Peel Youth Village — Residential Democratic Living has received the 2008 Eva’s Award of Innovation for Ontario, recognizing their work with youth in Peel Region.

The award, sponsored by Eva’s Initiatives and CIBC, is presented to three organizations that work with homeless and at-risk youth between the ages of 15 and 30. A seven-member review panel from across Canada reviewed applications and selected the winning organizations, which each receive $5,000.

Winners were chosen for their ability to:

• Demonstrate innovation in delivering services to homeless youth.
• Successfully use partnerships to develop, implement or operate services.      
• Deliver services that help youth who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless achieve greater self-sufficiency and reduce their chances of experiencing homelessness in the future.
• Offer services that integrate two or more of the following: housing, education, vocational training, employment, health and addictions supports, life skills, or other interventions aimed at assisting homeless and at-risk youth to become self-sufficient. 
Peel Youth Village (PYV) is a partnership between the YMCA and Peel Region. There are two major components to PYV:
• The Residential Democratic Living program, which offers life skills with an affordable housing component for homeless and at-risk youth.
• The Community Engagement program, providing social and recreational services within a community centre in the Acorn neighbourhood.

“This is a wonderful acknowledgement from our peers that our approach to service delivery is unique and contributes to the best practices of serving homeless and at-risk youth,” says Erica Taylor, General Manager.