Keeping people safe & well
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Minutes of the Steering Committee Meeting
10th meeting
October 31, 2006 1:00 – 02:30 pm
Banff Avenue Community HousePresent:
1. Mike Justinich, Crime Prevention Ottawa
2. Peggy Austen, United Way
3. Florence Brake, Ottawa Community Housing
4. Matt Perkins, City of Ottawa
5. James Tanguay, Boys and girls Club
6. Maria McRae, City Councillor
7. Nick Zeis, City of Ottawa, Parks and Recreation.
8. Bonnie Conlon, Councillor Maria McRae’s Office
9. Kevin Shantz, City of Ottawa
10. James Williams, Board member SEOCHC (Chairman)
11. Mohamoud Abdulle, Youth Services Bureau
12. Melanie O’Rourke, Tenant and Community Worker, Ottawa Community Housing
13. Leslie McDiarmid, Manager BBBF and Community Services
14. Constable Mario Bergeron, Ottawa Police Services
15. Constable Lisa Briggs, Ottawa Police Services
16. Abid Jan, Project Coordinator, No community Left Behind Project, SEOCHC
17. Sylvie Manser, Banff Ave. Community House Director
18. Sue Skinner, South Ottawa Community Legal Clinic
19. Scott Bradford, Executive Director, Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa
20. Andrea Thompson, Confederation Court Community House Director
21. Superintendent Charles Bordeleau, OPS.1. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Agenda was approved as presented. Moved by James Williams.
2. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FROM September 19, 2006 MEEETING
Minutes from September 19, 2006 meeting were approved as circulated.
3. NCLB PROGRESS REPORT
Abid Jan presented progress on the activities of the community assessment and planning phase since September 19, 2006. A summary of the progress is as follows:
a) Community health and safety surveys were completed in all the three new communities to which the program has been extended.
b) Several community meetings were held to come up with work plans for the next six months. The main meetings were held at Confederation Court on October 10, Russell Heights on October 18 and Heatherington on October 26, 2006.
c) During the planning phase, partner organizations also met several times in small working groups as follows:
i. The NCLB Steering Committee’s working group met on October 17, 2006 at Banff.
ii. Meeting of the Community House directors from Banff, Confederation Court and Russell Heights on October 19, 2006 at Confederation Court Community House.
iii. Meeting of the Community House directors with Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club at Banff Community House on October 24, 2006.
d) Work plan of activities from November 1, 2006 to April 30, 2007 was finalised.
e) Other mobilization activities such as the weekly dinners at Banff were going well.
4. Partner’s Reports
Ottawa Police Services
- Superintendent Charles Bordeleau reported that a presentation on the approach and progress of the No Community Left Behind was made on October 2, 2006 to the executive of Ottawa Police Service. It was highly appreciated.
- Superintendent Charles Bordeleau also thanked all partners and the City Councillor, Maria McRae, for coming out to the community for personally visiting and observing recommendation of CPTED audit on September 19, 2006.
- Mr. Bordeleau also informed the committee that Constable Mario Bergeron and Constable Lisa Briggs would be moving on to other units. He assured the committee of the continued commitment to the initiative and said that two new officers will soon be assigned to carry on the process of interaction and relationship building with the concerned communities. He reiterated that there will be no loss in service or quality of the OPS commitment to the NCLB.
- Constable Mario Bergeron added that he and his partners had been receiving information from the community. There were major issues at Confederation Court and Russell Heights but the situation has improved. He expressed satisfaction with the meeting with the Tenants’ Association and safety situation at 1455 Heatherington.
- Regarding the Banff Avenue Community, Mr. Bergeron said that the community has gone beyond meetings and is now set for establishing a neighbourhood watch. He informed the committee that a meeting on this issue was scheduled with the community for November 2, 2006.
- Constable Lisa Briggs added that despite not being directly involved with the NCLB initiative, she will maintain her connection with the community and expressed satisfaction that the replacing officers will do a great job.
- The chair thanked Superintendent Charles Bordeleau on behalf of the Committee for the OPS cooperation and, in particular, for the able services rendered by Cst. Mario Bergeron and Cst. Lisa Briggs who had made a great contribution to the overall progress achieved under the Project as regards improving police/community relations and personal safety in the Banff Ledbury community. He also wished Mr. Bergeron and Ms. Briggs continued success in their careers.
City Councillor, Maria McRae
- Maria McRae reported progress on the recommendation of a CPTED audit. She said that the City is committed to making sure that every single recommendation of the report is fulfilled. She had followed up with the CEO of Ottawa Community Housing so that the progress is sustained. Fence repairs and chopping down of trees in the affected areas have been completed. Maria McRae met other departments, such as City Community and Protection Services, Public Works department and also Hydro One.
- Maria McRae added that the City will cut garbage bins to lower their size so that convenient garbage is not an issue for the residents.
