A key item for in a recent report by Community Safety Co-ordinator Herb Sutton is continued work in creating a community safety plan by the SAGE group — Safety, Acceptance, Guidance, Empowerment.
In the Feb. 27 report he spoke about the “Phase 2 proposal” for the next stage of the group’s activities. It has three key goals: a regional steering committee bringing together federal, provincial, municipal and First Nation governments, creation of formalized neighbourhoods and a rural and urban engagement strategy which looks at the surrounding communities.
That proposal was distributed to federal and provincial officials and members of council, as well as local aboriginal leaders, at the end of January and in early February.
Sutton also said they are still waiting for resources from the federal government. Despite earlier optimism that there might be a quick response, that hasn’t materialized, said Sutton.
“What they’re currently trying to do is piece together some different places where we might get some funding for it,” Sutton added. “Which is good, but I’m disappointed that it did not come more quickly.”
Sutton also mentioned the SAGE group is looking into the idea of using “collective impact” as a model. He is scheduled to go to a workshop in Regina March 15 on this topic, which is a research-based model for community engagement and development.
“It has the potential to be that research base that we are looking for in terms of community development and community engagement,” he said.
Sutton also reported on the efforts of the Hub Steering Committee, who have commissioned a report from analysts at the Center of Responsibility in Prince Albert. They will use their Hub data to look at the connection between substance abuse and other risk factors brought to the Hub table.
He explained that local data is now at the point where it would be useful information for this report.
“It’s going to give us the kind of information that we have been asking for for some time,” said Sutton, in terms of identifying resources and filling gaps.
Sutton also reported there are three new members for Citizens on Patrol going through training that week, which means five new members have been recruited since the fall.
A final item of his report was the efforts of the Battlefords Affordable Housing and Homelessness Committee. Sutton said they were starting to build relationships and bring the right people together at the table to address housing solutions.
“It takes time, it takes skill, it takes effort, it takes strong leadership to put the necessary pieces together for those groups to actually begin working together,” said Sutton. “And I think we’re starting to get there with that.”
On a related note, Sutton was asked by Mayor Ryan Bater about the organized neighbourhood initiative. That is the initiative from the City’s Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design committee to formalize neighbourhoods, a process expected to go on over the next couple of years.
Bater wanted to know more about the efforts of Sutton as well as City Planner Ryan Mackrell in obtaining reaction and feedback from the public during the events of Wintertainment week from the public. The City had set up at the various Wintertainment venues to spread the word about the initiative to the public.
“We were encouraged by the fact a lot of people who came up to us and saw the sign ‘formalized neighbourhoods’ said ‘yeah, I read about that in the paper. So tell me more about this.’ So that was encouraging as well,” said Sutton.
He reported that some 60 neighbourhood boundary surveys were filled out during the week. The surveys are available to be completed online at the City’s homepage, at www.cityofnb.ca.
Sutton said it was still early in the engagement process. He reported there were not a lot of comments on whether the boundaries should be changed. What they found generally, Sutton reported, is that people are supportive.
“They think it makes sense,” he said.
