Keeping people safe & well

 

 

Minutes of the Steering Committee meeting
17th meeting

Date:   Tuesday, Nov 20, 2007
Place:  Banff Avenue Community House
    

Present:

1. Sylvie Manser, Director, Banff Avenue Community House
2. Superintendent Charles Bordeleau, OPS
3. Pat Murphy, Councillor Maria McRae’s Office
4. Nancy Worsfold, Executive Director, Crime Prevention Ottawa
5. Leslie McDiarmid, Manager Health Services, South East Ottawa Centre for a Healthy Community
6. Eddie Wong, Ottawa Police Services
7. Abid Jan, Project Coordinator NCLB, SEOCHC
8. Chris O’Dell, Boys and Girls Club
9. Michael Pranschke, Supervisor, Children Protection Services
10. Sara Dwyer, Russell Heights Community House
11. Kelli Tonner, Manager Community Service/BBBF, SEOCHC
12. Kevin Schleyer, BGCO
13. Mohamoud Abdulle, Youth Services Bureau
14. Kevin Shantz, City of Ottawa
15. Sonia Luberti, CPS, City of Ottawa
16. Nick Zeis, City of Ottawa, Parks and Recreation
17. Andrea Thompson, Director, Confederation Court Community House
18. Shaun Simms, TCW, Ottawa Community Housing
19. Matt Perkins, Parks and Recreation, City of Ottawa
20. Al Nowaczek, TCW, Ottawa Community Housing

Regrets
Florence Brake, Ottawa Community Housing
Sue Skinner, South Ottawa Community Legal Clinic
Victoria Dawson, United Way
Anne Menard, Executive Assistant, Councillor Peter Hume’s Office

Call to Order: In the absence of Mr. James Williams, leslie McDiarmid called the meeting to order at 1:05 p.m.

MINUTES

1. It was moved and seconded

That the minutes of the meeting of the NCLB Steering Committee held on Monday, September 18, 2007, be adopted as circulated.

CARRIED

NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING DATE

2. To accommodate the busy schedules of the city councillors (Maria McRae, Diane Deans, Peter Hume) the meeting schedule was changed to Mondays. It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee will be held on Monday, January 28, 2007 at 1:00 p.m. at Heron Road Community Centre (1480 Heron Road).

3. PROGRESS UPDATE
(Oral and presentation)
Abid Jan reported on the following progress since the last meeting: Community level

• All planned activities resumed after the short break due to Ramadan.

• Neighborhood Watch established and launched in the Banff community. Ottawa Police Chief unveiled the sign on September 29, 2007.

• Results of the annual community health and safety surveys were shared with residents and major needs prioritized.

• Community celebrations, Eid parties, Board receptions held in all four communities, providing people an opportunity to interact. The most successful event was held in the Confederation Court. There was a great turnout and it looks promising for future engagement in this community..

• Councillor Peter Hume joined the community and service providers at Russell Heights on October 5th. Final results and recommendations of the CPTED study will be shared with the Steering Committee in the next meeting due to unavailability of OCH staff and Peter Hume for the November 20th meeting.

• Draft of the combined Youth and Community Newsletter shared with the committee. It will be published and distributed among residents before the end of November 2007.

• Draft questionnaire for a scientific evaluation of the NCLB approach was shared with the committee. The evaluation was being planned in collaboration with the University of Ottawa.

• NCLB Coordinator had been sharing the model and approach of NCLB with other CHRCs across the City. Thus far, presentations to the Executive Directors Coalition, Nepean CRC, Hunt Club Riverside South RC, Pinecrest Queensway CHC and to a group of interested community developers and staff from CHRCs had been completed. Presentation to the staff of Centretown CHC was scheduled for January 3, 2008.

• Shared the results of Youth survey with the Steering Committee for discussion.

Action (to be taken):

- Get in touch with YSB and other service providers to frame information sharing/counseling sessions with youth in light of the results of the youth surveys to address some of the misconceptions identified in the survey results.

- Completion and circulation of the Newsletter. Elections of the TA in Heatherington (Nov 28th) and Banff (Jan 2008).

- Working on revival of Neighborhood Watch in Heatherington.

- Evaluation of the three years of NCLB implementation in the Banff community.

Responsible: Abid Jan

4. PARTNERS’ PROGRESS REPORT

OTTAWA POLICE SERVICE
Cst. Eddie Wong provided the following update:

• OPS participated in all community events.
• In Banff community status quo prevailed. No serious crime or problems reported.
• One person was trespassed at 1455 Heatherington.
• Increased foot patrol in 1455 Heatherington in response to the concerns of residents.
• Sexual assault claim in Heatherington townhouses proved to be unfounded.
• In Confederation Court, two arrests were made over possession of small quantity of marijuana. No charges were laid. OCH was working closely to remove the concerned tenants.
• Calls for service in Confederation Court were dramatically reduced during the summer months from 81 calls in June to merely 21 in October.
• In Russell Heights, there were a number of people identified as ‘gang members’ that were noticed coming in and out of the community. However no illegal activities were reported.
• OPS was also engaged in 2100 Russell Road.
• OPS received funds for a Direct Action Response Team (DART). The team has been designed to support the Guns and Gangs unit with enforcement. I don’t think we can say this new team is going to reduce gang activities.

Action:
To present CPTED studies for Confederation Court and Russell Heights in the next meeting.

OTTAWA COMMUNITY HOUSING
Shaun Simms and Al Nowaczek updated the committee about the following progress:

• Trespassing signs as requested by OPS were up in Heatherington.
• Similar signs have been erected in the rest of the South East communities as well.
• OCH removed several people out of units known for causing trouble in Confederation Court, which has considerably brought down the level of fear and violence in the community.
• Communities were extending good cooperation in establishing Tenants’ Associations and holding social mobilization events.
• OCH provided full support to the community celebrations in Confederation Court and Heatherington.
  

