How a shared goal helps youth homelessness services decide what information to share and how to coordinate support.
Why collaborations need a shared goal
Young people facing homelessness often depend on several services. This can include shelters, outreach teams, community agencies, and government programs. To work together effectively, those services need a clear purpose for sharing information and a shared goal.
PolicyWise for Children & Families explores this in How to Build a Collaborative Approach to Data Sharing. This report outlines five considerations for collaborative data sharing in the social-serving sector.
This article is the second in a six-part series. The first story introduced the five considerations for data sharing. This one focuses on the first consideration, establishing purpose and intention. We begin here since partners need to agree on why they are working together before deciding what information to share, how to share it, and what each organization will do.
Establishing purpose and intention
Our report defines purpose as the reason for sharing data. It is the goal of the collaboration. Intention is the actions and strategies that allow partners to reach their shared goal. Together, purpose and intention help partners define both their goal and their chosen path to achieve it.
This is important because data collaboration needs to start with concrete decisions. Partners must determine the issue they intend to tackle. Then they must clarify what each will contribute and identify how they will be sharing information.
Interview participants noted that successful collaboration starts with a clear sense of purpose and goals. They added that common understanding guides planning, supports decision making, and keeps partners aligned as work progresses.
Choosing what information to share
Once partners establish the collaboration’s purpose, the next steps become clearer. They need to determine what information is essential for supporting a young person and fulfilling the collaboration’s goal. The report’s authors stress the need to agree on the minimum data required. This keeps information sharing focused on service needs and ensures that sharing is respectful and useful.
The amount of information needed depends on the support being provided. Referrals may need only a few details, while more coordinated or holistic support may need more detailed information. In both cases, the data shared should match the purpose of the work. Data collaborations are not about sharing everything. Organizations only share the data needed to meet the collaboration’s purpose and enable the stated intentions.
This practice further strengthens privacy protections. When partners are clear about the goal, they can limit sharing to only relevant information. This leads to deliberate decisions about what data is collected, what is shared, and how information is used between organizations.
Working together over time
A shared purpose clarifies each partner’s role in the collaboration. Youth homelessness collaborations often involve organizations with different mandates, systems, capacities, and responsibilities. The report’s authors note that a clear goal enables partners to see how their roles fit into the broader effort and define their commitment. This helps set expectations early and establishes strong working relationships from the start.
The report‘s authors then go on to describe data collaboration as ongoing work. Organizations may approach it with different objectives, capacities, and levels of readiness. But no matter the circumstances, referring to the shared purpose over time allows each partner to adapt to change, improve processes, and preserve alignment as the collaboration progresses.
Next in the series
For organizations contemplating collaborative data sharing, establishing purpose and intention provides a clear foundation. It enables partners to define the goal before making decisions about roles, governance, and information-sharing methods. In youth homelessness services, early clarity can support stronger coordination and create an easier path to service access for young people.
The next story in this series will cover identifying and mitigating risk. To learn about all five considerations, you can find the full report here.
For related resources and updates, visit the project’s page.
Project partners
PolicyWise for Children & Families is proud to be collaborating with The Alex and the Trellis Society on this project.
Project funding
This project was funded in part by the Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia.
