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Recognizes an individual or organization demonstrating achievement and leadership in youth housing and homelessness prevention.
This award is presented in partnership with the BC Coalition to End Youth Homelessness
Submission Deadline
Jun 20, 2025
Announcement
Nov 18, 2025
Nominate Someone
Jade Ryan, Youth Advocate.
Jade is a youth worker who lived in the foster care system and has advocated for change to address homelessness faced by youth aging out of care.
She is passionate and outspoken about youth housing and youth homelessness as a changemaker and a leader.
Established in 2021, the Katherine McParland Changemaker Award recognizes an individual or organization demonstrating achievement and leadership in youth housing and homelessness prevention, and engaging youth in the development and delivery of housing, programs, and services.
This award is presented in partnership with the BC Coalition to End Youth Homelessness.
How to get nominated.
The nominee may be an individual or organization showing dedication and leadership in delivering or advocating for youth housing.
Membership in BCNPHA or the BC Coalition to End Youth Homelessness is not required. Nominees can be volunteers or employees of non-profit housing providers.
Nominations are encouraged for deserving youth, affiliated or not with a non-profit housing provider or other organization.
How does someone qualify?
Outstanding leadership and achievement in youth housing
Demonstrates leadership in delivering or advocating for youth housing and addressing youth homelessness.
Embodies Katherine McParland’s spirit of innovation, emphasis on possibility over probability, and finding the silver lining when faced with challenges.
Demonstrates a “rooted in action” approach to housing delivery, advocacy, or youth programs and services.
Pursues the end of youth homelessness by delivering accessible services with wraparound supports.
May be a young person who shows leadership in all aspects of ending youth homelessness.
Involvement of youth in organizational or individual work
Has included youth leadership in the search for solutions.
Ensures youth are part of decision-making.
Provides opportunities for youth to bring lived expertise to employment, committee participation, or advisory positions.
That is something I’m so passionate about, is not just using my voice to help myself and my situation but to highlight a collective issue.
Jade Ryan • Youth Advocate
Representatives from the BC Coalition to End Youth Homelessness, and those working in the youth housing sector, will review nominees and contact the recipient by September 2025.
If you have questions or require assistance completing the online nomination form, please contact communications@bcnpha.ca
View these visionary leaders.
Recipients of this award have shown exceptional commitment to youth and ensuring they have a safe, affordable home.
Katherine McParland (1987-2020)
Katherine McParland was a passionate advocate for youth experiencing homelessness and housing instability.
She ignited A Way Home Kamloops, a non-profit organization for housing with wraparound supports for marginalized youth in the region.
Katherine was the co-chair of the BC Coalition to End Youth Homelessness, a BC Housing board member, and a member of the federal government’s advisory committee on homelessness.
Katherine’s experience of being in government care and experiencing homelessness informed her tireless efforts to centre young voices in decision-making for youth housing.
She was candid with her story, which anchored her insistence that there be “nothing about us, without us” in youth housing.
While Executive Director of A Way Home Kamloops, Katherine completed her master’s degree in social work. Her research called out foster care as the “superhighway to homelessness,” and has informed youth housing policy for years.
Katherine McParland passed away in December 2020.
This award recognizes individuals and organizations who, like Katherine, are deeply committed to supporting young people and involving them in decision-making, policy development, and delivery of youth housing and homelessness services.
To learn more about her work, please watch Katherine’s 2018 TED Talk at the link below:
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