Evaluation of Crime Prevention Ottawa’s 2017 Community Investments August 2019

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EVALUATION REPORT Crime Prevention Ottawa’s 2017 Community Investments Crime Prevention Ottawa (CPO) invests in evidence-informed projects, research and capacity building aimed at preventing crime. These strategic investments continue to pay social dividends for residents of Ottawa and beyond.

Our Investment In 2017, CPO invested $620,698 in 22 projects. The project investments ranged in amount from $3,390 to $312,119. The average investment was $39,374. All projects were completed in 2017, except 9 that continued into 2018. The gang exit program, Time for Change, continues to be our largest investment. With $312,119 of funding from the Mayor’s Strategic Initiative, the John Howard Society (JHS) and the Ottawa Community Immigrant Service Organization (OCISO) actively pursue this hard-to-engage clientele to support people wanting to leave a gang lifestyle through intensive and holistic services. On June 3, 2019, the CPO Board of Directors received a report of the program’s impressive achievements to date. Paint it Up! continues to be a popular graffiti prevention program that is widely recognized in the city. The City of Ottawa’s Public Works Department provides $50,000 towards this community investment. More information about the eight projects that received these funds is available in the Information Previously Distributed (IPD) Memo presented to the City of Ottawa Transportation Committee on March 7, 2018. The remaining portion of the CPO investment was directed to 14 projects across one or more of our three main priority areas:

• Gender-Based Violence • Youth • Neighbourhoods

CPO invested in research projects, partnership development, harnessing best practices, and developing new tools to further crime prevention efforts across the city.

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Three projects completed in 2017 were part of multi-year investments awarded in 2016: • Ottawa Child and Youth Initiative’s Homework Club Community of Practice • Youth Services Bureau’s Connecting Transitions Conference • Youth Services Bureau’s Amazing Youth Worker Race

This report does not include the financial investment to these projects, as they were included in the 2016 Evaluation. The activities and achievements pertaining to 2017 are included below. Evaluation Method CPO has adopted a Results-Based Accountability (RBA) approach to assess the effectiveness of our community investments. There are three RBA performance measurement questions:

1. How Much Did We Do? 2. How Well Did We Do It? 3. Is Anyone Better Off?

The first two questions measure our effort and the quality of our effort, while the third measures the effect of our effort.

How Much Did We Do? This question shows how much we invested in 2017. Crime Prevention Ottawa allocates its community investments across the three priority areas identified in the strategic plan (see Chart 1 and Appendix A). At times, we invested in projects that addressed more than one priority area when it was effective to do so. For example, CPO capitalized on the links between youth and attitudes contributing to gender-based violence by investing in the French program, l’ABC des relations saines (The Fourth R – Strategies for Healthy Youth Relationships). The Paint it Up! investment appears in a separate category in Chart 1 because it is funded through a direct transfer from the City of Ottawa’s Public Works Department. In addition to our investment in other organizations, CPO conducts and commissions local research that adds to the safety knowledge base in Ottawa and provides a solid foundation for stakeholders to do further work. The popular Speaker Series events we organize help bring important issues to light and shape the crime prevention conversation in the city. Finally, our annual CPO Awards is an excellent opportunity to celebrate and showcase crime prevention initiatives and achievements by residents, staff and organizations.

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CHART 1: Overview of CPO’s Community Investments in 2017

Gender-Based Violence, $40,000

Gender-Based Violence/Youth, $29,720

Youth/Neighbourhoods, $54,235

Neighbourhoods, $122,624

Neighbourhoods/Gender-Based Violence, $12,000

Gang Intervention Program, $312,119

Paint it Up!, $50,000

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How Well Did We Do? In each of the priority areas, CPO has four streams of activities: leverage partnerships, build capacity, research and innovate, and educate and inform.

Gender-Based Violence Youth Neighbourhoods

The following table highlights our investments in each activity stream:

Leverage

Partnerships

• Project SoundCheck collaborated with Women’s Initiatives for Safer Environments to create the first national safety audit tool specific to large outdoor events.