THE CITY OF OTTAWA:
Sonia Luberti informed the committee that Steve Kanellakos was working to broaden the scope of the NCLB initiative by involving more partners at the decision making levels. In a bid to create more partnership opportunities, Steve had already met with United Way and Crime Prevention Ottawa. A meeting with OPS was being planned. Progress on this front will gain momentum as the budget process winds up early next year.

CONFEDERATION COURT COMMUNITY HOUSE:
Andrea Thompson, House Director, expressed her appreciation for the way OCH and OPS helped to support changes in the community.
Andrea reported that the community had not witnessed such a transformation in the past 17 years. She was very impressed with the partnerships.
The Community House and the Tenants’ Association received great support from all service providers.

Needs: In light of the community observations, one of the major needs identified was the lack of a play structure in the community for children. The closest park at St. Luke’s is quite a distance from the community.
The committee discussed various options to address the need of a play structure such as fundraising and matching funds from the City, partnership with Home Depot, support from Giant Tiger, Canadian Tire under its Jump-Start initiative, Turpine/Saturn car dealership support.
Russell Heights community also identified the need for a play structure.

Action:
Keeping in mind the successful experience of the Banff community, where Councillor Maria McRae developed a partnership with Kaboom and installed a play-structure, Abid will follow up with Councillor Peter Hume about the need for play-structures in the Confederation Court and Russell Heights communities.

BANFF AVENUE COMMUNITY HOUSE
Sylvie Manser presented progress at the community level since the last meeting in September. She highlighted:

• Successful launch of the Neighbourhood Watch.
• Progress made by the Youth Council and various activities undertaken by youth (including garbage clean up, teaming up with OCH and conducting Youth Safety Audits).
• The need for a recreational space for youth. Sylvie reported that the House Board and TA still didn’t know about the progress on the community’s need to have a portable for Ledbury Park. Nick and Matt offered support for providing space. However, transportation was identified as the main issue in off-site activities. It was also suggested to get in touch with OC Transpo to see if they can provide any assistance. Using the Clifford Bowey School gym was also proposed. Howwever storage of school equipment was identified as an issue.
  

Action:
- Matt and Sylvie to take the lead on contacting school authorities to explore the possibility of providing youth reaction opportunities at the school gym. Sonia Luberti to look into the possibility of arranging transport facility through OC Transpo.

• Sylvie also inquired if there was any progress on the project for Banff which Maria referred to at the Steering Committee meeting on October 31, 2006.
  

Action:
Abid to follow up On Maria’s comments from the Oct 31st meeting.

YOUTH SERVICES BUREAU
Mohamoud Abdulle updated the committee about youth leadership training, youth advocacy group opportunities and other related activities.

Action:
Abid Jan to get in touch with YSB management for counseling support to the Youth Councils in South East Ottawa.

PARKS AND RECREATION
Matt Perkins, Nick Zeis and Kevin Shantz presented updates on youth activities they were presently offering. A new program under Communities in Action Fund was being launched at Dempsey. Ice rink boards were up in Ledbury Park. Free youth programs were starting at Heron Road community Centre. A Youth Hip Hop show was scheduled for Dec 11th in Heatherington. Dempsey was sending youth participation statistics to the Russell Heights community on a monthly basis. Other programs, such as Amazing Race (connecting youth to services) were in the offing at Dempsey.

Nancy Worsfold shared information about the McGuinty government’s review of the root causes of youth violence. A consultation meeting in this regard is planned in Ottawa on January 8, 2008. She highlighted the need to connect to the process. Nancy also informed the committee about the Gap Analysis the CPO is doing through a consultant to come up with a youth gang strategy.

YOUTH PROGRAM
Sara Dwyer, the NCLB Youth Program Coordinator, presented the progress made by Youth Councils in the four communities:

• Four Youth Councils are up and functioning satisfactorily. Council and drop-in activities are running in Heatherington in collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club.
• The Councils have given themselves a good structure by appointing office bearers.
• NCLB youth surveys were completed. However, there was a need to gather feedback from more youth for the survey. The focus is now on getting feedback from youth who are not participating in the programs offered under NCLB, but are attending other programs in the community houses.
• Youth also completed surveys for the Child and Youth Agenda for the City of Ottawa and United Way.
• Confederation Court and Russell Heights Youth Councils organized and facilitated Halloween parties for the children in these communities.
• Three Youth Councils are busy with the Photo Project in partnership with the University of Ottawa and United Way. The Youth Council at Heatherington will get involved with the Photo Project in January. Presently they are busy with a Hip Hop dance course.
• Photography workshops were held with the Youth Councils.
• Two digital cameras were also purchased for each of the four Youth Councils under the Youth Council project funding to facilitate the photo project.
• Youth Workers were scheduling Youth Safety Audits (WISE) for the Youth Councils.
  

Actions:
- To increase participation of youth in the youth survey.
- Meetings of Youth Councils with OPS and other service providers will be planned to discuss the survey results and remove the misconceptions and myths about various issues, such as reporting crime to the police.

Responsible: Youth Workers in all four communities

ADJOURNMENT
Moved and seconded. Meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m. Carried.
The next meeting of the Committee will be held on Monday, January 28, 2007 at 1:00 p.m. at Heron Road Community Centre.

© 2005-15 South - East Ottawa Community Health Centre
Centre de Sante Communautaire du Sud Est D'Ottawa

Contact: Abid Jan Tel./ Tél: (613) 737-5115 Ext. 2403  Fax/Télé: (613) 739-8199

NCLB matters because neighbourhoods matter