PCS is a project partner, providing the current employment component of the Community Safety Hosts initiative, which is led by Fearless R2W and emerged from a 2-year Housing Solutions Lab. Other project partners include NECRC and the Winnipeg Public Libraries.
The purpose is to create an alternative professional to conventional security services, better suited to staff facilities that provide access to essential systems and services (ie. EIA, CFS, Libraries). Current standards do not always ensure safe access to these places and services to marginalized individuals. This model was built on best practices as well as both modern learnings and traditional knowledge.
Community Safety Hosts are supported to be trauma informed, with a priority on systemic harm reduction to create safer access through removing barriers and empowering others through education and support.
This program seeks to address:
– Barriers to housing & employment
– Systemic racism in public places
– Inadequate training in safety roles
– Current (security) roles inadequate
– Damaging public perceptions
The training components were determined on these principal pillars:
– Leveraging both modern & traditional knowledge, as well as lived experience
– Wahkohtowin, an advocacy lens and leveraging existing neighborhood assets
– Seeking to provide acute barrier knowledge and care
– Meeting existing regulatory standards and industry best practices (ie. 40-hour security guard training)
Community Safety Hosts are recruited with an emphasis on providing an opportunity for sustainable employment to youth who have aged out of care, while investing in and empowering persons with lived experiences to better serve the community. Applicants from the R2W neighborhood, youth aging out of care or Indigenous youth are prioritized for this program.
Community Safety Hosts In The News
Hiring, training, and empowering from within the community
A Community Safety Host receives security guard training but is differentiated by an additional 130+ hours of in-class training backed by 3 months of supported practical field experience specifically assembled and tailored to the role of a Community Safety Host.
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