1885 The Christian Women’s Union (CWU) founded The Children’s Home of Winnipeg and is located beside their Maternity Hospital on Academy Rd. The Home is the first child-care institution in Western Canada, and attends to children who were from single-parent homes, orphaned, or abandoned. 

1886 – 89 The Children’s Home separates from the CWU and moves twice within its first two years, opening a larger facility at 248 River Ave. so “the little ones have purity of fresh air and ample scope for healthy exercise.”

1915 The Tuxedo Home is built at 621 (or 624?) Academy Rd. with capacity for a few hundred children while the day school accommodates 110 students.

1924 – 1942 Provincial Child Welfare Department leads to depopulation of The Children’s Home, leading the Home to change its mandate to “house and nourish the child in the interval between its two homes”.
The Home begins providing remedial and therapeutic care to war evacuees and victims of the polio epidemic due to overcrowding at Children’s Hospital.

1945 The Tuxedo Home is sold, but the receiving home function continues for babies and toddlers at the Jewish Children’s Home annex at 123 Matheson, and for older children at 422 Assiniboine.

1949 With the decline in the number of children, a new model of care is adopted: small community-based treatment centres for  teenage girls living with disabilities and/or mental health issues – and the Home opens a residence at 766 Victor Ave, the first of its kind in Canada.

1950 – 1980s The Home develops eight more community homes and a school program for children living with disabilities and/or mental health issues. This community-based approach is the foundation of our current programs.

1978 The Opikihiwawin program is formed and begins offering cultural, educational, and recreational programs for Indigenous Youth and families who have adopted/fostered Indigenous children.
Training Resources for Youth (TRY) is launched, offering job skills and work experience for young people.
An Executive Director is hired with the mandate to diversify programs, leading to the development of several training and education services for youth.

1981 – 1992 The Parent Support Program (now called Obawaanaan Counselling Parents In the Community (CPIC)) begins providing services to families in non-traditional settings.
The Home launches several new programs:

• Services to Multi-Handicapped (SMH) that provides residence for multi-handicapped adults.
• Training Education and Resources for Females (TERF) that helps teen and adult women get out of the sex trade, as well as helping children who are at high risk of being exploited.
• Resources for Women, that helps young parents upgrade personal and work skills and get work experience.
• Supported Apartment Living (SAL) helps individuals living with intellectual disabilities live independently in the community.

1996 The Children’s Home of Winnipeg changes its name to New Directions for Children, Youth, Adults and Families to better reflect the services it provides. The name was suggested by an individual in one of our programs.

1999 New Directions’ Treatment Resources and Individualized Living Supports (TRAILS) program begins providing foster care in the Interlake area by incorporating the Regional Specialized Foster Care Program.

2001 JUST Learning, in partnership with Gordon Bell High School, begins offering academic support to youth in Resources for Adolescent Parents (RAP), Transition, Education and Resources for Females (TERF) and other programs at New Directions.

2002 New Directions Endowment Fund is launched in partnership with the Winnipeg Foundation.
SMH splits into five separate services: Bridges, Empowering People in the Community (EPC), Alternative Solutions, Shift Staffed Homes (SSH) and Supported Apartment Living (SAL).

2004 The first Opikihiwawin Pow Wow is held and has now become an annual event that attracts dancers and singers from all over the province.

2009 New Directions expands its services by taking over two external agencies

1. The Interagency Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Program (IFASD), which New Directions has been in partnership with since its inception in 1995.
2. Ka Na Quiniget (which means speaking with hands in Cree) is a home for youth who are Deaf and Aboriginal was about to close before New Directions took it over and continued it as one of our Community Treatment Centres.

2010 New Directions celebrates its 125th Anniversary.
Parenting Centre opens and begins offering parenting support for children in childcare settings and Training and Consultation for Child Care Centre staff.
New Directions opens its first SSH home in the Rural Municipality of Springfield, MB, which leads to a four-year legal struggle, including a mediated resolution through the Manitoba Human Rights Commission.

2012 New Directions expands its services by opening new homes for individuals we support:

• SSH opens four homes in Portage la Prairie for persons previously residing in the Manitoba Developmental Centre.
• T.E.R.F opens a Transition House for youth exiting the sex trade.

New Directions also launches its first social enterprise, Genesis, a lawn-care and property maintenance business.

2013 New Directions is named one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers.

2015 – 16 New Directions re-locates 17 of its 19 program offices to a newly renovated space at 717 Portage Ave and receives official status as a high-school and names it Biindigen (Enter/Welcome) New Directions High School “A Holistic Approach to Education.”
Genesis is joined by two more Social Enterprises – On the Button and Café 6.

2018 Multi-disciplinary Assessment and Consultation Centre (MACC) provides psychological assessments to assist with determining eligibility for other services, and functional assessments to address any diagnosable learning, emotional, physical, or sensory disabilities.
New Directions signs a contract with Leila Pharmacy to provide nursing, pharmacy, and psychiatric consulting services.
New Directions in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection launches “Big Feeling Come and Go” an illustrated book that helps families & organizations support children who’ve experienced trauma.

2019 In support of the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and in conjunction with the TRC Calls to Action in supporting the Indigenous community, New Directions launches the Red Dress project by putting a red dress in every window at New Directions’ main office.
New Directions reorganizes its programs into Service areas including:

1. Home Services;
2. Cultural, Educational & Training Services; and
3. Resource Services.

2020 The COVID-19 Pandemic creates a shift in how New Directions works including the temporary closure of the offices and a shutdown of Adult Day Services. Classrooms move to working online, office staff work from their homes, while Direct Support Workers work in the homes with increased PPE.
Genesis becomes ND Property Services after incorporating the Compassion Network’s property maintenance pilot project.
New Directions opens a Supported Independent Living branch in Portage la Prairie
The reorganization is fine-tuned and known as Re-org 2.0, dividing services into three areas:

1. Child Services;
2. Adult Services; and
3. Culture, Education & Training Services