2025
Impact Report

Lasting change begins with one life.

Group of diverse young adults smiling closely together taking a selfie outdoors.

Shaped by Collaboration, 
Driven by Action

A MESSAGE FROM

Alyse 
Bernbaum

Executive Director

Smiling woman with long brown hair wearing a black top against a light blue background.

Dear Friends,

In 2025, our work continued to evolve – reaching more young people, strengthening partnerships, and responding to needs with greater focus and intention.
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Across mental health and housing, we saw how early intervention and prevention, shared learning, and committed frontline leadership can create pathways for youth.
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To our charitable partners and frontline workers: your work shows up every day in ways that matter deeply to young people. To our Trustees and the AMDF team: thank you for your thoughtful guidance and dedicated care.

Looking ahead, we are inspired by the impact of our collective efforts and remain committed to building on this momentum in 2026 and beyond.

With gratitude,

Signature reading 'Alyse' in purple cursive handwriting.

Alyse Bernbaum

Executive Director

Unity Charity

Stories of Change

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Real Stories. Real Progress.

Each young person supported brings us closer to meaningful, sector-wide transformation.

Together, these stories reflect how targeted support can create individual change while strengthening the broader ecosystem.

Three smiling students in green graduation gowns and caps standing in front of red lockers with arms around each other.

Pathways to Education

Two hands gently holding a large purple heart shape above them.

Nurture Grant

The Power of Personal Stories

The Unsinkable Storytellers Program is a strengths-based storytelling program for young people navigating mental health challenges, trauma, stigma, or barriers to care. Through guided storytelling, creative expression, and trauma-informed facilitation, participants – many who represent diverse racialized and 2SLGBTQI+ communities – build mental fitness skills including emotional regulation, confidence, self-advocacy, and resilience.

Healing Through Connection

Raffela’s journey reflects Unsinkable’s impact: turning vulnerability into confidence and gaining tools to remain mentally strong beyond the program.
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The Unsinkable Storytellers program has helped Raffela shift from a place of being too afraid to write her story to speaking across the country. She is a fan favourite on every stage that she steps on. Her story is not just heard, it heals.

Hear more about  
Raffela’s journey

Five people standing on a stage holding certificates, smiling, with a backdrop of wooden panels and black, gold, and white balloons.

Nurturing Future Storytellers

By amplifying real stories for the purpose of healing and connection, Unsinkable is helping rewrite how youth mental health is understood — shifting the narrative from silence to strength and from crisis to capacity. Participants describe the program as fostering a profound sense of self-awareness and healing. The result is a more inclusive, compassionate, and mentally fit generation.

Artistic illustration of a glowing purple light bulb with a hand reaching towards it.

Inspire Grant

The Power of Building Community

The Construct Program turns opportunity into stability. Through an eight-week training model, young people – many facing or at risk of homelessness – gain construction trade skills, real-world experience, and personalized wraparound support. The result: pathways to meaningful employment, independence, and long-term security.

Group of eight construction workers wearing safety vests and hard hats posing indoors at a training center with a LiUNA! sign in the background.

A Model Inspiring Change

As housing instability and living costs rise, charities must be equipped to respond with effective, scalable solutions. Through dedicated resources like the Construct Training Space and digital portal, Construct addresses homelessness at its roots by connecting vulnerable youth to mentorship, hands-on learning, and dignified careers – creating outcomes that last well beyond the program.

750+ graduates
87% program completion rate
80% employment rate 6-months post program completion

Blueprint for the Future

Construct is built on a simple truth: employment stability drives housing stability. With the launch of Construct Canada, the program is poised to scale nationally – meeting growing demand for skilled labour while addressing poverty and youth homelessness. By empowering young people to build careers, Construct is creating stronger, more resilient communities.

Person wearing a black beanie with yellow text and a gray hoodie under a brown jacket, looking slightly to the side.

Hear Their Stories Firsthand

Two construction workers wearing blue helmets and orange safety vests indoors, one man with arms crossed and one woman with safety glasses.

Woman with long hair speaking at a Pan Pacific podium, beside a screen showing a presentation titled 'Construct' in French.

Smiling construction worker wearing a blue hard hat, safety glasses, white hoodie, and orange safety vest while working with wood.

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Illustration of an outstretched hand releasing or catching a blue butterfly.

Transform Grant

The Power of Family-Centred Care

The transition from the NICU to home is both a milestone and a time of vulnerability. CICC’s Hospital-to-Home (H2H) Program transforms this critical period by supporting infants facing prolonged hospitalization and medical needs, and the caregivers who walk alongside them, through a coordinated, relationship-based model that ensures continuity of care beyond the hospital walls.

Collaboration in Action

Grounded in an evidence-based early intervention model, H2H advances infant development while strengthening caregiver confidence, emotional well-being, and readiness during one of the most complex transitions a family can face.

Lorraine Chiarotto

Manager, Infant & Child Development  Community Programs

Khush

H2H Parent

Co-developed with OISE/University of Toronto and Sunnybrook Hospital, integrating leading research and clinical practice.

Provides early, tailored developmental interventions aligned to each family’s unique needs.

