Grassroots & anti-oppressive approaches to safety

Abstract

What are anti-oppressive, grassroots approaches to talking about and acting on community safety? What evidence-informed strategies are appropriate at a neighbourhood level? Initiated by the South Valour Residents Association in Winnipeg, Manitoba, this broad review of scholarly research and community initiatives demonstrates that there are many good answers to these questions. This review was designed to help inform community groups who want to discuss safety in their neighbourhood and take steps to enhance it. The review begins by outlining how we interpreted anti-oppression for the purpose of the review. The first section then focuses on ways of understanding safety, and on approaches to discussing it. As we outline, our feelings and beliefs about safety, crime, and harm impact the conversations we can have in community. The second half of the review focuses on approaches to creating safety. We introduce and explain each approach, and then give examples of how it can be put into practice.