Community safety is a collaborative effort

West End

Wolseley

Luxton

The South Valour Residents’ Association and the University of Winnipeg’s department of urban and inner-city studies recently launched the SVRA’s community safety toolbox, which is described as a comprehensive resource on inclusive approaches to safety in Winnipeg’s West End.

According to uwinnipeg.ca/community-safety-toolbox, the project is based on four years of research and community engagement focused on caring and inclusive approaches to community safety. The research team — notably Dr. Julie Chamberlain, an associate professor at the U of W — worked with community members and partners to put some of those approaches into action in the West End.

The toolbox includes practical guides, templates, and reflections on how SVRA engaged residents through asset-mapping, safety conversations, a harm-reduction workshop, a scavenger hunt, and other community-building activities.

One of the goals of the initiative is to serve as a template for neighbourhood associations across the city.

“The toolbox is designed to be a resource for other neighbourhoods, for other grassroots groups that have a proactive, anti-oppressive stance on safety in the community,” said Stacy Cardigan Smith, a key organizer and member of SVRA’s safety committee.

“At South Valour Residents’ Association, we’ve been lucky enough to partner with the University of Winnipeg and Julie, and look at tangible ways community groups can practise safety.”

“A goal of building the toolbox is to make information available to everyone. When our association was first established, we did a community survey asking what people would like us to focus on — safety was the top priority, followed closely by greenspace, and building more community connections,” said Cardigan Smith, who recently moved to Wolseley, after living in the South Valour catchment area for 14 years.

The research showed some people in the community favoured a neighbourhood watch, enforcement-type approach to community safety, while others didn’t, highlighting a need to hear and consider different perspectives.

Chamberlain, who lives in Luxton, said the “nitty-gritty planning” of what community safety means continues to be much-discussed across the city and beyond.

“This is important because safety is a hot topic in Winnipeg, as in many other cities, and this has come out of the residents’ association and the people in the neighbourhood,” Chamberlain said.

“In the neighbourhood, I’m hoping to see the association continue to put into practise the different ideas it has come up with in the next few years. There’s still so much to do in terms of connecting with different groups, but we’ve learned a lot about how community-building is important.”

“We’re hoping that other communities might be able to use a piece of the toolbox, and pick it up, and run with it — the more we can share things with each other, the better,” she said.

Visit uwinnipeg.ca/community-safety-toolbox for more information about the project, including contributors, funders, and partners.