Engagement Tag

We’re about to launch an engagement with our members about safety.

Here’s the background.

At our 2019 AGM, we set out to re-envision our safety model with the goal of co-creating a program that is adaptive to member needs and more responsive to the rising social, economic, and health issues in East Vancouver. The Strathcona BIA Board and Staff have been working towards this goal ever since, while also maintaining and improving our current safety program. 

Advocacy to all levels of government, raising the business voice in the media, and building community partnerships are some of the avenues the Strathcona BIA actively pursues to help improve safety in our neighbourhood. In addition, the Strathcona Community Safety Program, our largest program, currently operates as an on-call patrol working 7 days a week from 8am-10pm. A day in the life of the team includes foot and vehicle patrols, working with the Strathcona Community Policing Centre, responding to member calls, data reporting, needle disposal, graffiti and debris reporting, connecting vulnerable community members to resources, meet and greets and more.

How did we get here?

The Strathcona BIA was founded on safety and security principles in service to the businesses, employees, and customers who come through the community every day. Safety and the perception of safety is still cited as a primary concern for SBIA members. To help address these concerns the Strathcona BIA created an ongoing security program. The program has evolved over the years from a traditional security program to a community-serving model. This evolution, in part, has been driven by changes in the legal landscape around what a private security company can and can’t do and the rights of citizens on private property adjacent to public property. Strathcona as a whole has a long history of political activism and a high concentration of social services addressing everything from drug use and addictions to mental health. Many of the social service organizations are members of the Strathcona BIA. Fostering relationships with local service providers, social enterprises, and institutional partners is one way to help build and develop long term solutions to many challenges that SBIA members and community members face.

How we plan to evolve our safety model

We’re ready to continue the evolution of our safety programming to have an even bigger impact on the safety and well-being of our community. Changing our safety model requires a hard look at the data. It requires research and a review of best practices. It requires partnership. And, most importantly, it requires that we speak to our 800+ members about safety and security across the district. We are committed to listening deeply to our members which is why we are launching: Let’s Talk About Safety, our new annual community safety survey for Strathcona BIA members. 

We’ve chosen a platform called Ethelo. Ethelo is more than your typical survey tool. It’s a platform where you can engage in dialogue, vote on priorities, and see the district-wide results in real time. Once you sign-up to participate you can return back to the conversation, re-visit answers, and continue to contribute your perspectives. 

We’ll be asking members to weigh in on:

• What safety means to you
• Your experiences with the current safety program and model
• How should the Strathcona BIA approach safety across the district

The survey will be open for four weeks starting next week. It takes anywhere from 10 minutes to 20 minutes to complete, depending on how much you want to share on the platform. All Strathcona BIA members will receive a link to the survey next week. If you missed it, and are an SBIA member who would like the link, please reach out to us at info@strathconabia.com.

While we gather the results from the survey engagement, staff will undertake a robust analysis of our current program data from over the last two years. In addition, we will conduct research on other community safety models and review best practices both close to home and from around the world. All this information taken together will inform our safety programming framework moving forward.

Community Engagement

Any future safety model of the Strathcona BIA will be brought to the wider community for consultation. We intend to engage community experts from diverse backgrounds including people representing marginalized groups, social service providers, local community centres, Indigenous groups, social enterprises, and community members at large in future phases of our safety program development. We know that partnerships and strong working relationships are integral to our success as an organization and as a district. As bridge-builders, we’re always looking for opportunities for connection within our diverse community. 

If you have any questions or concerns about our upcoming engagement around safety programming please reach out to us as info@strathconabia.com.