• The Herongate Steering Committee worked with the Canada Science and Technology Museum to help develop STEAM programming for the community.

• The Ottawa-Carleton Association for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (OCAPDD) and community health centre staff collaborated with the Ottawa Police Service to deliver Home Takeover and vulnerable caller training to all 911 and non-emergency call takers (roughly 100 staff, who were 90% satisfied or very satisfied with the training). This spawned a related Speaker Series event that explained to the public how the police value and use even the smallest bit of information you provide to them.

• The Ontario Justice Education Network (OJEN) partnered with 9 police officers and 13 justice professionals to deliver a worshop series to youth in 4 communities aimed at improving youth and police relationships.

• The successful partnership between 10 service providers and community groups in Jasmine (Vision Jasmine) was recognized with a 2018 CPO Community Program Award. There have been no major crimes in the neighbourhood since the inception of Vision Jasmine.

Leverage Partnerships

Build Capacity

Research & Innovate

Educate & Inform

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Build

Capacity

• 154 youth and 9 police officers participated in the Youth-Police dialogue program, and 94% of youth said it will improve their interactions with police. 100% of the surveyed police officers said “hearing youths’ perspectives” and “having a better understanding of the way they feel” were the most valuable parts of the program.

• We supported the Lowertown, Our Home safety initiative to produce a 4-pillar strategic plan for 2017–2020. The $3,390 invested in the plan was then leveraged to secure a $70,000 provincial grant.

• 58 residents and service providers took part in a workshop and learned how to approach their work in a way that is sensitive to people who may have experienced trauma. 94% of participants reported being satisfied or very satisfied with the training.

• 46 staff at the Conseil des école publiques de l’est de l’Ontario (CEPEO) received training to deliver the 4th R program (l’ABC des relations saines) to over 1,450 grades 7 to 9 students. CEPEO is the first francophone board in the country to implement the program.

Research &

Innovate

• We commissioned research on violent and weapons-related crime in the City of Ottawa from 2012–2016. This report was picked up in the media and strengthened our empirical understanding of crime trends in Ottawa.

• We created a Home Takeovers self-assessment tool to help people figure out if the situation they are experiencing is a home takeover. We also created a template letter for landlords to write to their tenants when they suspect their tenant is a victim of a home takeover. 100% of the 38 agencies trained said they would use these tools with their clients.

• Over 200 community members and service providers were interviewed and surveyed, including 22 people with lived experience, to inform our refreshed Ottawa Street Violence and Gang Strategy 2017–2020. In addition to validating our work, this primary research brought to light issues that were not on our radar: low-level violence and the culture of carrying weapons.

• Project SoundCheck developed 6 handouts covering topics that include how racial biases affect bystander intervention, tips for organizing safer spaces, and LGBT2Q experiences of harassment and assault.

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• We identified research gaps and published the following reports: o Tips for Community Associations Concerned with Crime and

Safety o Neighbourhood trauma: What to do when a violent or

traumatic incident happens o Ottawa Street Violence & Gang Strategy o Creating a culture of prevention: How Ottawa is addressing

violence against women o Culture as Catalyst: Prevention the Criminalization of

Indigenous Youth o Family Violence: Beyond the Usual Suspects

Educate &

Inform

• We engaged 480 people through our Speaker Series events. Topics included the importance of harnessing culture for the safety and wellbeing of Indigenous youth, how living with a brain injury increases one’s chances of being incarcerated, and protecting yourself against fraud.

Is Anyone Better Off? The final RBA performance indicator measures the impact of our effort. Crime prevention is difficult to measure. There’s no definitive way to measure crime that did not happen. Nonetheless, these are the steps that we took and the people who benefited from our efforts. The figures below highlight our accomplishments.

15,091

People benefited directly from CPO’s community investments in 2017.

28,606

Additional people benefited indirectly from CPO’s community investments in 2017. This number excludes the 6,000,000 people Project SoundCheck has reached via mainstream media across North America.

