The Mayor’s Community Safety Awards celebrate innovative Toronto-based senior(s)-led, youth-led and community-led projects that help build safe communities and reduce violence.
The project categories are:
The senior(s)-led category was added in 2024 to recognize senior(s)-led groups that help build safe communities and acknowledge their contributions to the reduction of violence or the experience of seniors who experience violence in the Toronto.
The award recipients were honoured during an in-person ceremony on June 13, 2024. Recipients received a commemorative scroll and a $1,500 award to support their innovative approaches to addressing safety within their local communities.
The Mayor’s Community Safety Awards is a longstanding partnership between the City of Toronto and Toronto Police Service.
Inclusive Communities; Safer Streets: #LetsEmpowerToronto is a community-driven response to the issue of gun violence in downtown Toronto neighborhoods. Building off of work since 2019, this project takes a holistic approach integrating mental health workshops, art therapy, soft skills training and job acquisition opportunities to empower youth and foster safer environments.
Smile For Sache embarked on its mission following the tragic loss of Abdulaziz Mohamed Dubet, affectionately known as ‘Adan’ or ‘Sache,’ to senseless gun violence in Toronto. Adan’s passing not only left a void in the hearts of many but also served as a poignant reminder of the fleeting nature of life and the importance of compassionate action.
Formed and driven by racialized women who came together as a peer support network to empower minority and marginalized families in Etobicoke, to support each other and navigate challenges related to law enforcement (SWAT) no-knock entries, nearby arrests and search warrants.
Started in November 2023, the Mount Olive and Silverstone Community Space is a safe space that offers programs for concerned mothers pertaining to violence within the community, and youth in need of positive, alternative and creative programming. A vacant townhome was donated by Toronto Community Housing at the request of Desree who observed a need for a safe meeting place within the community.
Stars in the Night plays a crucial role in creating a safer community by addressing the underlying factors that contribute to violence. Crucially, the youth designers involve older youth with lived experience as paid volunteers, offering them the opportunity to contribute positively to their community.
Friends from the Endz is an award-winning production house and multimedia collective that strives to highlight important stories coming out of Toronto’s most resilient neighborhoods. With a mission to change the on-screen narrative about our communities, the team focusses on collaborating with our city’s most vulnerable youth creating opportunities for individuals to have a platform for their stories.
YAAACE is a Black-led, Black-focused and Black-serving organization founded in 2007 which offers strength-based programs and services to mitigate the systemic barriers and lack of equitable opportunities that racialized members of the Humber River-Black Creek community face, with an emphasis on providing access to structured programming in education, family supports, expanded opportunities and athletics, employment, and violence prevention and intervention.
The mental wellness workshops at KDE started in 2021 as a response to the rising rates of anxiety and stress among young people, particularly Black youth. These workshops aim to provide coping mechanisms and tools to help reduce feelings of anxiety and prevent depression. The project was created in collaboration with mental health professionals and community leaders who recognized the need for tailored support for Black youth facing mental health challenges.
This project incorporates safety walks with seniors, establishes ongoing processes for community safety, develops joint safety projects with students from Hodgson Middle School and finds new and innovative ways to expand on the current work.
To be eligible for a Mayor’s Community Safety Award, a project must:
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.
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A selection panel was established and included youth, City of Toronto staff, sponsors and partners from the Toronto Office to Prevent Violence.
Members of the selection committee declared any affiliations and/or conflicts of interest prior to reviewing nominations. Each application was screened for eligibility, then reviewed and scored based on the impacts and effectiveness of the projects/initiatives for 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: