Grant: Team Grant: Strength.Resilient/Equitable Public Health Systems- Community Sector

Canada's community-based seniors' services (CBSS) sector comprises 8,000+ registered charities, senior centres, non-profits, and volunteer organizations delivering essential community, social, and health services. Despite being the critical link between formal medical and community supports, service delivery remains fragmented and siloed, creating inefficient care pathways with multiple entry points, duplicate processes, and inconsistent eligibility criteria. This fragmentation disproportionately impacts equity-denied older adults, including Indigenous seniors, racialized communities, 2SLGBTQI+ elders, those with disabilities, and individuals facing linguistic barriers. Rural communities face compounded challenges where geographic isolation intersects with system fragmentation. This multi-regional initiative aims to transform the fragmented CBSS landscape into an integrated, equitable public health system component strengthening aging-in-place capacity. Using a social determinants of health framework and participatory action research methodologies, this three-pronged approach will: (1) connect CBSS organizations to form community health navigator networks in eight diverse regions enabling cross-sectoral coordination and community-led governance; (2) establish a community data collaborative facilitating knowledge exchange, building sector-wide evidence-informed practice capacity, and real-time service mapping; and (3) develop a national policy framework addressing systemic barriers and ensuring equitable access to coordinated services. This systems-strengthening initiative will create coordinated service pathways reducing navigation barriers, establish sustainable knowledge-sharing mechanisms across 8,000+ organizations, and generate policy recommendations for equitable service integration. This scalable, sustainable model strengthens public health systems while advancing health equity and supporting aging-in-place across diverse Canadian communities.