A Way Home Kamloops Society was incorporated in 2018 to serve youth who would otherwise be homeless. We began as a grassroots effort founded by youth with lived expertise over a decade ago. We have recently reached the dream milestone of holding the grand opening of Katherine's Place, a 39 unit home for youth built in partnership with BC Housing.

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We do our work with the original intent and vision of our founder Katherine McParland:

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VISION

 All youth have a safe place to call home and the supports to sustain wellness.

 

MISSION

AWHK is rooted in action to end youth homelessness by providing housing, supports, and advocacy initiatives that put youth first.

 

CORE VALUES

• FIRST VOICES LEADERSHIP: Empowering those with lived expertise to guide the community movement to end youth homelessness. We elevate youth voices to create systems change.

• YOUTH-CENTRED CARE: Demonstrating respect and empathy while providing wrap-around supports customized to each youth’s unique needs. 

• SUSTAINABLE MOVEMENT: Working with community partners to share learnings and drive innovation in pursuit of our long-term mission and vision.   

 

 

A Way Home Kamloops has come a long way from its grassroots beginning. The history begins in 2012 when Kamloops was named as one of two pilots to develop a youth homelessness action plan in a national initiative through the Mobilizing Local Capacity To End Youth Homelessness program. At the same time, a grassroots collective was founded by a youth with lived experience of homelessness. This group was meeting in an vacant building and was passionately exploring how to create housing for youth aging out of care into homelessness. The City of Kamloops approached this collective  to become the steering committee behind the plan that became A Way Home.

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