The Reality of Street Support

Below are lists that show some but not all of the government departments, agencies and NGOs that all have as part of their mandate to provide support or service to the marginalized population in our community.

Existing Programs that may have valuable components worth evaluating.

• • Big Brothers Big Sisters
• • business initiatives (e.g. Enfield Earth keepers)
• • cadets
• • community crime prevention associations (e.g. Neighborhood Watch, Citizens on Patrol)
• • Seniors Safety Programs
• • crisis intervention services (e.g. Mobile Mental Health)
• • engagement/inclusiveness (e.g. programs that promote community connectedness,
• pride, volunteerism)
• • Healthy Beginnings
• • High Risk Domestic Violence Case Coordination Protocol Framework
• services (e.g. VANSDA – Valley African Nova Scotian Development Association)
• • interagency collaborations (e.g. Northern Partners, Cape Breton Youth Services Team, Community Partnership on Drug Abuse – Cape Breton, Cape Breton Network for Children)
• • police presence on streets, in community and in school for relationship building and
• intelligence gathering (e.g. community policing, seniors safety programs)
• • recreational activities (e.g. dances, skateboard Parks, youth identified interests etc.)
• • rehabilitation (e.g. restorative justice, Schools Assisting Police and Probation services, SAPPS, healing circles)
• • subsidized daycare
• • transition houses for women and children
• • youth centres (e.g. Whitney Pier, Shelburne, ECHO, Bridges)
• • youth focused employment and support

Existing community based programs:

• • Action for Neighbourhood Change, Healthy Housing, Healthy Community Project, Spryfield
• • Boot camps to teach consequences, Alberta and British Columbia models named
• • Curfews for youth
• • Coalition of Community Safety, Health and Well-being, a loose coalition of influential
• national organizations which have chosen to collaborate with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police to promote a vision and ‘best practices’ for the practical realization of community safety, health and well-being.
• • Community Based Economic Development
• • Community capacity building and mobilization funding, encourage National Crime Prevention Centre to transfer funds to Province for distribution
• • Community Safety/crime prevention co-ordinators
• • Connect Program, Amherst, focus on child connection to family and community
• • Enfield Earthkeepers, citizen engagement of youth for employment and community pride
• • Healthy Place Framework, Chebucto Community Development Association
• • Crisis Intervention Service, HRM, a partnership between Capital Health Mental Health, IWK and HR Police to provide assessment, stabilization and treatment, as appropriate, in all District Health Authorities in HRM and at the IWK
• • Family & Co. Free quarterly Information Guide listing new activities and things to do with
• children in HRM
• • Judges need to be engaged in community crime prevention discussions
• • License for Alcohol consumption, similar to license for driving, holds adults accountable if they supply alcohol to minor and ensures youth are of age to make purchase
• • Lighthouses/Neighbourhood Alive Program, Manitoba Justice fund to develop partnerships that support programming by and for youth
• • Manitoba Attorney General Safer Communities Award, recognizes organizations and individuals who make outstanding contributions to crime prevention
• • Military service sentences for perpetrators of serious crime
• • Netherlands’s approach to community inclusiveness
• • North End Dartmouth Community Coalition – Knowledge is Power – Youth Asset Building focus
• • PEPBRO Divas, Uniacke Square, community engagement, beautification, recreation
• • Alberta Drug Endangered Child Act

Potential stakeholders in the solution.

• Addiction Services
• Academic Community Members
• Business representatives
• Children’s Aid Society
• Community Development
• Concerned Citizens
• Crime Prevention Associations
• Crime Victims
• Community Health Boards
• Chamber of Commerce
• Crown Attorney
• Department of Community Services

(Employment Support and Income Assistance, Services for Persons with Disabilities, Family and Children’s Services)

• Domestic Violence/Transition Houses
• Ecology Action
• Education
• Federal Parole Services
• Faith-based organizations
• Family Resource Centres
• First Nations organizations
• Guidance Councilors
• Health Administration
• Human Rights
• Interpreters – Deaf Community
• Department of Justice
• (Crown attorney, Corrections, Probation services)
• Legal Aid MADD
• Municipal Councilors
• Mental Health Services
• Municipal Police
• Municipal Recreation
• Municipal staff
• MLA’s
• Mayors Media
• Nova Scotia Youth Secretariat
• Neighbourhood Watch
• Regional Libraries
• Police Boards
• Private Psychologist
• Restorative Justice
• RCMP
• Seniors
• Seniors Safety Programs
• Students
• Salvation Army
• School Board
• Service Canada
• St. Leonard’s Society
• Seniors Safety Programs
• Transition Houses
• Youth
• Youth Centres
• Youth Secretariat
• Youth Services
• Youth Health Centre
• Victim Services
• Women’s Groups

Education is key:

Like any issue that has developed into a problem, part of the solution involves the re education and the early education of the general population. This effort can be family based, school based and community based. Part of the objective has to be catching the ‘at risk’ future panhandlers before they become marginalized and redirecting their growth and development.