Multi-Services Approach

Dixon Hall is a large social service agency, providing a wide variety of supports for a diverse community with many different needs. Our size and the breadth of our programming work to our advantage, helping us better fulfill our mandate. Every new initiative is supported by the work that we already do, and in turn, new programs lend institutional and intellectual support to our previously operating services. As we grow, we learn how to better reach our goals and we develop more holistic ways of supporting our clients.

Dixon Hall employs a comprehensive three-part solution for problems facing at-risk youth and homeless people. Through our shelters and housing support programs we are helping people move off the streets and eventually into permanent housing. Through our employment programs such as LabourLink, we help connect workers and employers. The third part is training, such as at The Mill Centre, where the participants gain the skills – both personal and professional – that they need to succeed. The three elements: housing, training and employment, are key components in the Dixon Hall model of cross program support. This enables clients to truly achieve the Dixon Hall motto of fulfilling their dreams and possibilities.

Similarly, our seniors programs compliment our youth programs: we encourage intergenerational linkages between the two groups, as a way to keep our seniors involved with the community, and to educate youth.

Further, our training and social enterprise activities, such as the Mill Centre, Regent Park Learning Centre & The Employment Services Centre, have financial and societal benefits that do not show up on the traditional bottom line. By working effectively with homeless people, or people who have been out of the workforce for some time, there is added social benefit – and cost saving to society – as the reliance upon shelters, social services, hospitals, and the justice system are replaced by self-reliance.