Sydney Stenekes is the Director of Homelessness Initiatives with the Rural Development Network. She leads the management and administering of funding for the Reaching Home program’s rural and remote stream in Alberta, and oversees RDN’s homelessness programs. Sydney enjoys engaging with communities to learn about and respond to homelessness and has a passion for improving community well-being. She earned her Bachelor of Social Science with a specialization in International Economics and Development from the University of Ottawa, and then completed her Master of Sciences at the University of Alberta, where she engaged in a collaborative research project with Kátł’odeeche First Nation. Sydney draws on her previous experience with the federal government and community-based research to help advocate and build strong relationships with rural, remote and Indigenous communities in Alberta.