- Maria McRae also informed the community that a pilot project for the Banff Avenue community was in the offing. She would like the NCLB Steering Committee to oversee the project so that it remains a one stop shopping and continue to produce best results for replication elsewhere in the City. She promised to announce the project after the Municipal elections on November 13, 2006.
- Maria McRae also emphasized the OCH commitment to strengthening the role of the Tenants’ Associations. She said the CEO of OCH is fully committed to funding and closely watching the progress made by the TAs.
Ottawa Community Housing
- Florence Brake thanked the community houses for being so supportive of the Tenants’ Associations.
- Florence Brake reported that Ottawa Community Housing was implementing all relevant recommendations of the CPTED audit. She thanked the partners for their continued commitment.
- Florence Brake updated the committee about the safety and security meeting that took place in the confederation Court Community House. She thanked OPS for their cooperation with Ottawa Community Housing security. She said Ottawa Community Housing security has increased patrolling in the community.
- Mrs. Brake informed the members about the upcoming Tenants’ Associated election which were scheduled for November 14, 2006.
- Florence Brake appreciated the work of SEOCHC and South Ottawa Legal Clinic in providing capacity building support to the Tenants’ Association at Confederation court through Anita James and Sue Skinner respectively.
Boys and Girls Club
According to Scott Bradford:
- Boys and Girls Club is going through the budget development phase covering the next years. They are wrestling with different issues and competing priorities.
- Mr. Bradford told the committee that by the end of November 2006, he will be in a better position to inform the committee about future commitments of his organization vis-à-vis four communities in South East Ottawa.
- He informed the members that with the help of Maria McRae, they raised $28,000 for the Banff community.
- Boys and Girls Club is still involved in doing Homework Clubs for children in the Banff community and also started this activity in Heatherington.
- Boys and Girls club is now taking 30 kids from two communities on Saturday afternoons for swimming lessons.
Banff Avenue Community House
- Sylvie Manser, director Banff Ave Community House, explained the engagement of families from different communities through outing trips with the help of Home Town Tours.
- Andrea Thompson, director Confederation Court Community House, informed the members about the funding which the House received for belly dancing, hip-hop, ice-skating and tubing.
- Andrea Thompson also talked about the Day of Caring celebration in Confederation Court on October 25, 2006. About 70 volunteers joined the community in landscaping, repairs and neighbourhood restoration in many different ways.
- Regarding safety and security in the community, Mrs. Thompson added that OPS officers really made a difference.
Russell Heights
- Rose Wakeham reported great progress in terms of youth activities during the summer months.
- She appreciated the support from Ottawa Police Services, Ottawa Community Housing and OCH Security.
- The House is presently gearing up for winter activities.
- The House Board was introduced to the No community Left Behind initiative and the TA is working to complete the community health and safety survey.
5. Approval of the work plan. A detailed work plan and activity schedule was presented to the committee for approval. After discussion on various aspects of the plan from November 1, 2006 to April 30, 2007, it was unanimously approved.
6. NCLB Youth Coordination Model
Abid Jan shared the draft concept paper of a youth coordination model in South East Ottawa region. He gave detailed background of how various partners went through a series of assessment and consultation processes and came to the conclusion that there is a need for increased coordination in youth activities. The objective is to minimize duplication and to fill in the gaps.
Youth engagement and mobilization is one of the core components of the No Community Left Behind initiative for crime prevention through social development. During the year 2005-2006, a few activities were planned to have interactive and informal ice-breaking and information sharing session with youth at Banff Avenue Community.
The general perception in the communities is that youth are the main source of gang and drug-related problems. The communities identified lack of activities as one of the root causes for youth engagement in negative activities. Nevertheless, an inventory of programs and resources suggests that activities are being provided by various service providers and agencies to these communities in varying degrees. To reach to the crux of the problem, a number of meetings were held by the House Directors and partner agencies in the assessment and planning phase of the No Community Left Behind. The summary of the findings presented by Abid Jan was as follows:
- Keeping an eye on the bigger picture of how we want to engage youth from crime prevention through social development perspective in these communities is of paramount importance. Keeping a broader objective of all youth related interventions is, thus, crucial.
- In the light of a broader objective of youth development for crime prevention and community safety, youth engagement through various strategies is necessary across all youth age groups.
- There are ways to engage even youth who are considered beyond rehabilitation.
- Various agencies are funding youth programs in these communities with specific objectives, but these activities are taking place in isolation from each other and lack focus on the bigger picture.
- Isolated activities with isolated segments of youth in these communities make less of an impact.
Based on these findings, it was suggested that there is a need for an independent coordinator to work closely with all the four community houses and provide the missing links.
Scott Bradford, Executive Director of Boys and Girls Club said he would look into the concept paper’s recommendations, discuss it with his staff and board and come up with a decision shortly.
6. Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.
Next Meeting: January 9, 2007 1 p.m.
Location: Banff Avenue Community House.
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2005-6 South-East Ottawa Centre for a Healthy Community
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