Since 2015, Bedford House has been developing the Bridging Team model—a transformative community-building approach.Co-created with people with lived experience of poverty, our program fosters allyship across class lines, nurtures emerging leaders, and builds relationships that challenge stigma and isolation.

We have updated our curriculum and are launching a program rooted in Canadian class and labour history, that – informed by contemporary experiences – explores systemic poverty in ways that are both personal and structural.

Using a Canadian study guide based on Deborah Dundas’ On Class, participants explore systemic barriers, hidden class rules, and stigma.

This 12-week curriculum launched Feb 2026 with local partners, and was intentionally co-created with people with lived experience of poverty. Our program fosters allyship across class lines, nurtures emerging leaders, and builds relationships that challenge stigma and isolation.

We see this as our contribution towards a broader cultural shift—one that moves  beyond charity toward solidarity, shared leadership, and systemic change.