Community Knowledge Centre - Toronto Community Foundation

About this organization

Mission

METRAC is a community-based, not-for-profit organization that prevents violence against women and youth through public education, safety initatives, youth engagement, legal information, policy reform and community development. 

History of Organization

METRAC’s beginnings date back to the summer of 1982 when a number of brutal sexual assaults and murders of women occurred in the City of Toronto. A group of women organized themselves as “The Toronto Pink Ribbon Committee” to demand that something be done. The committee approached the Metro Toronto Chair in office at the time, Paul Godfrey. Acting on their suggestions in collaboration with the Metropolitan Toronto Board of Commissioners of Police, a task force to examine public violence against women and children was established. The task force worked with Metro Toronto staff and council members, more than 80 individual community volunteers, local experts and community and service agencies. A Final Report of their efforts was released in March 1984. It recommended the Metropolitan Toronto Council appoint a body to implement all of the report’s recommendations. The “Metropolitan Action Committee on Public Violence Against Women and Children” was then established. A ten-member Board of Directors was appointed, headed by Toronto lawyer and then-Police Commissioner Jane Pepino.

Accolades and Accomplishments

1989: pioneered the first Women’s Safety Audit, now used around the world to make public spaces, workplaces and campuses safer for women and marginalized groups

1990s: developed safety best practice standards for lights, signs and underground garages and worked with Toronto Transit Comission to support development of Designated Waiting Areas, the Request Stop Program, transparent bus shelters, emergency intercoms and mechanisms to reduce harassment

1993: initiated passage of criminal harassment (stalking) legislation

1999: the City of Toronto’s Task Force on Community Safety recommended that METRAC’s Community Safety Audit be conducted in every neighbourhood

2001: established Respect in Action (ReAct), a youth peer-to-peer education program to address violence against women and youth; ever since, ReAct has delivered workshops, trainings and speaking engagements with thousands of youth and people who work with youth

2005-2006: participant in successful initiatives to end use of religious arbitration in Ontario family law matters

2007-2008: launched RePlay: Finding Zoe/ReJouer: Où est Zoé?, an online video game for youth and winner of the Adobe Max 2009 award, Adobe-TechSoup’s Show Your Impact award and Changemakers’ Why Games Matter award

2008: METRAC’s Community Safety Audit is deemed a best practice in the UN-HABITAT’sSafer Cities Campaign (2008-2013). ReAct program model recognized as a promising practice in "The Road to Health: A Final Report on School Safety" report

2010: launched "What It Is.", a mobile and online game that challenges sexual violence

Programs

>Community Safety Program
>Respect in Action (ReAct)

• Community Safety Program: supports women and other community members to conduct Community Safety Audits in schools, neighbourhoods, public places and workspaces to identify what makes them feel unsafe and develop safety-enhancing changes; leads community safety initiatives to make spaces safer for women, youth, marginalized groups and everyone
• Community Justice Program: provides accessible legal information for women and service providers on how the law impacts women and youth facing abuse and how to navigate the legal system; engages in initiatives to help the legal system better respond to the needs of abused women and youth
• Community Outreach and Education Program: engages in innovative public education initiatives to raise awareness of violence against women and youth and empower communities to make change
• Respect in Action (ReAct): delivers peer-to-peer, popular educative workshops, trainings and speaking engagements to youth and those who work with youth to challenge violence against women and youth and inspire youth to end violence in their lives

Community Safety Program

METRAC’s Safety Program oversees community and institutional safety audits across Toronto. METRAC's Safety Audit Process© was created in 1989 and has been used by residents to make where they live, work and socialize safer. METRAC has also helped to audit university and college campuses, transit systems, hospitals, and other organizations to assess and improve safety. METRAC's first audit was with the TTC, to evaluate women’s safety on Toronto's public transit system. This audit resulted in the creation of a number of safety features, including the Request Stop Program, Designated Waiting Areas, and the installation of accessible elevators.

METRAC’s safety audits are recognized worldwide and have received a number of awards. These include being named a Best Practice by the United Nations Habitat’s Safer Cities Campaign in 2008, being selected as a finalist in the Canadian Urban Institute’s Urban Leadership Award in 2004 and having the Council of Ontario Universities and Colleges formally adopt the audit process in 1992.

Funding and Program Partners

The Community Safety Program is funded by the City of Toronto. Program partners include the City's Tower Renewal Office and the Crisis Response Program, Toronto Community Housing, and Girl Guides of Canada.

