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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-04-07 SAFE AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES APRIL 7, 2016 CITY OF KITCHENER The Safe and Healthy Community Advisory Committee met this date, commencing at 4:05 p.m. Present: Mr. A. Bieronski – Chair Councillor D. Schnider, Ms. L. Roberts, Ms. J. Metzger, Ms. D. Christiaen, Ms. E. Clarke, Insp. Shaena Morris and Messrs. M. Farwell, D. McKlusky and W. Rahimi Staff: Mr. M. Hildebrand, Director of Community Programs and Services Ms. D. Campbell, Manager of Community Resource Centres Ms. L. Korabo, Committee Administrator NEIGHBOURHOOD STRATEGY 1. Ms. M. Drake, Project Manager, attended to provide an update on the City’s Neighbourhood Strategy. Ms. Drake summarized events which have occurred over the past few months as part of the Strategy’s pre-engagement activities, including: distribution / launch of colouring books for both children and adults and #lovemyhood stories via social media. She also announced the th April 26 Neighbourhood Party at the Stanley Park Community Centre is a sold out event. She advised the engagement plan for the Strategy will have three streams, being: Creative; Conversational; and, Online. The creative engagement will take the form of a placemaking challenge beginning with a workshop or education session followed by an opportunity to put into action what has been learned. The conversational stream will include the use of focus groups to learn more about collaboration between citizens and organizations, and will be a great opportunity for residents to provide input into the Strategy’s development. Invitations to focus groups will come from the extensive list of stakeholders which has already been developed. In addition, street teams will be attending events across the City to connect with residents on a one-on-one basis; teams will be provided with a list of questions to get the conversations started. The City’s newly acquired e-Participation online platform will be used to roll out a survey which will allow residents to prioritize items most important to them. This online tool may also host an ideas forum which will allow for the posting of questions and the generation of responses, thus creating an online conversation. Finally, Ms. Drake advised of an available annotation tool which will allow staff to post the draft Neighbourhood Strategy and receive specific, annotated feedback from citizens. Ms. Drake then reviewed the steps taken to develop questions to be asked at various events / forums. She stated the first step was to review existing information from the Environics Surveys, the 2014 Neighbourhood Strategy Survey and the surveys distributed via the Lemonade Stands during the summer of 2015. Secondly, a Neighbourhood Café event between the Project Team and representatives of the Employee Advisory Committee was held, and covered four main themes: places and spaces; vision and characteristics of a great neighbourhood; roles and collaboration; and, connections. From this input, questions were drafted and piloted via several events. The Committee was advised staff had asked questions of Council members during a recent strategy session and also gathered additional feedback from community centre staff. In conclusion, Ms. Drake advised of next steps in the development of questions, which includes today’s update presentation to this Committee and a review by the Project Team. th This will be followed by the Neighbourhood Party on April 26 and the community engagement from late April until mid-August. SAFE AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES APRIL 7, 2016 - 9 - CITY OF KITCHENER JANE’S WALK 2. Ms. J. Metzger advised the sub-committee working to organize a 2016 Jane’s Walk has not been able to coordinate an event for this year. She did note, however, there are many walks scheduled around the city and also advised that 2016 features many new ‘walk leaders’. It was noted the Crime Prevention Council is coordinating the activities, providing coaching to ‘walk leaders’, ensuring walk information is listed on the website (janeswalk.org), and promoting events across the Region of Waterloo. Ms. E. Clarke shared an idea for a walk to be considered for 2017; walk in the footsteps of a homeless person. STATUS OF SUBCOMMITTEES 3. Fostering Inclusion, Participation and Belonging Ms. D. Christiaen reported the sub-committee has been in touch with the Supervisor at the Kingsdale Community Centre, as the immediate area has been identified as a location where many Syrian newcomers are settling. Plans are in the works to offer staff training on best practices to engage newcomers and a sampling of topics to be covered was given. Training is tentatively scheduled for October / November. She advised that members of the sub- committee will be attending an upcoming staff meeting to receive ideas on how to deliver this training (e.g. lunch and learn, half day vs. full day). A question was raised regarding costs to provide this training. Ms. Christiaen reminded members that an initial discussion was held regarding possible funding being provided by the Committee once costs were known. Ms. D. Campbell indicated that staff was hoping to have a better understanding of costs and report back to the Committee at its May meeting. In response to a question from Mr. M. Hildebrand, Ms. D. Campbell advised the Kingsdale Community Centre was also selected because it already has established partnerships with both the Pathways to Education Program and the House of Friendship. Staff from these partners will be invited to attend the training pilot. If the training is well received, it has been suggested that a community assessment would be a good measurement tool. It is also hoped to then roll out the training to other community centres across the city. The sub-committee has also reached out to the Rainbow Community Council (RCC) and asked them to develop a list of prioritized suggestions of topics they would like the City of Kitchener to engage or act upon. The RCC has developed a list of ten items but are still working on prioritizing and will schedule another meeting with the sub-committee. Physical Environment and Safety Mr. D. McKlusky advised that a number of the items identified on the work plan are currently on hold. The sub-committee is hoping to re-group in June and begin to work on developing a safety checklist. Public Awareness Raising Mr. M. Farwell reported on the publications review currently being completed by City staff. He commented the sub-committee has determined there is no lack of programming being offered, however, raising the awareness of residents is the matter in question. He advised of negative comments he has heard regarding the City’s current online program registration software which Mr. M. Hildebrand advised is in the process of being reviewed / replaced. Mr. M. Hildebrand noted mock-ups of the publications currently under review will be brought to the Committee for consideration at a future meeting. He provided an overview of how each of the publications is currently circulated or made available, commenting that he did not feel a dedicated advertising campaign was required in order to raise citizen awareness of programming. SAFE AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES APRIL 7, 2016 - 10 - CITY OF KITCHENER OVERDOSE AWARENESS DAY 4. Following up on the initial information provided by Mr. D. McKlusky at the Committee’s last meeting, he advised that an email has been received from the Region of Waterloo asking if the Safe & Healthy Community Advisory Committee is interested in participating. Mr. McKlusky offered to respond to the email and determine if the Region will be taking a lead role on this initiative and will advise of the reply. ADJOURNMENT 5. On motion, the meeting adjourned at 5:05 p.m. L. Korabo Committee Administrator