Block Parent holding community safety seminar

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This article was published 25/04/2016 (3544 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On April 29, you can visit the Viscount Gort Hotel (1670 Portage Ave.) to learn about building safer communities for children.

Winnipeg Block Parents is hosting the event, in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (CCCP) and the Winnipeg Police Service.

“We haven’t partnered with CCCP very much and that’s something we should be doing,” Block Parents president George Jarvis said.

With the two organizations working towards similar goals — making our communities safer for children — Jarvis said it’s a partnership that he hopes to see grow. WPS patrol sergeant Phil Penner will be presenting as a leader in the neighbourhood watch program.

“He’s our go-to guy for the Block Parent program,” Jarvis said. “It’s one of only two safety programs that residents can take part in.”

He said the seminar will be an opportunity for the public to learn about topics of internet luring, new programs at the CCCP, and how Block Parents together with neighbourhood watch can help fill gaps in the community.

“Block Parents is really just a very simple community program,” Jarvis said. “It really provides us a stopgap for things that might escalate in a very serious manner. If somebody thinks they’re being chased by a person, whether it’s a bully of someone following them in a car, they can go to a Block Parent home, that’s an area that deescalates the situation.”

To become a Block Parent home, all of the residents living in the home over the age of 18 must go through a child abuse registry check, as well as a police records check. Once the process is completed, the home is provided with a Block Parent sign that indicates it as a safe space for someone in trouble.

“You just put it up in your window when you’re home and available,” Jarvis said. “You don’t have to change your lifestyle. If you’re home and you’re free, whatever you’re doing, just put your sign up.”

Block Parent residents don’t have to let anyone into their homes; all that’s required is that they make a phone call for the person at the door.

Jarvis said that while some areas, such as River Heights and Fort Rouge, have a high number of Block Parent homes, other areas have a need for more.

“When we get into the new developments, they’re just starting up so it tends to be lacking there,” he said.

“The inner city is not very good when you have a lot of rental homes and of course, apartment dwellers can’t be Block Parents either. People there perhaps don’t believe they’ll be in that neighbourhood for a long time, so they don’t bother.”

The seminar takes place on April 29 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Viscount Gort Hotel. A donation of $10 is suggested.