Keeping people safe & well
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Minutes of the Steering Committee Meeting
Fifth Meeting
January 24, 2005, 1:00 – 02:30 pm
Banff Community HousePresent:
Chairman of the Steering Committee, Board member SEOCHC
Staff Person, Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa
Executive Director, Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa
Tenant and Community Worker, Ottawa Community Housing
Superintendent, Ottawa Police Services, East.
Constable, Ottawa Police Services
Constable, Ottawa Police Services
Manager BBBF and Community Services
Director Banff Avenue Community House
City of Ottawa Parks and Recreation
Community member, Fairlea Community Association
Community member, Fairlea Community Association
Representative from Youth Services Bureau
Representative, South Ottawa Community Legal Clinic
Co-Coordinator, Russell Heights Community House
Project Coordinator, No community Left Behind Project, SEOCHCRegrets:
Vice President, Community Services, United Way
Representative Business Sector, Osgoode Veterinary Clinic
Representative, Councilor Maria McRae’s OfficeProceedings
1. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
The chairman declared the meeting opened, welcomed the members present and invited a motion for the adoption of the Agenda which was approved with the following amendment:
Add under item 8: “ invitation to make a presentation to the Coalition on Community Safety Health and Well-being (a sub-committee of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP)).
2. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF DECEMBER 06, 2005
Supt. Charles Bordeleau proposed, and it was agreed to amend item 5( paragraph 4) of the minutes as follows:
Replace the words “environmental assessment of the community” therein with the words “Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPED),”
The minutes were approved, as amended.
3. PROJECT PROGRESS REPORT
Abid Jan reported that:
- All planned activities were taking place as scheduled.
- Community Dinners took place, as planned. He thanked Constables Mario Bergeron and Lisa Briggs for participating in the community meetings; also, Sue Skinner, Melanie O’Rourke and James Williams attended Tenants’ Association meetings.
- The police officers who participated in the Lunch and Chat and Community Dinner sessions held fruitful discussions with different groups of tenants from within the community. In response to a request for more information on police services, an information session is planned for the community on February 02, 2006 to address certain questions and concerns of the community, including the rights and responsibilities of the community, police officers as well as effective ways of disciplining kids within the law.
- Despite the usual odds and dynamics of community life, the sustained participation of community members was reported as an indicator of the successful social mobilisation intervention strategy of the Project.
- The first community newsletter was published and distributed to every household in early January 2006 to share information about the No Community Left Behind project, up-coming community events and some safety and security tips. Ottawa Police Services would be consulted on safety and security related content of future newsletters. Other partners were also welcomed to use the Newsletter to share information, which they needed to disseminate in Banff and Ledbury.
- Councillor Maria McRae had written to convey her support and commitment to the Project and had also contributed $200 to planned community activities under the Project.
- The availability of resources to the Tenants’ Association was crucial to sustain the community’s motivation and its sense of ownership. To consolidate achievements made so far, Tenants’ Association would require the community’s engagement in the planning of local, productive activities. The community had already prepared a work plan for 2006 with the hope that OCH funding for the TA would help them undertake the planned activities for productive interaction among the community members.
4. Partner’s Reports
Ottawa Police Services
Constable Mario Bergeron presented an update on the Police Services activities since the last meeting. He shared pertinent points of the recently conducted safety audit (Crime Prevention through Environmental Design - CPED). A summary of the Report would be available shortly. He briefly referred to the major issues highlighted in the safety audit report which included: the existence of drug dealing in the community; neglect of property maintenance and care of trees; insufficient lighting; improper use of garbage facilities; loitering in the parking lot and corridors behind the housing units where the trouble makers in the community mostly met.
He informed the Committee that the assigned police officers were in touch with their colleagues concerning the information session for the community on 02 February 2006 which would focus on the areas identified by the participants of the weekly community meetings.
On the law enforcement front, Mario explained how Ottawa Police Services were in touch with concerned partners to establish communication channels and to make sure that the community was cleansed of the criminal elements and the ground prepared for an effective neighborhood watch.
A wide-ranging discussion followed after the presentation of this report during which the representatives of the Ottawa Police Services responded informatively to the many concerns raised by committee members generally and by officials of Ottawa Housing from Heatherington in particular.
Youth Services Bureau
Mohamoud Abdulle reported on community youth activities. He informed the meeting that the Youth Council met regularly and had prepared a questionnaire to conduct a youth survey in the community to identify their needs and concerns. This should help the project to focus and fine-tune certain activities according to the identified needs and perceptions of the local youths.
Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa
Scott Bradford reported that the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa was presently planning outreach activities for community youth and that his organization would soon share its plans with committee members to see how the proposed activities dovetailed with other planned program activities in order to achieve maximize impact.
5. REVIEW OF THE PROJECT
A quick review and discussion of project implementation took place to assess how effectively the partners were co-operating together and with each other, and to determine future prospects. Two committee members from a neighboring community were present. Their inputs concerning the need for similar initiatives to be taken in other communities were noted. Ottawa Police Services reported that it had already assigned staff to four communities: Ledbury and Banff; Heatherington; Confederation Court and Russell Heights. In the pilot phase of the No Community Left Behind project, however, the focus was limited to Ledbury and Banff only. The partners of the Steering Committee were working in all the communities. Feedback from them and the communities led to the following conclusions:
- There was a need to undertake the social mobilization component of the Project in other communities because it paved the way for community policing and law enforcement.
- Ottawa Police Services found that organized community groupings were a convenient and effective means of sharing views and information in the initial steps of mutual trust building, which should be accorded a higher priority in community mobilization.
- The social mobilization activities in Ledbury and Banff made it less difficult for the police to interact with the community and might be an explanation for the progress, which has been made with this community as compared to the others.
- The program was gradually getting off the ground, but needed sustained intervention to achieve tangible and lasting results.
- Indications were that the processes and joint collaborative approach undertaken by a multi-interest partnership worked. Community transformation, nevertheless, required sustained intervention.
- Commitment of partners and resources, time and trust, were the basic ingredients that would lead to achieving the stated objectives of No Community Left Behind. So far, the potential of some partners on the Steering Committee had not been fully tapped for the reason that we were not yet into that specific phase of the project where their expertise and input could be fully utilized.
- Since all partners worked in all of the four communities identified above, there was no need to form four different Steering Committees. A sole, probably the same Committee could work holistically with a broader focus if it had oversight of crime prevention and social development activities in the concerned communities.
6. Future activities.
a) It was agreed that project activities would be continued, as planned.
b) An information and discussion session on race relations and diversity would be arranged by the Ottawa Police Services.
c) The presentation by a representative from Debra Dynes community would be re-scheduled .
d) Participation by committee members in community and TA’s activities was encouraged and would be continued.
e) Mohamoud Abdulle would facilitate the youth in youth survey and other activities and attempt to link them to the Tenants Association.
7. Other Business:
The presentation to be delivered at the February 22nd meeting of the Coalition on Community Safety Health and Well-being would be prepared by Abid with input from other partners. He was to find out if it would be possible for one of the partner police officers to join him for the presentation.
Also, a display for presentation at the Crime Prevention Coordination Forum at St. Paul University on April 7, 2006 would be prepared by Abid Jan.
8. Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 2:30 p.m.
Next Meeting: Tuesday, March 21, 2006
1 p.m.
Location: Banff Community House
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2005-6 South-East Ottawa Centre for a Healthy Community
Centre du sud-est d’Ottawa pour une communauté en santé
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