Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan

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Image of a city with people in front of buildings. Title says Region of WAterloo Community Safety and Wellbeing PLan

Update: August 10, 2022

As a continuation of the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan, the Region will be hosting upcoming Community Collaboration Events as well as opening applications to the upstream fund. Register for the events, or apply for the Upstream Fund here.

Updated: January 26, 2022

The Waterloo Region Community Safety and Wellbeing Framework Building a safe and well community for all: A journey towards transformational change was approved by Regional Council on January 26, 2022. This emerging framework has been a collaborative process to listen to the voices of many across our community, and to use those voices to create a framework for action and change. Building on the good work already underway in our community, this framework supports the goal of enabling every person who calls Waterloo Region home to feel safe, to feel like they are cared for, and to have the opportunity to thrive.

Please stay tuned for updates, as while this framework serves as the foundation for the process, there will continual chances to include more voices and for the community to collaborate and work together to build a bright future.

Community engagement and outreach

During the pandemic, unprecedented engagement with a diverse group of community partners, including the Region’s Anti-Racism Advisory Working Group, led to better vaccine outcomes in priority neighbourhoods. At the Region, we saw the impact of spending more time listening and making decisions with the community. This will be our way of working going forward.

Our vision for developing the framework was to hear from community leaders, organizations and groups and engage in greater collaboration to build the framework for a safe and well community. We wanted to engage in ways that are meaningful, including focus groups and one-on-one conversations.

The focus of this engagement was on equity and amplifying Black, Indigenous, racialized, and marginalized voices. This approach emphasizes listening to the community's wisdom, experience, and suggestions as we have meaningful conversations on previous engagements, calls to action, reports, and data to inform priorities. The goal is to develop a common understanding of safety and wellbeing that incorporates all voices, and to create shared values and outcomes.

Committees

Three committees with diverse representation across the community will oversee the development of this plan. The makeup of the committees includes local leaders, representatives from area municipalities, as well as representation from the Region's Anti-Racism Advisory Committee and Indigenous and community organizations that are focused on wellbeing.

Steering Committee

The steering committee will guide the process and endorse the framework/plan before it goes to Regional Council and the Province for approval.

Abla Tsolu Director, Housing Services, YWCA

Bruce Lauckner, CAO, Region of Waterloo

Bryan Larkin, Chief, Waterloo Regional Police Service

Donna Dubie, Healing of the Seven Generations and Anti-Racism Advisory Working Group

Fauzia Mazhar, Coalition of Muslim Women and Anti-Racism Advisory Working Group

Karen Redman, Regional Chair & Chair WRPS Board (Chair)

Melissa Ireland, Indigenous Outreach and Initiatives, Qualia Counselling

Peter Sweeney, Executive Director, Grand River YMCAs

Sandy Shantz, Regional Councillor

Tony Giovinazzo, Waterloo Regional Police Services Board Representative

Tracy Elop, Executive Director, Carizon

Wendi Campbell, Executive Director, The Foodbank of Waterloo Region

Connie MacDonald, Chief Strategy and Communications Officer, Region of Waterloo

Advisory Committee

The advisory group will help to identify priorities, actions and metrics.

Adele Parkinson, Region of Waterloo Public Health

Alison Pearson, Children and Youth Planning Table

Arran Rowles, Community Services Region of Waterloo

Bill Lemon, Waterloo Region District School Board

Dan Chapman, City of Kitchener

Deb Bergey, Waterloo Crime Prevention Council

Elizabeth Heald, Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation

Gloria Jordan, Inner City Health Alliance & KW4 OHT

Gloria Ringwood, Grand River Hospital Board

Hsiu-Li Wang, Region of Waterloo Public Health

Joan Fisk, United Way Waterloo Region Communities

Joe-AnnM, Kinbridge Community Association

John Shewchuk, Waterloo Region Catholic District School Board

John Goodman, WRPS

Kathy Payette, Community Mental Health Services

Laura Manning, Lyle S. Hallman Foundation

Emily Christofferson, Ontario Health West

Sonia Dennis, Family & Children’s Services of the Waterloo Region

Tara Bedard, Immigration Partnership

Tova Davidson, Sustainable Waterloo Region

Youth Advisory Committee

Twenty youth with diverse perspectives identified key areas of safety and wellbeing that they want to focus on and outlined their main concerns and recommendations. This will further inform the work on community safety and wellbeing planning. The youth voice will be valued equally to the Steering Committee and Advisory Group.

Timeline

Reports

For more information contact:

Connie MacDonald
Chief Strategy and Communications Officer
ConMacDonald@regionofwaterloo.ca