About the Innovation Initiatives

The Knowledge Institute’s Innovation Initiatives grant provides funding for innovative solutions to pressing issues in Ontario’s child and youth mental health and addictions sector (the sector). The grant is open and eligible specifically to Ministry-funded lead and core service agencies in the sector.

To date, we have supported 38 organizations in implementing innovative interventions to improve service quality and access. You can find out more about our previous Innovation Initiatives here!

Culturally adapted programs are evidence-based programs that have been modified to better fit the needs and preferences of a specific cultural group¹. For more information on why cultural adaptation is important and for a glossary of key terms, see our Overview of culturally adapted programs.²¹ Check out A guide to culturally adapting mental health and addictions programs²² to learn how the Ecological Validity Model can help you adapt programs for different cultural groups.

In the past, funded projects have focused on solutions addressing virtual care, care pathways and access. In the 2023 and 2025 call, we focused on efforts to advance equity, diversity and inclusion in the sector. The Knowledge Institute is continuing the call for innovative projects that are designing, implementing, or evaluating culturally responsive child and youth mental health, substance use health and addictions programs in Ontario.

Grants of up to $100,000 will be awarded for an 18-month term
(March 1, 2027 – September 1, 2028).

Eligibility

Innovation Initiative project proposals must:

• Be submitted by a lead or core service agency funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health to provide child and youth mental health and addictions services. Agencies that are not core service provider agencies are strongly recommended to partner with the lead agency in their service area.
• Describe an evidence-based intervention or practice that will be adapted to meet the unique needs of children, young people or families affected by systemic inequities.
• Demonstrate partnership within the broader community/service area and describe participation of local community partners in implementing or evaluating the evidence-based program.
• Include a plan to engage young people, family members, and community partners in meaningful ways; and
• Demonstrate potential for scaling up the program to the broader child and youth mental health, substance use health and addictions system in Ontario.

Projects that focus only on staff training are not eligible for funding. However, staff training can be one of the activities of the project and a strong link to the intervention approach should be demonstrated in the application.

What are culturally responsive programs and why are they important?

Culturally responsive programs in mental health and addictions refer to evidence-based programs that are modified to meet unique aspects of a client’s culture, language and values.^5,8 These programs are sometimes referred to as culturally adapted interventions.

Research shows that programs adapted to meet the needs of children and young people who are impacted by systemic inequities tend to be more effective than those where culture or context have not been considered.^{1,12, 22, 7} Culturally responsive programs address assumptions about mental health and integrate clients’ experiences of racism, discrimination or microaggressions into the assessment and treatment approach.¹⁶ For example, interventions for Indigenous young people integrate cultural practices, beliefs and values by involving meaningful rituals and community members such as Elders.^{19, 10} Implementing culturally responsive programs is one concrete and direct way to address equity and access to mental health and addictions services for Ontario’s diverse communities.¹⁰

One of the important considerations in implementing culturally responsive programs is attention to integrating social determinants of health.⁶ Collaboration among mental health and addictions services with cross-sectoral partners is essential, such as working with housing or employment supports and with primary health care teams.²⁰

The challenge and opportunity

Communities affected by systemic inequities are a large and growing population in Ontario. One in five people are immigrants to Canada,²¹ and more than one in four households in Ontario are multilingual.¹³

Agencies in the sector have implemented several strategies to meet the unique cultural needs of Ontario’s diverse communities, but culturally responsive services are not yet widespread.³

The effectiveness of culturally adapted evidence-based programs is demonstrated by several systematic reviews.^{7, 10, 14, 4, 15, 17} There are also several frameworks providing guidance on how to adapt these types of programs.^5,9 However, there is a clear gap between research and practice, as culturally adapted interventions are not widely implemented in our sector.

For more information on why cultural adaptation is important and for a glossary of key terms, see our Overview of culturally adapted programs.²² Check out A guide to culturally adapting mental health and addictions programs²³ to learn how the Ecological Validity Model can help you adapt programs for different cultural groups.

