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In 2001 a number of safety and security issues were being raised by residents in the Britannia Woods and Michele Heights communities in Bay Ward. The community members were very troubled about anti-social behaviour by youth in their neighbourhoods, particularly older youth (ages 17 to 23).

The Britannia Woods and Michele Heights communities are located along Carling Avenue in Ottawa’s west end, between Pinecrest Road and Bayshore Drive. They are Ottawa Community Housing communities. Both of these communities are low-income, social housing family communities with about 60% single-family households, 65% new or recent immigrants and 85% receiving some form of social assistance.

The safety concerns of area residents focused on the youth in their communities. The identified anti-social behaviour ranged from alcohol and drug abuse, drug trafficking, swarmings, robberies, vandalism, breaking and entering, loitering and intimidation. The residents were feeling violated and disempowered.

The Famous Players Coliseum located on Carling Ave. had identified similar problems occurring in their facility and the surrounding area. In 2001 and early 2002 there were a number of well-publicized incidents of youth violence in the area.

Currently the Coliseum has security in the building seven days a week. There is interior and exterior patrol on Friday and Saturday nights by paid-duty officers. There is a list of about 80 people who are prohibited from the building, 70% of whom are youth from the Britannia Woods, Michele Heights, Bayshore and Foster Farm communities.

As a result in November 2001 Bay Ward Councillor Alex Cullen established a working group – The Carling Avenue Safety Solutions Committee – composed of community members from Britannia Woods, Michele Heights, Belltown, the Ottawa Police, Ottawa Community Housing, the City’s Community Services Branch and Innovations, Development & Partnerships Branch of People’s Services, social service agencies such as Pinecrest-Queensway Health & Community Services, Youth Services Bureau, and business representatives, which met to respond to these concerns.

It was concluded by the Committee that two issues must be addressed:

· There are some high-risk youth in the community between the ages of 17-23 whose needs should be addressed through social and recreational programs.

· There are issues in the community that need to be addressed by the Police. The first being that the communities need to feel empowered to assist the Police in dealing with the criminal activity within the community. Secondly, that the Police more visibly respond to criminal activity and calls for service in the community.

Also it was agreed that Pinecrest-Queensway HCS, on behalf of the Britannia Woods and Michele Heights communities, would apply to the joint City of Ottawa People Services Department-United Way Community Project Grant Program for funding for a youth outreach worker for the area. This was granted for 4 months in the summer of 2002 (see below).

The Social and Recreational Component

At subsequent meetings of the Committee to discuss the social and recreational components it was determined that although there were no recreational programs in the area for youth between the ages of 17-23 which ran after 10:00 p.m., there were a few social programs available to these youth. However, there were some barriers that existed to the high-risk population accessing these services. It was difficult to get information out to these youth as they were out of school, unemployed and were not attending the existing recreational programs.

It was decided that the Committee would focus on two issues: obtaining funds for an outreach worker to reach these youth “where they’re at” and to secure space for programming after 9:00 p.m. on evenings that had been identified as having high levels of criminal/anti-social activity.

In March 2002, funding was secured through the United Way for the youth outreach worker to be employed in the Michele Heights and Britannia Woods communities for 16 weeks, 30 hours per week. The youth outreach worker began his employment in May 2002 and ended in mid-September 2002.

In August 2002, the People Services Department agreed to fund a pilot youth drop-in project at the Michele Heights Community Centre on Friday and Saturday evenings from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. for 17-23 year old youths. This was administered by Youth Services Bureau in conjunction with staff of the Community Services Branch in addition to the John Howard Society Youth Employment Services.

The program involves recreational and social activities, youth employment counselling and peer mentoring, and attracts 60-70 youth per night (210 registered participants). The pilot program has been extended until the end of April 2003.

The Ottawa Police have been very supportive of these efforts, as criminal activity has decreased significantly in the affected communities as a result of these programs. According to the Ottawa Police, Requests for Service in the area has dropped by 60%.

In October 2002, Pinecrest-Queensway Health & Community Services and the John Howard Society Youth Employment Services started a Minority Youth employment outreach program to support minority youth in accessing existing employment services, as part of the Youth Drop-In Centre pilot program activities.

The Michele Heights and Britannia Woods communities have been successful in securing one-year funding from the Community Mobilization Fund (federal Department of Justice), for a Youth Community Developer and program assistant, to work co-operatively with the Youth Drop-In Program at Michele Heights.

The Police Component

In 2001 the Britannia Woods and Michele Heights communities were feeling very disempowered and had lost faith in the Ottawa Police and Ottawa Community Housing Security in their ability to respond to their concerns. They felt that the Police were not responding to their calls for assistance and that they were not receiving feedback. The communities had stopped reporting their calls for assistance about incidences in their respective communities. Also, they felt that the Police were not being proactive in their communities. There was not enough patrolling in the area and the communities felt that a more visible police presence would act as a deterrent in curbing the youths’ anti-social behaviour.

The Community Police Officer suggested that the Neighbourhood Watch program be initiated in the two communities. She agreed to outreach to the communities, hold public meetings and facilitate the process. She explained the benefits to belonging to the Neighbourhood Watch program and that this would help coordinate the efforts of the communities and assist the Police in collecting information that would lead to arrests. She also committed herself to visiting the communities on a bi-weekly basis over the summer to patrol the area. She would also advise the Neighbourhood Police Officers to do the same.

The Britannia Woods and Michele Heights communities and the Community Police Officer held public meetings wherein several community members attended and showed interest in participating in the Neighbourhood Watch program. A Neighbourhood Watch program has been instituted in both the Britannia Woods and Michele Heights Communities. The Community Police Officer has remained committed in her participation in the Carling Avenue Safety Solutions Committee

Organizations involved in the Carling Avenue Safety Solutions Committee:

Alex Cullen, City Councillor, Bay Ward

People Services Department, City of Ottawa

Pinecrest-Queensway Health & Community Services

Britannia Woods Community Association

Britannia Woods Community House

Michele Heights Tenants’ Association

Michele Heights Community House

Youth Services Bureau

John Howard Society Youth Employment Centre

Ottawa Community Housing

Ottawa Police Services

Famous Players Coliseum

DISCUSSION OR ANALYSIS

The Youth Drop-In Centre Pilot Program at the Michele Heights Community Centre grew from an identified need to address safety and security issues to a temporary youth outreach worker in 2002 to a 3-month pilot project that was extended to April 2003 based on the strong support from partnering agencies and the community, and the significant drop in police calls in the area.

The funding for the Michele Heights Youth Drop-In Pilot Program is scheduled to end on April 30, 2003, due to the lack of a budgetary line-item in the People Services Department for this activity. The Carling Avenue Safety Solutions Committee has met to review and evaluate the Youth Drop-In Pilot Program, and recommends, on the basis of the high rate of involvement in the Centre’s program from the target, high-risk youth population in the area and the significant drop in calls for service to the Ottawa Police from the area, that the youth drop-in program be extended to the end of the year, and that People Services Department review for the 2004 budget how this program could be funded on a sustained basis. The Committee strongly feels that the gains being achieved in this high-risk target population are worth preserving, and that ending the program now would lead to the re-establishment of the previous conditions leading to anti-social behaviour in the community. People Services Department concurs with this assessment.

SUBJECT:	Extension of THE Youth Drop-In Centre PILOT PROGRAM AT THE MICHELE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTRE

OBJET:	prolongation du programme pilote de relais-jeunesse au centre communautaire michele heights

RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT

BACKGROUND

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS