OUTLOOK - A workshop centered on community safety and well-being in the town of Outlook spurred up a number of thoughts among those taking part in the event.
Held on Tuesday night, October 3 at the Outlook Civic Centre, the workshop was brought to town courtesy of Megan Anthony, Outlook's recreation director, who was glad to see the solid turnout consisting of people from a number of different avenues within the riverside community; educators, business owners, health care workers, religious figureheads, and those representing the police and seniors' interests.
The workshop was led by Toby Esterby, COO of the Saskatoon Community Clinic, and Colleen Christopherson-Cote, the community co-lead for the Evaluation and Analysis working group of the SSHRC-funded Community First: Impacts of Community Engagement (CFICE).
The work revolving around the formulation of a possible community safety and well-being plan in Outlook actually started before the workshop, as a survey was circulated prior to the meeting that revealed some information and general trends.
The top three issues that were identified in the survey included poverty and related outcomes (homelessness, affordable housing, food insecurity), intimate partner violence, and access to health services (including mental health and substance use).
When asked what the main focus of Outlook's plan should be, the following things were addressed: access to health care (20%), employment opportunities (20%), housing (13.3%), youth supports and services (13.3%), while issues surrounding transportation, beautification, mental health/addictions, food security, and regional economic development were also noted.
Such factors will be considered as Outlook's community safety and well-being strategy is being formulated.
The workshop in Outlook saw introductions made around the room by everyone, highlighting the fact that Esterby's work sees him lending his efforts to the Westside Community Clinic in Saskatoon, seen as essentially "ground zero for everything that you see in the news" when it comes to the darker aspects of inner city life. As well, the introductions asked participants what they would do with a magic wand, and the exercise helped everyone understand where they were coming from as it pertained to the questions being asked in the formulation of a community safety plan.
On the walls of the Civic Centre were a number of questions, to which the participants placed sticky notes with their responses. Some of these questions included: What makes you feel safe? When you think about Outlook, what are your biggest concerns? What do you think is a future risk for the community of Outlook? What is going well in Outlook today? What do you wish Outlook had? Who should be a part of making a Safety & Well-Being Plan in Outlook?
After all manner of responses were stuck to the boards, Toby and Colleen then asked the participants to return to the boards and place red stickers on the responses to each question that they believed were the most important, helping to prioritize ideas and themes of the potential community plan.
Both Toby and Colleen commended the participants of the survey for leaving their personal biases behind, something that isn't typically seen in collecting such data.
The pair explained that they'll be collecting all of the responses and the information shared at this meeting, compiling all of it and then returning to Outlook to share where this plan goes next in its formation.