Operates through cross-sector partnerships, expanding from Sunnybrook Hospital to the NICU at St. Michael’s Hospital, with support from partners including the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Transforming a Family’s Future

By intentionally bridging hospital care and home-based support, H2H closes critical gaps at a pivotal moment – ensuring families do not leave the NICU feeling isolated or unprepared.
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As the program scales its collaborative and replicable model, CICC is strengthening care pathways, deepening systems coordination, and ensuring responsive early intervention. H2H is reshaping the course of early development trajectories, turning a fragile transition into the foundation for long-term stability, confidence, and hope.

Anna Blaszczyk

Early Childhood Interventionist

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto

Capacity-Building
in Action

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AMDF’s support extends beyond traditional funding — investing in the people, systems, and stories that sustain impact.
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Through targeted capacity-building, we empower our charitable partners to strengthen their organizations through practical tools, expert guidance, and tailored strategies.
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From communications and leadership development to storytelling and organizational growth, these initiatives are designed to amplify impact and support long-term effectiveness.

$120K+

invested

charities supported

leaders trained
through EPIC Leadership

videos sponsored and produced
through AMDF Productions

Watch our 2025
Video Showcase

"AMDF's offer to support my participation in EPIC Leadership's Peer Support Cohort program came at exactly the right moment. My Peer Cohort, and the resources available to me through EPIC, make me feel supported, inspired, and part of a broader non-profit community with shared values. Without AMDF's support I would not have been able to make this kind of investment in my professional development.

Morgan Norwich

Executive & Managing Director 
SummerWorks

"AMDF powerfully captures how our organization works alongside young people involved in the child welfare system, and the tremendous potential that can be unlocked through that support. We have shared this film with potential partners and at our annual supporter event, where it played a key role in making it our most successful fundraiser to date."

Jackson Walker

Director of Operations 
StepStones for Youth

“Being selected to have an impact video created for us has greatly eased the financial and resource constraints we face as a small organization. This powerful, beautiful piece of work allows us to share our story with the community, stakeholders, and potential supporters. It provides a deeper understanding of the work we do at Frontlines.”

Leah Ali

Chief Executive Officer 
Frontlines

“Simply a huge thank you for this amazing opportunity and outcome. This wonderful video has been a rallying point for our organization, with many shares to proudly spread the word about our work's impact in the community. We look forward to leveraging this valuable digital asset towards helping more young victims and their families for a long time to come!”

Ryan Dufton

Marketing & Communications Coordinator 
Child Witness Centre

“This program has offered a space to foster community and exchange ideas. I’ve always believed it takes a village to support the young people of Sistema, and my participation at EPIC has directly expanded that village of support in meaningful ways.”

Shawn Earle

Executive Director 
Sistema Toronto

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Discover more about Beyond the Grant

Connecting &
Engaging, Together

Throughout the year, we stayed deeply connected to the sector – with over 70 charitable partner meetings, events, and knowledge-building session‍
These opportunities bolster collaboration, foster shared learning, and help us better understand and respond to the evolving needs of the communities we serve.

Group of eight diverse adults smiling and posing in front of colorful circular and framed wall art in a bright room.

Listening, learning, and collaborating with the dedicated team at 360°kids.

Three women standing on stone steps near a lake with docks and surrounded by trees on a sunny day.

Enjoying a full day of connection and community at Campfire Circle’s Muskoka campsite.

Touring CEE’s facilities and gaining a closer look at their programs in action.

Group of eight diverse smiling people posing indoors in casual clothing with plants in the background.

Hearing firsthand from Eva’s frontline team about their critical work in supporting youth.

Group of six diverse women smiling outdoors on a sunny day, standing on pavement near a brick wall.

Soaking up the sun and summer camp spirit
with Girls Inc. participants.

Group of eight diverse adults standing in a gymnasium, some holding basketballs, smiling at the camera.

Combining basketball skills with mental fitness in a high-energy session with Lay-Up.

Group of eight people standing indoors against a white wall, wearing high-visibility safety vests in yellow and orange, some smiling at the camera.

Riding along with Second Harvest Driver Ambassadors to see food rescued and delivered across Toronto.

Eight people standing side by side indoors against a white wall with framed architectural photos behind them.

Getting an exclusive look inside WoodGreen Foundation’s Community Hub.

Three adults smiling in front of a backdrop with Youth Without Shelter and The Helix Project logos.

Celebrating hope and resilience at Youth Without Shelter’s Night Light Sessions, Heart & Soul Edition.

Group of seven professional individuals standing indoors in front of a wall with large yellow letters.

Engaging discussions with NEDIC’s team to explore their innovative programs and impact.

Woman with glasses and hair in a bun weaving thin wooden strips indoors.

Hands-on learning: AMDF Grants Director Tamara Haberman leads a basketry workshop at StepStones for Youth.

Group photo of ten adults smiling indoors in front of closed brown blinds.

Feeling inspired by the Youth Without Shelter team’s unwavering support for at-risk youth.

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Lay-Up

Our Continued
Commitment

Every young person deserves access to mental health support and safe, stable housing.

AMDF will continue to focus on prevention and early intervention – supporting youth before they reach crisis. Through wraparound solutions, collaborative care, and trusted charitable relationships, we aim to reduce barriers and improve long-term outcomes for youth.