3,092 Community members and service providers were trained in best practices for delivering youth programming, preventing gender-based violence, navigating the justice system and more.

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2,500 Residents in Jasmine and Herongate reclaimed their neighbourhoods with events and programming that brought their communities together.

1,450 Students in the French public education board (CEPEO) learned and practiced the skills needed to have healthy relationships through l’ABC des relations saines (The Fourth R program).

540 Community leaders, service providers and residents attended our Speaker Series and community consultation events to learn more about preventing fraud, the impacts of brain injury on crime and incarceration, and harnessing culture for the safety and wellbeing of Indigenous youth.

205

Partnerships built between agencies in conducting shared learning activities and training, designing events and training tools, and bringing communities together to increase safety and reduce crime.

21 Youth-serving program staff were trained to deliver workshops to detect early signs of gender-based violence, promote healthy masculinity, and be effective mentors to ~10,000 young people that they serve.

Conclusion Crime Prevention Ottawa’s 2017 community investments have successfully advanced our Strategic Plan. Across our three priority areas we have achieved tangible wins in each activity stream. We leveraged partnerships among police and justice professionals to foster difficult and constructive dialogues between youth and police. In collaboration with our valued partners, we continued to build capacity within schools, festivals, and many youth serving agencies in preventing gender-based violence. We have created useful and effective tools to navigate the murky waters of home takeovers. We have highlighted the importance of harnessing the power of culture to prevent crime among Indigenous youth. It is an honour to serve alongside these agencies to increase community safety and reduce crime in Ottawa. Our shared successes strengthen the hope for a safer society for all.

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APPENDIX A

CPO Grants 2017 GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE Sexual Assault Network of Ottawa – Project SoundCheck $40,000.00 Subtotal $40,000.00 GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE/YOUTH Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario – les ABC des relations saines $9,720.00 Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women – I Can MANifest Change – Youth at Risk $20,000.00 Subtotal $29,720.00 YOUTH/NEIGHBOURHOODS City for All Women Initiative (via Lowertown CRC) – Town Hall on Street Violence (Gang Strategy) $6,040.00 Conference Board of Canada – Statistical Analysis of Violent and Weapons Crime in Ottawa $8,194.83 Ontario Justice Education Network – Youth-Police Relations in Ottawa – Real Talk $20,000.00 Youth Services Bureau – Refreshing the Ottawa Gang Strategy $20,000.00 Subtotal $54,234.83 NEIGHBOURHOODS Lowertown CRC – Lowertown Our Home Strategic Plan $3,390.00 Rideau Rockliffe Community Resource Centre – Post Incident Neighbourhood Support Protocol (Gang Strategy) $19,630.00 South-East Ottawa CHC – Community Crime and Safety Project (2015‒2017) $80,000.00 South-East Ottawa CHC – Trauma in Neighbourhoods $19,604.00 Subtotal $122,624.00

NEIGHBOURHOODS/GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE Ottawa-Carleton Association for Persons with Developmental Disabilities – Home Takeovers Project $12,000.00 Subtotal $12,000.00

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GANG INTERVENTION PROGRAM: Time for Change John Howard Society – Gang Exit Service for Ottawa $245,534.00 Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization – Gang Exit Service for Ottawa $66,585.00 Subtotal $312,119.00 PAINT IT UP! Banff Avenue Community House

– Our Community Cares $5,275.00 Charles H. Hulse Public School – Peace, Love and Kindness: We Take Care of Each Other and Our World $7,900.00 Eastern Ottawa Community Resource Centre – Visioning the Jasmine Community Through Art $5,500.00 Orleans-Cumberland Community Resource Centre

– Open Books, Open minds $8,200.00 Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre – A Work of Heart $5,000.00 Quartier Vanier BIA

– MOZAIK $6,400.00 Somerset West Community Health Centre

– Rochester Youth Reaching New Heights $6,000.00 South-East Ottawa Community Health Centre – Ashgrove Community Beautification Project $5,725.00 Subtotal $50,000.00 GRAND TOTAL $620,697.83