Supporting a Safe Community

Here in West Broadway, we want our businesses to succeed, and for staff to feel safe at work. Neighbourhoods across Winnipeg are tackling complex issues around retail crime and safety. We’d like to expand on what our BIZ members can expect from us:

  • Grants | We offer a Safety & Security Grant to all of our members. This program provides up to $5,000 to help you make improvements like lighting, cameras, unbreakable glass and more.
  • Referrals | The BIZ has close relationships with our City Councillor, our neighbourhood associations and organizations that support those experiencing homelessness. Do you need a connection? Let us make the introduction.
  • Advocacy | We are building an advocacy plan with other BIZ areas and community partners. We believe that everyone deserves to be housed, to be part of a community, to be cared for and safe — particularly our BIZ members. We also believe that our members are unfairly shouldering many of the issues that come from unstable housing, mental health and addictions in our communities. We are actively calling on all levels of government to properly fund services and supports for those in need.
  • Workshops & Community Consultation | We want to hear from businesses about what could be done to support them, and what they are seeing on a day-to-day basis. We hope to offer workshops or training that will be of benefit to our members.

Advocating for better support & evidence-based policy

Our Executive Director Eric was pleased to discuss West Broadway’s needs in a series of meetings with Minister of Justice Matt Wiebe, and Premier Wab Kinew, in the summer of 2024.

We’re excited to share that we have launched an innovative new data study, to better understand the effectiveness of harm-reduction-based community safety patrols. This topic has never been approached in an empirical way in Canada, and our research is breaking new ground.

We look forward to sharing this important data with our government partners to help encourage evidence-based investments in safety models that will work for our community.

We’d like to thank Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries for their major investment in this important project.