Building Safer Communities

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The Government of Canada is providing $250 million to municipalities and Indigenous communities, to support gun and gang violence prevention and intervention programs for gang members, children, young adults and youth-at-risk through the Building Safer Communities Fund (BSCF).

Upcoming Learning Sessions

The City of Edmonton is hosting a set of training sessions for parents, caregivers, and service providers on gang prevention and intervention.

Understanding Gangs in Edmonton

Gang Trends and Community Capacity Building
This comprehensive training, intended for professionals working with young people, is designed as a multi-tiered approach in response to youth gangs in your community.

The training will provide an overview of the current gang landscape in Edmonton, trends impacting youth, the knowledge to identify gang-associated behaviours, and prevention strategies through a community-focused approach. This session is designed for people who provide front-line support to youth. Please register for one of the three sessions.

Session Poster

Location: Clareview Community Recreation Centre, 3804 139 Ave NW, Multipurpose Room #1

Dates and Times:

Monday, April 29, 2024 from 9am-12pm
Tuesday, April 30, 2024 from 9am-12pm and 1-4pm

Gang Awareness

Understanding the Landscape for Parents
This session is to help parents and caregivers understand the prevalence of organized crime and gang activities.

The session will provide insights into the regional and provincial gang landscape and its impact on communities. Parents and caregivers will gain a fundamental understanding of the gang-associated behaviour, identifiers to watch for with their youth, and how to positively address concerns. All sessions will provide applicable resources for additional support.

Session Poster

Location: Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre 11000 Stadium Rd NW, Multipurpose Room #6
Date: April 30, 2024
Time: 6-8pm

Youth Social Wellness Seminar

युवा सामाजिक कल्याण (Wellness )
सेमिनार ।/ਯੁਵਾਂ ਸਮਾਜ ਭਲਾਈ (Wellness) ਸੈਮੀਨਾਰ

The City of Edmonton, in partnership with Safer Schools Together, presents a Youth Social Wellness Seminar.

This is an educational opportunity for parents to learn more about the challenges of possible gang activities and to help youth make constructive and positive decisions under negative influences and social pressures. This free session is for parents and caregivers of youth. Sessions are delivered in English, however, the presenters are able to answer questions in Hindi and Punjabi.

Posters:

Location: The Meadows Community Recreation Centre 2704 17 St NW, Multipurpose Room #207
Date: Monday April 29, 2024
Time: 6-8pm

Youth Wellness and Parental Capacity Building Seminar

The City of Edmonton in partnership with the Sierra Leone Association of Alberta and Safer Schools Together presents a Youth Wellness & Parental Capacity Building Seminar. This session is to help parents/caregivers understand the prevalence of organized crime and gang activities holistically. Parents/Caregivers will gain a fundamental understanding of the gang-associated behaviour, identifiers to watch for with their youth and to help youth make constructive and positive decisions under negative influences and social pressures.

Session Poster

Location: Sierra Leone Association of Alberta (SLAA) Community Multi-purpose Centre, 17218 107 Avenue NW

Dates and Times:

Monday, May 6, 2024 from 6-8pm

Purpose of the Fund

This funding supports local projects that address the underlying social conditions that give rise to gun and gang violence.

The City worked with community partners to determine Edmonton’s community approach for combating gun and gang violence prevention and intervention by addressing gaps in Edmonton’s system.

The approach outlines how our funding allocation of $4.2 million will be spent between 2023 and 2026.

Fund Requirements

Through the Building Safer Communities Fund, cities can distribute funds to:

Develop local and community–based strategies and initiatives
Build capacity to better understand the nature, scope and impacts of the types of prevention and intervention initiatives implemented
Enhance evidence-based and targeted prevention and intervention activities
Advance knowledge and evidence of what works, and develop a data collection strategy and system

Funding Ineligibility

Under the BSCF fund requirements, cities cannot use the funds to:

Replace or displace existing federal or provincial funding
Fund ongoing core activities, which includes costs already supported through existing police service agreements

While existing initiatives cannot be funded, the expansion or diversification of an initiative may be eligible.

group of friends

Edmonton’s Community Approach

The City has been working with steering committee partners – REACH Edmonton, the University of Alberta and the Edmonton Police Service - along with the City’s Social Development Branch including staff working in Community Safety, Indigenous Relations and Social Identity and Social Inclusion.

In 2023 several community partners and people with lived experience were engaged to understand the gaps, needs and current ecosystem of initiatives on gang violence in Edmonton. The City hired pipikwan pêhtâkwan to interview community stakeholders impacted by gang violence in order to develop a recommendation report on how to best use the funds. Explore the input and recommendations:

Executive Summary
Eco-mapping Report
Engagement Report
Literature Review

The City of Edmonton will be working with community stakeholders and partners to implement the recommendations from January 2024-March 31, 2026. We encourage organizations to use this information, which will be helpful when applying for funding under the Building Safer Communities Fund.

Four Priority Funding Areas

Based on the recommendations made in the community approach for Edmonton, 4 priority areas were identified:

Community Granting

The majority of funds from the BSCF will be spent supporting community organizations’ projects through community grants. Under the requirements of the BSCF, grants will be available for community-led initiatives that address gaps in gang exiting and prevention programming needs not currently met by existing collaboratives and partnerships.

Visit Safer Communities Grant to learn more about the Building Safer Communities Fund grant.

Building Safer Communities Fund Grant

Community Education

The City will work in partnership with various stakeholders, including EPS, to create a targeted community education campaign aimed at students, parents and practitioners as well as a widespread campaign aimed at residents as part of an effort to prevent gang violence. Funds, for example, will be used to create a social campaign aimed at young people and create a website of resources that partner agencies can use. Community presentations will also be available to learn more about gangs in Edmonton.

Locations and dates will be shared here when available.

Community Coordination

Edmonton Gang Situation Table

Coordination among community partners including Edmonton Police, community organizations, and existing community collaboratives will be increased with the creation of the Edmonton Gang Situation Table. The table will be developed in partnership with REACH Edmonton, which will be responsible for table operations.

Partners at the table will work collaboratively to support youth at risk. Safer Schools Together will generate data through open-source social media analysis to identify youth in need of intervention through Worrisome Online Behaviour reports and share these reports with partners participating on the Edmonton Gang Situation Table.

This early identification work is necessary to disrupt pathways to violence among youth and intervene and prevent violence.

Youth Mentorship Program

The Youth Mentorship Program is an initiative run by Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society, in consultation with EPS’s Youth Services Section. This program will employ mentors with “lived experience” to assist youth facing extremely complex barriers and help them realize their potential.

Funding Partner

Steering Committee Partners

Contact Us

Chelsea Hawrelak

Title	Director, Safe and Healthy Communities
Email	chelsea.hawrelak@edmonton.ca

Building Safer Communities

Understanding Gangs in Edmonton

Gang Awareness

Youth Social Wellness Seminar

युवा सामाजिक कल्याण (Wellness ) सेमिनार ।/ਯੁਵਾਂ ਸਮਾਜ ਭਲਾਈ (Wellness) ਸੈਮੀਨਾਰ

Youth Wellness and Parental Capacity Building Seminar

Purpose of the Fund

Fund Requirements

Funding Ineligibility

Edmonton’s Community Approach

Community Granting

Community Education

Community Coordination

Youth Mentorship Program

Funding Partner

Steering Committee Partners

Contact Us

Chelsea Hawrelak

युवा सामाजिक कल्याण (Wellness )
सेमिनार ।/ਯੁਵਾਂ ਸਮਾਜ ਭਲਾਈ (Wellness) ਸੈਮੀਨਾਰ