HPAP & SHJN Members consultation to help develop the official Community Safety & Wellbeing plan for Toronto on Tues, May 18, 6:30pm – 8:00pm

Hello members of Health Providers Against Poverty (HPAP) and Shelter & Housing Justice Network (SHJN), you are invited to a consultation to help develop the official Community Safety & Wellbeing plan for Toronto (details below).

Apologies for the late notice on this, but for those who can make it, the consultation will be TOMORROW:
Tues May 18th, 6:30pm -8:00pm
Via Zoom (invite link below)
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85465237007?pwd=aHFlK2FmQW53VFZHTHFaajljU1IwZz09

If you want to join late, and can’t make it until 7 for example, please still join. Your feedback would be welcomed.

The plan is a large undertaking, which is creating the roadmap for taking Toronto from a city that focuses so heavily on emergency response, to a culture of prevention, early intervention and social development, including becoming a trauma-informed-city (in every service and function), which resources and reacts according to actual needs. The plan will prioritize four areas of risk:

– Community Trauma

– Community Violence

– Harm and Victimization

– Community Justice.

This plan will bring together a multitude of initiatives and strategies, covering:

Addictions,

Mental Health,

Policing Alternatives/Reforms,

Crisis Intervention models,

Anti-BIPOC Racism,

Access and Equity,

Supportive and Social Housing,

Client Discharges,

Homelessness,

Disabilities (Seen/Unseen),

Community Justice Centres (restorative and alternative justice models),

Gun Violence,

Hate Crimes,

Grief & Trauma,

Indigenous-Led Solutions,

Reducing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs),

Sex Trade & Human Trafficking,

Traum Informed City model,

Place-Based Solutions,

Breaking the silos between all of these and more….

We have been meeting and working with countless groups and communities on these fronts.The consultation is looking for honest, direct feedback and will be asking about:

1. Building off of what works (and Eliminating what does not) – Advance, Eliminate and Re-tool existing programs, strategies and policies that support vulnerable populations.

2. Addressing the Gaps – Identify barriers to service access and policies that contribute to harm and victimization.

3. Partnership and Innovation – Identify the role the City can play (or should not play) to respond and support further coordination/collaboration.

4. Action – Identify recommendations/actions/big ideas/existing strategies or reports/pilots to embed into the Safe TO report.
Frontline workers should feel free to invite their frontline colleagues to participate in this consultation!

The consultation will be facilitated by Tommy Taylor, (Frontline Shelter Worker, SHJN & HPAP Steering Committee) and Scott Mckean from the City of Toronto. Attendees are invited to speak as freely and openly as possible! Confidentiality of identities will be maintained in all reports derived from the consultations.

Tommy Taylor
SHJN & HPAP Steering Committee