Community Healing Project

About the Community Healing Project for Crime Prevention & Intervention

The Community Healing Project for Crime Prevention and Intervention is a prevention project aimed at addressing trauma as a root cause of youth violence and gang involvement. The project supports development of mental health literacy and resiliency in youth 12-24 who have been exposed to community violence. Through peer support certification and trauma informed community workshops, youth learn about trauma, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and hypersensitive flight/fight responses.

The City of Toronto partners with community agencies to deliver the project across the city. Communities are identified based on community need and data collection.

Supported by a coordinator and peer mentors, youth participants go through training to be certified in peer support and then deliver workshops in their communities to their peers. A case manager supports employment, education and service navigation. By the end of each cycle, participants leave with an increased knowledge and use of coping mechanisms to avoid violence, self-care strategies, awareness of local and current mental health support services, have an increased life-long resiliency to trauma, capacity for transformative change, and an increased sense of control in triggering situations. Fifty youth from twenty communities are engaged in two cycles of training each year.

CHP has been working in communities to support youth mental health literacy since 2014 and on December 20, 2018, the Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of Border Security & Organized Crime, announced that the City of Toronto will receive $6.76M funding from the Youth Gang Prevention Fund (YGPF) as part of the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS).

Over the five-year funding period the project will certify 250 young people in peer support and provide workshops to 1,350 young people in Neighbourhood Improvement (Areas NIA’s).

For additional information on how the City is working to combat community violence, please read the Toronto City Council adopts steps to immediate address gun violence and the City of Toronto applies for federal grant to fund programs to curb gun violence news releases.

Community Healing Project Advisory

As part of the National Crime Prevention Community Healing Project, the City of Toronto has engaged 11 Torontonians as part of the second term of the Community Healing Project Advisory (“CHPA”). The purpose of the CHPA is to guide and inform the Community Healing Project and formulate next steps. Over the course of their term, advisory members will work together to provide oversight and monitoring and evaluation to guide and support sustainability planning and project implementation. The CHPA is be supported by City of Toronto and project staff in their function.

Through ongoing engagement with the Community Healing Project, the CHPA:

Provides guidance to National Crime Prevention Community Healing Project program evaluation, sustainability planning, and implementation of program enhancements and/or improvements.
Contributes insight, analysis, and information to the Community Healing Project’s policy and service planning.
Participates in the evaluation and monitoring of the National Crime Prevention Community Healing Project.
Supports partnership development with communities vulnerable to violence and crime, community leaders, organizations and institutions to advance positive outcomes for the project and the participants of the project.

Over the age of 16 at the time of application
Residents in Toronto that have:
- Demonstrated advocacy, lived and/or work experience in areas of youth violence prevention, youth-serving sector, and/or mental health sector
- Experience in evaluation and/or policy development

Priority has been given to people who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) with lived and/or work experience in Neighbourhood Improvement Areas (NIAs).

CHPA Registration is now closed.

Community Healing Project 12-week Workshops begin May 2023.

To learn more about workshop locations and details, please e-mail Brandon Hay at Brandon.Hay@toronto.ca.

Composition

The membership of the CHPA will consist of 11 Torontonians with diverse lived and work experience. In selecting members for the advisory, consideration will be given to ensure representation from:

Former project participants of the Community Healing Project from various NIA communities
Key youth stakeholder groups (resident led and grassroots groups and coalitions, community agencies, mental health system, educational systems, and social service sector)
Policy development and/or evaluation subject matter experts
Post-secondary students with experience in governance and administrative skills
Parent or caregiver of a child and/ or children living in an NIA community

CHPA Membership Terms of Service

All CHPA members will commit to:

A two-year term, inclusive of four advisory member meetings per year.
Participate in virtual and/or in-person meetings and trainings as scheduled during the course of the membership
Ability to dedicate 15-25 hours annually, on evenings and weekends, including meetings and other advisory responsibilities
Attend project events, as needed, outside of member meetings
Engage with various partners, youth stakeholders, and participants, as required
CHPA members can leave the CHPA at any time by providing advanced written notice

Benefits of CHPA Membership

Training and skills development opportunities
Food gift cards (for virtual meetings and virtual workshops)
Honorarium (on an as needed basis)
Childcare reimbursements (on an as needed basis)

CHP will be delivering its 12-weeks workshops for participants between ages of 12 to 24 with lived experiences of and/or exposure to community violence that currently live in the following 10 communities:

CHP Central: