areas are Scarborough and all of York South-Weston

Eligibility

Participants who would like to receive service in this program are required to meet all three of the following:

  1. Must reside in or support a young person who attends school in Scarborough or York South-Weston
  2. Must be a parent, guardian, and/or caregiver who supports a youth in their household and/or support circle between the ages of 10 to 29 years old
  3. The youth supported must be most vulnerable to involvement in violence and crime, based on the risk and protective factors outlined in the Youth Outcomes Framework

Critical Eligibility Factor:

The youth must be at an increased risk of vulnerability to involvement in crime and violence.

Priority Access will be given if a parent, caregiver or extended family member has multiple youth with all three eligibility criteria above, they are considered a priority.

Scarborough – Partner Agencies:

  • Access Alliance Multicultural Health & Community Services (AAMHCS)
  • ACSA Community  Services (ACSA)
  • Centre for Immigrant and Community Services (CICS)
  • Malvern Family Resource Centre (MFRC)
  • Native Child and Family Services of Toronto (NCFST)
  • Scarborough Centre for Healthy (SCHC) Communities
  • TAIBU Community  Health Centre (TAIBU)

York South-Weston – Partner Agencies:

  • Midaynta Community Services (MCS)
  • The Learning Enrichment Foundation (LEF)

Referrals:

Connections between the Family Wellbeing Program and parents, guardians, and/or caregivers can be made through referrals by community/institutional partners, self-referrals or by caregivers reaching out directly to one of the Family Wellbeing agencies.

Additionally, you can reach out to familywellbeing@toronto.ca for further assistance and/or direction.

The Family Wellbeing Program is funded by the Government of Canada’s Building Safer Communities Fund which supports municipalities and Indigenous communities in their efforts to address gun and gang frequency.

The Building Safer Communities Fund supports community-led projects that combat violence among children, youth, and young adults most vulnerable to involvement in crime and violence.
Date modified: July 13, 2026