The Mayor’s Community Safety Awards celebrate innovative Toronto-based senior(s)-led, youth-led and resident-led projects that help build safe communities, support wellbeing and reduce violence.

Projects that contribute to community safety, wellbeing and reduce violence in Toronto will be awarded a $1500 contribution to support their innovative approaches to addressing safety within their local communities.

The project categories are:

  • Community-led groups/projects
  • Youth-led groups/projects
  • Senior(s)-led groups/projects

The senior(s)-led category was added in 2024 to recognize senior(s)-led groups that help build safe communities and to acknowledge their contributions to the reduction of violence or the experience of seniors who experience violence in the City of Toronto.

The award recipients will be honoured during an in-person ceremony on Thursday September 25, 2025. Recipients will receive a commemorative certificate and a $1,500 award to continue their work to help improve community safety.

The Mayor’s Community Safety Awards is a longstanding partnership between the City of Toronto and Toronto Police Service.

Community-led Award Recipients

Three women embracing

Happy Mom Happy Children – The Safer Toronto Centre

The Safer Toronto Centre, Stronger Future project is a comprehensive community safety initiative that has made a meaningful impact in historically underserved Toronto neighborhoods. Using a holistic, community-led approach, the project promoted safety and well-being and built resilience and capacity in the Regent Park, Moss Park and St. James Town communities through safety audits, mental health workshops, crisis intervention training and youth engagement.


Five IMPACT Team members wearing shirts with the impact branding

iIMPACT

Youth Farming Mentorship Program Rooted in Leadership is a community-led initiative designed to address gun violence and victimization by. By integrating hands-on farming, leadership workshops, mental health and wellness sessions, and community marketplaces, the program addresses multiple safety and social needs at once. Led by grassroots residents from across Toronto, the project combined urban farming, mentorship and leadership training to create pathways away from violence and toward resilience, opportunity and building community pride.

Three men and one woman standing together in a group with crossed arms

NU Rising Community Services C.O.U.R.A.G.E program

Delivered through Nubian Rising Community Services to youth and residents of the Shoreham community, the C.O.U.R.A.G.E program was built on a foundation of intergenerational connections to address the ongoing impact of violence and trauma.  Community facilitators created intentional spaces for healing, growth, reflection and restoration and worked with participants to build mutual respect across generations –, growing a “family” rooted in accountability, care and healing.


Youth-led Award Recipients

A man dressed in all black standing Infront of a white backdrop

Mind on Strength

The Street Smart project was created after a shooting in 2022 highlighted the urgent need for community healing spaces and empowered alternatives to violence. The project works to break cycles of gun violence and
victimization by providing safe structured fitness programs, mental health supports
for those impacted by violence and community walks and events that unite
residents and reclaim peace. The project symbolizes resilience and is a model of
hope and safety than can be replicated across the city.


Three men standing together signing the peace sign

MDZ Productions

MDZ Productions created a community-led basketball tournament in Toronto’s Alexandra Park designed to address gun violence and victimization by offering youth a safe, positive and culturally relevant alternative to high-risk activities. But this initiative was more than a sports competition; it combined sport, mentorship, community engagement and workshops and demonstrated how collaborative efforts can inspire youth, foster leadership and drive lasting social change in underserved communities.


Three women in white t-shirts and blue jeans with arms interlocked

YouthUnlocked

The Youth Gun Violence: A Community’s Call to Action project turned a tragic shooting in Regent Park into an opportunity for healing, growth and prevention. Launched in 2024, this Regent Park project supported youth through leadership development, trauma support, conflict resolution and gun violence prevention. Promoting healing and resilience, it also welcomed youth from surrounding communities facing systemic barriers, creating a safe, inclusive space for building resilience.