Program Impact

Between 2006 and 2010, Torontonians led 53 safety audits across the City and in 2010, 221 persons were trained as safety audit leaders. Over the past year, the Safety Program partnered with the City's Tower Renewal Project and supported audits in four pilot sites (Rexdale, St. James Town, Scarorough Village and Don Valley East) where 100 diverse adults and youth audited their neighbourhoods. As a result, residents worked with their local decision-makers, such as government representatives and property owners, to improve sightlines, maintenance, and lighting. The audits helped to strengthen community engagement.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

Toronto's Vital Signs® 2010 report states that a perception of crime and violence persists for Torontonians although violent crime has decreased in the City, including youth crime. This continued perception can make residents feel unsafe in their neighbourhoods. For example, Toronto's Vital Signs® 2010 reports that, "54% of 18-35 year olds responding to a 2010 poll, rate Toronto as a safer place to live than other large international cities, but 18% put crime on the list of some of the worst things about the city."  METRAC's Safety Audits seek to address people's feelings of unsafety.

Participant Vignette

"I didn't know that you women faced all these things." At a workshop on women's safety and domestic violence held in Scarborough, the lone male participant shared that he learnt a lot during the event and said he "honestly didn't know" the many barriers that women face when trying to end abusive relationships.

Respect in Action (ReAct)

ReAct is a unique peer education program made of dynamic, diverse and skilled youth who facilitate interactive peer-to-peer workshops, trainings, speaking engagements and assemblies on violence against women and youth. ReAct raises awareness on the warning signs of violence, offers violence prevention tools, fosters discussion and introduces community resources to challenge and inspire youth. Since its inception in 2001, ReAct has delivered services to thousands of youth, educators and service providers, addressing issues such as:

• sexual assault
• sexual harassment
• bullying
• dating violence
• violence in families and at home
• stalking/criminal harassment
• rights and community supports for young women
• youth anti-violence leadership

ReAct’s peer-to-peer prevention model was recognized as a best practice in the breakthrough report on ending violence in Toronto schools, The Road to Health: A Final Report on School Safety. ReAct’s model was also reproduced to engage South Asian youth through a partnership with Social Services Network in York Region.

Funding and Program Partners

ReAct has received one-time, limited project funding from:

• United Way Toronto
• Canadian Women's Foundation
• Royal Bank of Canada
• Department of Justice Canada
• Status of Women Canada

Program Impact

Of 896 youth workshop participants surveyed in 2010:

• 56% said they learned “a lot” of new things and 38% said they learned “some” new things;
• 87% said ReAct Peer Facilitators did “great” and 12% said ReAct Peer Facilitators did “okay”; and
• 86% rated the workshop “great” and 12% rated the workshop “okay”

Of the youth workshop participants surveyed, 41% were 15 to 19 years old and 47% were aged 5 to 14 years old.

Of 33 educators and youth workers surveyed in 2010:

• youth participants’ response to workshops was rated at an average of 8.7 out of 10;
• ReAct Peer Facilitator performance was rated at an average of 9.3 out of 10;
• 100% said they would bring ReAct back;
• 100% said they would recommend ReAct;
• an average rating of 8.9 out of 10 was given to the question, “How well were your needs met?”; and
• an average rating of 9.1 out of 10 was given to workshops overall.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

"One-quarter of Toronto’s youth lack a sense of belonging to their local community ..."

(Toronto's Vital Signs®, 2010)

Many youth, particularly young women and those who are marginalized, are at high risk of violence and are prone to feeling like outsiders in their abilities to build safety in their lives and communities. ReAct works on a peer-to-peer level to inspire young people to end violence in their lives and in their communities, and ReAct builds these violence prevention opportunities for young people.

Participant Vignette

 Emily (a pseudonym) joined the ReAct program as a Youth Peer Facilitator when she was 18 years old. She didn’t speak about it at the time, but she was involved in an abusive relationship. Emily didn’t know how to deal with what was happening to her, even though she suspected that something was wrong. “I knew a little bit about abuse from other community programs I participated in, but the Peer Facilitator orientation training with ReAct helped me to see my boyfriend’s behaviour and I chose to end the relationship.” Emily also used her personal story and experiences of abuse to better relate to diverse young women and young men in the ReAct Program. “When you can talk from a real place, youth really can relate and connect to what you’re saying.”

 Emily says her involvement in the ReAct Program helped her to turn her life around. “I really grew,” she explains, “not only inside. I got the skills and self-esteem I needed to get into healthy relationships.” She firmly believes that METRAC’s support was crucial to her ability to graduate from high school and college, and it inspired her to get into community work and become the active youth leader she is today.

“Most programs end after the funding is done,” Emily says. “I’m so encouraged that METRAC has insisted on supporting youth through this program, despite the challenges. If we can put ourselves out there to support youth, others can and will too.” Emily is a firm believer in ReAct’s work and METRAC’s approach. “What makes ReAct and the way we address violence so special is that we really support and believe in youth - victims and those who may abuse or may get abused. I can say that METRAC taught me how to love myself.”