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Community Development
Regional Initiatives
REGION-WIDE SAFETY: MAKING THE LINKS
“Linking the Cowichan Region – neighbourhood by neighbourhood.”
On this page:
Background on the Community Safety Advisory Committee
Region-wide Safety: Year One – Building a Foundation
Region-wide Safety: Year Two – Sub-regional Focus
Region-wide Safety: Year Three – Policy Development
Region-Wide Safety: Comprehensive Community Safety Initiative
Safer Communities: Making the Links
Safer Futures believes that it is vital to have local government leadership when addressing issues of community safety. Local government is in an ideal position to provide leadership and structure in this area.
Municipal decisions around issues such as building and streetscape design, transportation systems and the provision of programs and services can have a significant impact on the health and well-being of women and other vulnerable groups.
Since 1996 we have worked in partnership with local governments in the CVRD to undertake research, safety audits, programming and policy development.
Building on the successes of the community-based Neighbourhood Links initiatives, Safer Futures has continued to work in partnership with the Cowichan Valley Regional District to foster a regional health and safety strategy.
During 2003 – 2006 the Neighbourhood Links Project worked to develop a coordinated, regional approach to address the need for a community safety framework for the complex challenges faced by small, rural and isolated communities in the Cowichan Region.
This project worked over three years with the Cowichan Valley Regional District’s Community Safety Advisory Committee:
- Assisting the Committee to undertake a safer communities approach in the region.
- Identifying and prioritizing local and regional issues and developing a regional action plan.
- Working with local communities and neighbourhoods to develop and implement Safer Community Strategies
Background on the Community Safety Advisory Committee
Safer Futures has a longstanding relationship with the CVRD. In 1996, the CVRD established a Women’s Safety Advisory Committee to assist with a series of safety audits undertaken in the region and the development of the Safety Audit Toolkit. In 2001, the name (and mandate) of the committee broadened to become the Community Safety Advisory Committee (CSAC).
Region-wide Safety: Year One – Building a Foundation
Regional Workshop
The kick-off for the regional project took place in November 2003, when Safer Futures organized a regional workshop. Workshop participants recommended numerous short and long term actions that focused on incorporating the Safer Community approach into all local government processes, including land use plans, development guidelines, zoning bylaws and Official Community Plans. (Link to workshop report)
Year One activities included:
- Researching community safety and social indicators and developing regional, sub-regional and neighbourhood overviews
- Assisting to build capacity of the Community Safety Advisory Committee
- Identifying regional and sub-regional priorities
Region-wide Safety: Year Two – Sub-regional Focus
The second year of the Regional Health and Safety Strategy focused on community consultations and activities in the rural and urban sub-regions of the Cowichan area. A broad range of community members participated in these, including residents, youth, regional planners and engineers, local politicians, and school staff and parent advisory groups.
Activities included safety audits, traffic safety studies, youth outreach events, public education workshops, safer community planning sessions.
A number of initiatives came out of these efforts:
- City of Duncan Safer City Action Plan and Implementation Plan (see the City of Duncan website)
- City of Duncan Cairnsmore Neighbourhood Action Project
- City of Duncan Centennial Park Revitalization Plan (see the City of Duncan website)
- CVRD Cowichan Centre Outreach worker background paper
- Cowichan Bay Safer Community Plan
- Cobble Hill School Audit
Outcomes of these initiatives include:
- Current Cairnsmore Project underway
- Centennial Park redesign project underway
- Youth outreach worker hired by the regional Community Centre Commission
- Safer Community activities and education projects in Cowichan Bay
- Parking lot at Cobble Hill school re-evaluated
Region-wide Safety: Year Three – Policy Development
In this third and final year of the Neighbourhood Links Regional Health and Safety Strategy, the focus shifted more towards broad policy and procedure recommendations and support for community initiatives.
Themes have included:
- Coordinated and relevant youth programming
- Projects and initiatives that support neighbourhood development
- Drug prevention
- Affordable housing policy
- Integrated safer community planning
Efforts to address these themes and gaps include:
- Regional Action Plan
- Regional Transit proposal and CVRD discussion paper
- Regional Youth Drug Strategy proposal
- Comprehensive Community Safety Initiative Proposal
Link to Final Report pending
Region-Wide Safety: Comprehensive Community Safety Initiative
In Canada and elsewhere, community-wide approaches to crime prevention have been found to have the greatest potential to prevent crime and victimization and reduce fear in a sustainable way. Enhanced safety and a more robust, vibrant community are some key outcomes of this approach.
Safer Communities: Making the Links
During the first half of 2006, Safer Futures undertook a strategic planning process that assessed the work to date and laid out a road map for the next three years.
Briefly, it involved the formation of a multi-sectoral steering committee that reviewed and assessed work to date, a consultation process that sought input into priorities for action over the next three years, and resulted in a project proposal that builds upon the local/regional Safer Communities Approach.
Safer Communities: Making the Links is an opportunity to take ten years of learning and collaborative working to reach another level of Safer Community Planning in the Cowichan Region.
This project proposes to work during 2006 – 2009 with the CVRD, District of North Cowichan, City of Duncan, Cowichan Tribes, Social Planning and others, to undertake neighbourhood development in three areas and promote change at the policy levels.
Safer Communities: Making the Links
Project Proposal Overview
The Vision: In the Cowichan Region, we recognize that responsibility for community safety and prevention of violence is shared by all, and that this requires actions among community residents, community-level institutions, and among those who provide technical, financial, practical and other supports.
We also recognize the need to move from short-term to long-term strategies to bring about changes in broad policies and structures that have influence on community residents and institutions.
Project Goals: The overarching aim of the project is to promote an integrated, comprehensive approach to safer communities in the Cowichan Region.
- build safe and caring neighbourhoods by simultaneously working at the neighbourhood and policy levels to achieve change
- optimize localized efforts through enhanced collaboration and networking amongst service agencies
- foster integrated planning and collaborative efforts with decision makers, governing and advisory bodies to address long term aims for safer, healthier communities.
Project Neighbourhoods
This project will focus on three neighbourhoods in the central area of the Cowichan region. Final determination of geographical locations will be determined by the project steering committee; preliminary recommendations include James Street, Cairnsmore, Berkey’s Corner.
Historical work in these neighbourhoods has documented issues and needs for community development and programming, physical infrastructure and long term planning (such as affordable housing, transportation).
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