The Knowledge Institute Innovations Initiatives will fund projects that adapt evidence-based programs to help agencies meet the unique needs of children, young people and families affected by systemic inequities. Applicants are encouraged to identify which one of these priority areas they will focus on.

Priority areas of focus:

Adapting a specific evidence-based program.

• This could include looking at the conditions for adaptation using a data-driven approach or a practical framework and beginning to adapt the program for a specific cultural group.
• Example: A review of the ethnocultural make-up of clients in a program shows that a majority are from a racialized group. Through focus groups and consultations, the agency engages with relevant community groups and identifies areas that need to be adapted. The team explores frameworks to guide their efforts, with an overall participatory action research approach. The team begins to examine potential adaptations such as those listed in a systematic review by Arora and colleagues.⁶

Testing a culturally adapted evidence-based program.

• Example: An agency has worked with various communities impacted by systemic inequities and has begun to identify areas where it can adapt materials for the agency’s Cognitive Behavioural Therapy program (CBT). The agency had previously developed materials for older adolescents and now wants to test the program for younger teens from the same racialized group. Focus groups and interviews are planned to get feedback from clinicians and clients.

Scaling up an existing culturally adapted program.

• Example: An agency has implemented a CBT program for South Asian young people at one of their program sites, and now wants to offer the program at all their sites. The agency also wants to partner with the school board to implement the program.

Evaluating and improving a culturally adapted program.

• Example: An agency has been implementing a CBT program for Black young people based on adaptations and feedback from young people five years ago. The agency wants to know whether the adaptations are still relevant and what improvements need to be made to the program. They decide to use the Cultural Adaptation Process Model⁸ (CAP) to guide their evaluation and improvement plans, making sure that young people from the community work with them to evaluate the program and identify areas for improvements.

Funding conditions

In this section, we describe the timelines, eligibility criteria, budget and selection criteria.

Timelines

Budget

Eligible items include:

• Backfill or salary costs for personnel.
• External consultant or contractor fees (up to a maximum of 50% of the total budget, unless negotiated otherwise with the Knowledge Institute).
• Honoraria for students.
• Honoraria or consultant fees for young people and/or family members for activities related to youth or family engagement.
• Honoraria for Elders, Knowledge Keepers, cultural brokers or community partners.
• Training fees (there must be other activities beyond staff training).
• Travel expenses associated with data collection, meetings, training.
• Knowledge mobilization activities (up to a maximum of $10,000).
• Computer software costs.
• Language translation of materials.
• Administrative costs associated with the project such as photocopying, purchase of evaluation measures (up to a maximum of 10% of the total budget).

Ineligible items include:

• Capital and operational expenses associated with existing and proposed services, such as buildings and facilities (rent, utilities), furniture, phones and computer hardware (laptops, tablets).

Innovation Initiative funds are not intended to supplement organizational operating budgets (i.e., salaries for staff who provide services outside of the project and operational expenses such as rent, utilities, maintenance).

Selection process and criteria

A review committee comprised of Knowledge Institute staff and external reviewers will evaluate all applications based on the following criteria:

Reminder of important definitions:

Culturally adapted programs: Evidence-based programs that have been modified to better fit the needs and preferences of a specific cultural group (Bernal et al., 2009; Booth & Lazear, 2015; Knowledge Institute on Child and Youth Mental Health and Addictions, 2023)

Culturally responsive: An approach that recognizes that culture shapes the experience and expression of mental health problems, modes of coping, pathways to care and the effectiveness of treatment and prevention (Kirmayer & Jarvis, 2019)

Innovation: A novel set of behaviours, routines, and ways of working that are intended to improve outcomes, efficiency, and people’s experiences and are implemented through planned and coordinated action (Greenhalgh et al., 2004).