Seniors-led

Four senior women holding each other with a green nature backdrop

Stephen Leacock Seniors Executive Committee

This initiative, with its innovative and culturally grounded approach to preventing violence and fostering healing, brought seniors and Toronto Police Service together to discuss safety and scams targeting older adults. In a supportive group setting, participants shared experiences, learned they weren’t alone and gained valuable knowledge. The project fostered openness, learning, and connection within the senior community.


Honourable Mention – Community-led

Concrete Rez

Developed by Black and Indigenous mentors with lived experience, The Spirit of Hip Hop was an eight-week music program for Afro-Indigenous youth in Scarborough’s Kingston Galloway community. Through workshops on hip hop, culture and songwriting, youth created positive music, culminating in a musical showcase with positive messaging to address issues of
gun violence. The project demonstrated deep community impact, meaningful
relationships with schools and residents and a strong commitment to enhancing
safety and wellbeing

Honourable Mention –Youth-led

Empower Health Equity

Launched in April 2025, Empower Health
Equity (EHE) is a collaborative project led by University of Toronto medical students to address the urgent need for safety, violence prevention and victimization response among marginalized youth. The project operates across Toronto in collaboration with the Black Medical Students Association , and partners: Youth Without Shelter, Eastview, YouthLink and Horizons for Youth. Through workshops and Standard First Aid Courses led by medical students, they provided youth with accessible education in first aid, CPR/AED, severe bleeding control, wound care and broader health promotion. EHE’s goals are to equip youth with life-saving knowledge, build skills to prevent and respond to violence and strengthen agency and leadership

To be eligible for a Mayor’s Community Safety Award, a project must:

  • Promote the safety of neighbourhoods and communities that include priority populations such as Indigenous and Black Peoples, racialized groups, people with disabilities, LGBTQ2S+ persons, newcomers, youth, seniors, people with low income and individuals impacted by community violence.
  • Respond to gun or community violence and victimization.
  • Have the capacity to work towards reducing violence within vulnerable communities (this means that the project promotes violence prevention, reduces violence and helps victims of violence and/or increases community safety.)
  • Build partnerships with the community, its organizations and/or the corporate/business sector while promoting safety and/or violence prevention.
  • Have been designed and implemented within the previous two (2) years from the nomination date.
  • Demonstrate innovation and can serve as a model for other groups, individuals, and communities.
  • Be initiated by a Toronto-based group and benefit Toronto communities to be eligible for a community-led award.
  • Be youth-led and geared towards young individuals between the ages of 12 and 29 to be eligible for a Youth Award.
  • Be senior(s)-led and geared towards serving individuals aged 65+ to be eligible for a Senior(s) Award.

Organizations may submit more than one eligible project, however, only one project will be selected annually from an organization for an award.

Note: Projects operated by established organizations and projects operated by the City of Toronto’s Agencies, Boards, Commissions, and/or Divisions or by other orders of government are not eligible to receive awards.

Information about the 2026 Nomination Process will be available in Spring 2026.

The selection committee will include youth and community members, City of Toronto staff member and the Toronto Police Service.

Members of the selection committee will declare any affiliations and/or conflicts of interest prior to reviewing nominations. Each application will be screened for eligibility and reviewed and scored based on the impacts and effectiveness of projects/initiatives in providing supports and promoting community safety, reducing community violence along with demonstrating community wellbeing, recovery, and resilience.

Developed by the Task Force on Community Safety, and first presented in 2002, the Mayor’s Community Safety Awards is an event that recognizes outstanding projects, organizations and individuals that contribute to community safety in Toronto.

The awards celebrate projects that:

  • Promote the safety of neighbourhoods and communities, including priority populations such as: Indigenous Peoples; racialized groups; people with disabilities; 2SLGBTQ+ persons; newcomers; youth; people with low income; individuals impacted by community violence
  • Respond to gun or community violence and victimization
  • Have the capacity to work towards reducing violence within vulnerable communities
  • Build partnerships with the community, its organizations and/or the corporate/business sector while promoting safety and/or violence prevention

Previous award winners.