Government funds grassroots crime prevention projects

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Aboriginal people are one of three groups the federal government prioritized in launching a plan to prevent crime through grassroots social development. The National Crime Prevention Centre (NCPC) within the Department of Justice is responsible for implementing the strategy, known as the National Strategy on Community Safety and Crime Prevention, which invests in projects that deal with risk factors for crime, such as abuse, violence, poor parenting and substance abuse. The other two target groups are children and youth and women's personal security. Canada is spending $32 million a year on it, for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal approved projects. Now half way through its five-year agreement, the program "has a mandate to continue," according to Mark Stokes, senior communications advisor for the Justice Department, and should not be construed as being "over" in 2003.

Stokes emphasizes the broad mandate of the program and its community-driven nature.

"We don't tell (Aboriginal people) what their problems and solutions are. It's not the traditional criminal justice approach."

The strategy has three parts: the safer communities initiative, a promotion and public education program, and the National Crime Prevention Centre itself.

The government says the Aboriginal component is designed to "complement Gathering Strength-Canada's Aboriginal Action Plan."

According to an operational planning document, "a key element of Gathering Strength" that the strategy is trying to copy involves encouraging Aboriginal communities to design and deliver their own programs.

To March 31, more than 200 Aboriginal communities nationwide have partnered with NCPC and obtained funding through either the Community Mobilization Program, the Partnership Program or the Investment Fund, all of which fall under the Safer Communities Initiative. That's about one-quarter of all projects approved so far. There is a $50,000, three-year limit for projects, but many are shorter and receive less.

In Alberta, potential applicants wanting to submit proposals should contact regional liaison consultant for Alberta and the Northwest Territories, Marion Cook, or community co-ordinator Darren Caul at the Community Mobilization Program office in Calgary at (403) 299-3879.

"What we can do," Cook says, "is (send out information packages) and also talk to people. Because often when you read the material, you need to talk to somebody about your ideas: Do they fit? How could you develop them into a project? What are we looking for in proposals? And it's all in the material, but I find it's sometimes easier if you talk to a human being about it. So that's what we're here for."

She says another thing they do, if people call with an idea that doesn't quite fit Community Mobilization, they try to refer them somewhere appropriate so they can keep their idea going.

The program gets $1.5 million a year for community mobilization projects, Cook says. "Proposals are reviewed twice a year with the following criteria in mind: how does it fit the mandate, does it deal with crime prevention, does it use a social development approach, does it have partners involved and does it address issues related to one or more of the priority groups and what's the regional distribution and the distribution among the priority groups."

For more information about the strategy or to get on the mailing list, you can contact NCPC at 1-877-302-6272 or by e-mail at ncpc@web.net, or they can register online at www.crime-prevention.org.