Meaningful engagement: The respectful, dignified, and equitable inclusion of individuals with lived and living expertise in processes and activities where their expertise is valued and they have opportunities to influence decisions and improve outcomes (World Health Organization, as cited in Fisher et al., 2024). Please view our resources supporting engagement to learn more!

1. Need, Alignment and Rationale
   • Demonstrates a clear need or opportunity supported by evidence, research, data, lived and living expertise, and/or community knowledge and feedback.  
   • Aligns with the Innovation Initiatives funding topic of designing, implementing, or evaluating culturally responsive child and youth mental health, substance use health and addictions programs in Ontario.
   • Provides a strong rationale and understanding for the proposed culturally responsive initiative including why the identified community or cultural group has been prioritized and how the initiative responds to their identified needs, experiences, strengths, or service gaps.  
2. Innovation and Cultural Responsiveness
   • Clearly describes the proposed innovation or intervention, and demonstrates how the approach is culturally responsive and appropriate for the identified community or cultural group, including how the community’s strengths and needs have informed the approach.
   • Introduces a new, adapted, responsive, or improved approach informed by evidence and/or community knowledge and lived and living expertise.
   • Considers accessibility and potential barriers to participation (e.g., costs, transportation, language, disability, stigma, technology, scheduling, or awareness of available services), and describes how they will be addressed. 
3. Potential Impact and Sustainability
   • Identifies meaningful and achievable outcomes and anticipated impacts, including how the initiative is expected to meaningfully benefit the identified community and contribute to addressing inequities or barriers.
   • Demonstrates consideration of implementation success factors, potential barriers, and mitigation strategies, including how the project may adapt or pivot if anticipated project expectations are not realized.
   • Includes a reasonable plan to sustain the initiative and its impact beyond the funding period, with potential for broader system or sector impact, as well as consideration of how successful approaches, resources, relationships, learnings, or outcomes could be maintained, embedded, or scaled beyond the funding period.
4. Partnerships and Meaningful Engagement
   • Demonstrates meaningful engagement of the identified cultural community, including the roles of young people, family members and/or caregivers, people with lived and living expertise, and/or community partners with relevant relationships in the community, including how they have been or will be involved in decision-making and how their expertise will influence the project.  
   • Clearly demonstrates the plans for meaningful engagement throughout relevant stages of the project, including design, implementation, evaluation, and/or sustainability, rather than at a single point in time.
   • Considers safe and accessible participation opportunities for those with lived and living expertise to provide feedback, raise concerns and influence change throughout the project while also considering appropriate compensation and recognition, where applicable.
5. Project Feasibility and Evaluation
   • Demonstrates a feasible project workplan and evaluation plan, including key activities, roles, and timelines that can reasonably be implemented within the funding period with consideration of evaluation challenges, including participation or data limitations, and how they may be addressed.
   • Includes an appropriate preliminary evaluation plan with clear evaluation questions, indicators for success, methods, roles, and timelines, including meaningful opportunities for young people, family members and/or caregivers, and relevant community partners from the identified cultural community to inform or participate in evaluation, as appropriate to the project.
   • Presents a reasonable and feasible budget aligned with proposed activities, workplan, anticipated outcomes, and available funding (up to $100,000)
6. Knowledge Mobilization
   • Includes a feasible plan to share project learnings, outcomes, and resources with relevant audiences, including participating communities and relevant service providers.
   • Includes a description of the knowledge mobilization plan with examples, including consideration of accessible and culturally appropriate formats and approaches to share findings with the identified community.
   • Demonstrates consideration of how knowledge generated through the project will support learning, uptake, and broader application across the sector.

Knowledge Institute support and expectations of recipients

A team of Knowledge Institute staff will coordinate tailored supports on communication, engagement, implementation, quality improvement, and evaluation planning for project teams based on identified priorities, needs and capacity. Regular updates on project progress will be held on a quarterly basis between the project lead and the team.

