The United Neighbours is a community driven initiative in Ottawa’s west end made up of community leaders, service providers, private renters, homeowners, tenants associations, law enforcement officers and local business owners. You can become a United Neighbour in many ways. You can join a volunteer at community events, help plan projects, bake, garden, make posters, organize movie nights and coffee houses, facilitate art classes, or join one of 4 working groups:
–Environment & Beautification
–Community Safety
–Communications and Outreach
–Drugs & Alcohol Prevention
Winner of Crime Prevention Ottawa’s 2009 Community Safety Award!
Working groups meet once a month to discuss issues, projects and new initiatives, with a common vision to combat fear and misperceptions about youth violence, racism, and immigrant populations. Each of the working groups has planned, implemented and evaluated a number of projects in the community such as community forums, coffee houses, cultural events, community gardening and much more. The working groups are looking for more community members and local business owners to join. Being a part of a working group is a great way to get more connected with your community, be an agent of change, and develop sustainable action plans to better your community in the years to come. Based on priorities that are identified by the community, The United Neighbours work to create action plans, engage the broader community to become in involved in their neighbourhoods and most importantly, unites neighbours towards accomplishing a common goal to have a safer neighbourhood to live in.
For more information contact Robynn Collins at 613-820-4922 or email: r.collins@pqchc.com or see our website http://unitedneighbours.weebly.com/. We are pleased to share our research report with you: www.pqchc.com.
The United Neighbours Community Project
In recent years there has been increasing community concern expressed in the west end of Ottawa over youth involvement in criminal activity, and crime and safety issues in general. As a response to this, community residents sought the support of Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre (PQCHC) to carry out a community building initiative through research and community planning to create a unified response to these important issues.
After receiving financial support from Crime Prevention Ottawa, the United Neighbours project was born. A steering committee of 44 members was formed (including community leaders, service providers, private renters, homeowners, tenants associations, law enforcement officers and local business owners), a researcher was hired, and youth and adult surveys were developed by the steering committee to assess crime and safety issues in the area. The committee worked hard to engage the community, soliciting their input through the survey. More than 800 residents in the Pinecrest-Queensway catchment area completed this survey!
After the research findings identified priority issues, the broader community was invited to attend a community forum held in June 2008, which was attended by almost 80 people. The community forum was pivotal in initiating a sustainableaction plan based on priorities, engaging the community to become involved in the year to come, and most importantly, uniting neighbours in working towards a common goal to have a safer neighbourhood to live in.
Based on the priority areas that surfaced through the research and feedback from the community forum, 4 small working groups have been established to design community-based action plans. These working groups focus on the following four areas:
1) Environment and Beautification
2) Community Safety
3) Programmes and services
4) Drugs and alcohol prevention and intervention.
Each of the four working groups shares a common vision to combat fear and perceptions around youth violence, racism, and misperceptions about religion and immigrant populations.
The working groups will meet once per month and are especially looking for more community members to join. If you are passionate about one of these issues, we encourage your input in the planning and implementation process. Being a part of a working group is a great way to get more connected with your community, be an agent of change, and develop sustainable action plans to better your community in the years to come.
On behalf of the steering committee and the community at large, we would like to say “thank you” to all who completed the survey. We are pleased to share the final report with you on our website www.pqchc.com. For more information contact 613-820-4922 or email: r.collins@pqchc.com.
The United Neighbours Project is funded by:
Crime Prevention Ottawa
and
Pinecrest- Queensway Community Health Centre
This website is available in English only / Ce site internet est disponible en anglais seulement
