Boyle Street Community Services  

Digital Link is excited to share the important work of Boyle Street Community Services as this month’s Charity Spotlight. Keep reading to find out more about their important work, and how you can help support their efforts. 

About Boyle Street Community Services 

Boyle Street Community Services has been working in the inner city of Edmonton since 1971 to serve, support, and empower people to take control of their lives and escape the cycle of poverty and homelessness.  

Today, they operate over 40 programs and services across 15 sites in Edmonton. The mission of Boyle Street Community Services is to end chronic homelessness. To achieve this, they focus on two distinct, inter-related service lines: prevention and intervention. 

Prevention addresses aspects which they know are leading causes of chronic homelessness and helps to end it before it begins. This includes programs and services such as their group living homes for children and youth in care, youth community support program for those struggling with severe mental health challenges. Health for Two is a free program for women who need extra support to have a healthy pregnancy. 

Intervention supports those who are already caught in chronic homelessness and helps support them along the way. Their triage services ensure those they serve can meet their basic needs while. Boyle Street’s Den Program utilizes their innovative interdisciplinary model of care to provide holistic supports to those experiencing homelessness with complex needs.  

Additionally, Boyle Street offers low barrier community-based health services and street outreach as well as operates several housing facilities. 

Their vision is to see that all people grow healthier through involvement in strong, accepting, and respectful communities.​ 

Supporting the Indigenous Way 

The intergenerational legacy and continuing reality of colonization means that Indigenous peoples are acutely overrepresented among Edmonton’s street-involved community. A foundational aspect of Boyle Street’s practice is sîtôskam iyiniwatisiwin (Supporting an Indigenous Way of Being), a framework that ensures Indigenous ways-of-knowing are embedded into all aspects of their organization.  

“As of October 2024, there are over 4000 Edmontonians experiencing homelessness – 56% of which are Indigenous.” 

This work takes many forms, from engaging in ceremony, language, medicine, and land-based teachings to the development of a 15-person Elders Council to guide organizational direction. These efforts are supplemented by direct engagement with regional Indigenous leadership, and wisdom gathering sessions with community members, staff, and other stakeholders.   

Boyle Street Community Services has also begun an agency-wide “Circle Practice,” empowering 37 staff to animate sharing spaces rooted in Indigeneity. These social venues for celebration, community, and grieving carry particular weight currently, and are an essential resource in the face of concurrent mental health, opioid, and pandemic crises.  

The participatory nature of their cultural programming means that skills are learned through physical activity, storytelling, artistic engagement, and connection to living things and our shared earth. What bonds these efforts is a shared commitment to support every person’s journey to a sense of holistic resiliency. 

How You Can Help 

With the impending onset of winter, Boyle Street’s Emergency Response Fund is becoming more critical than ever. This fund ensures that their outreach and triage teams can provide emergency supplies to those they serve. This includes vital items such as gloves, hats, socks, hand warmers, emergency clothing, hygiene supplies, snacks, water, and other essential items. You can help provide dignified healing through innovation by donating to their Emergency Response Fund. 

You can also get involved by volunteering, hosting a fundraising event, or sponsoring a meal. 

We want to thank Boyle Street for their ongoing work and support in Edmonton. We are grateful to have such incredible services available to our community.