Key events

Note: Some dates and meetings may be subject to change.

Welcome meeting (virtual) – April 2027

Project teams will introduce their work, learn about others’ projects and identify opportunities to share knowledge or collaborate. The webinar will also include further details about the Innovation Initiatives program and the supports available to each project team.

Kick-off meeting (virtual) – May 2027

Each Innovation Initiative project team will participate in a kick-off meeting with Knowledge Institute staff to review project plans and discuss potential support needs. The kick-off meetings will also include further details about the supports available to each project team.

Expectations of applicants

• This grant is intended to provide resources and consultation support to develop, test, scale up or evaluate an evidence-based program to be culturally responsive to the needs of children, young people and families affected by systemic inequities.
• Grantees will work with Knowledge Institute staff to contribute to the development of resources to support the sector in implementing and evaluating culturally responsive programs. For example, project teams will participate in providing examples of cultural adaptations, and reviewing toolkits, evidence briefs or tip sheets on implementing and evaluating culturally responsive programs.
• While the Knowledge Institute will work with project teams during the term of the grant to refine implementation and evaluation plans, proposals should demonstrate clear, preliminary directions for the work.

Final report

All Innovation Initiative recipients are required to submit a Final Report on or before October 1, 2028 (one month following the end of the award term). The report will address the following questions:

• What was the overall goal (or goals) of your Innovation Initiative?
• What were the main activities of the project? How did the project meet the unique needs of children, young people and families affected by systemic inequities?
• What is the impact of the project? What were the outcomes achieved through the course of this work?
• How did you measure the project outcomes?
• What did you learn while designing and implementing the project?
• What were key factors that contributed to the success of your project?
• What challenges did you encounter along the way and how were these resolved? What was the result?
• Were there any unexpected outcomes, challenges, or insights that emerged during implementation? How did these influence the project’s trajectory or results?
• How have you or how do you plan to share and mobilize knowledge gained through this initiative?
• What are your next steps?
• What support or conditions would be needed to sustain the impact of this initiative beyond the funding period?
• How do you hope this work will continue to make a difference in the future?

Knowledge-sharing and mobilization

All Innovation Initiative recipients are asked to create a knowledge product (to be shared publicly) to share their stories, evaluation results and lessons learned with partners in the sector. The project team is encouraged to be creative and consider engaging formats appropriate to their work and context. Members of the Knowledge Institute team will be available for consultation for product development.

Innovation Initiative recipients must notify the Knowledge Institute of all knowledge products and communications activities related to the project. Recipients should appropriately acknowledge funding from the Knowledge Institute as a partner of the work. Additionally, recipients should include the Knowledge Institute logo or a statement of acknowledgement on all electronic and printed products, and all posters and presentations.

Innovation Initiative recipients will partner with the Knowledge Institute to share information about their projects in various ways. These may include:

• Participating in knowledge mobilization and communications efforts after the award term (developing a knowledge product to communicate about the project, promoting the project in social media).
• Co-developing and presenting information at learning events or through publications.
• Being available to discuss their project and lessons learned with provincial colleagues and partners.

Tips for submitting your online application

• Getting started. To access the questions that are included in the online application, see Appendix A. Write your responses to the open-ended questions in a Word document. When you are ready, you can copy your responses into the online application.
• Writing concisely. Take note of the recommended word limits for each section. Your proposal should be clear and concise so that reviewers can make informed decisions.
• Creating an application.To create an application, click the link marked "Apply." 
• Returning to an application. You do not need to complete your application in one session. Be sure to click the “Save Application” button before you log off.
• Filling in required information. Required fields are marked with an asterisk. You will not be able to submit an application without completing all required items. If an item does not apply to your application and is not marked with an asterisk, you may leave it blank.
• Submitting an application. When you have completed and reviewed your application, click the "Submit application" button. Once an application is submitted, it may be viewed but not edited.

Email initiatives@cymha.ca for more information.