Posted on: February 5th, 2014 by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
In the first part of our follow up to the Snapshot on Crime series, we shared some themes and commonalities we found in the informative, thought-provoking responses of community residents and leaders to the report – A Snapshot in Time: The Root Causes of Crime in Waterloo Region. Each contributor reflected on local data in the report concerning one social, community or economic circumstance associated with increases or decreases in crime. We shared powerful quotes from contributors illustrating the importance of individual actions, and the need for transformative changes, like changes in attitudes, in order to address the root causes of crime. There was so much to share, we couldn’t fit them all in to one blog post. Read on….
The connections between social, economic and community circumstances and crime are complex. There are often multiple circumstances that adversely impact people and communities requiring coordinated, holistic responses to the interconnected roots of crime and victimization.
For example, Jill Stoddart explains that children in care of child welfare “often come from disadvantaged families and have been subjected to maltreatment and neglect” and thus “are often at higher risk of involvement in the youth justice system, homelessness, substance abuse” and other problems.
While being young and male is associated with an increased risk of crime and victimization, Rohan Thompson from the inREACH gang prevention project says “the vast majority of youth crime is being committed by a small number of young offenders.” Further, these youth “have lived and been exposed to risks most of their young life, so participation in a gang is just the symptom of deeper more complex issues…” requiring “a holistic long term approach.”
Since “length of involvement in schooling significantly impacts participation in criminal activity,” school boards go to “great lengths” to decrease the number of residents without a high school education. David DeSantis gives examples of Catholic school board initiatives such as the “Supervised Alternative Learning programs [that] allow students to work full-time, get mental health supports, volunteer hours and accumulate credits.”
“…children and youth from fragmented households are perhaps just as likely to commit crime as lone-parent offspring. What do I mean by fragmented? A two parent family, where the parents… at the end of the day are too tired, burned out and stressed, leaving little time or energy to actively engage their children. “
“She [victim] learned that Brianna was not the monster that she had imagined her to be, but a troubled young woman who had been the past victim of rape and abuse, trying to turn her life around. Carol’s fear was transformed.”
Many writers emphasized the critical need to focus more attention on preventing problems from occurring in the first place.
Amy Romagnoli explains that many community organizations “place great value on early child development as an up-stream approach to preventing negative child outcomes…Programs that promote and offer early learning opportunities need to be prioritized, implemented and given a chance to prove their value in the long term.”
So… where does all this leave us?
First, the good news, crime rates have been steadily falling in Waterloo Region and the Snap Shot in Time report shows Waterloo Region is committed to paying attention to the root cause of crime. “A continued diligent effort to monitor and intervene in the root causes of crime is a powerful tool for ensuring that this trend can continue into the future.”
Community residents and leaders described the important work being done in our community to address the root causes of crime and victimization and to build a safe and healthy community for everyone. They shared their insights, stories, and calls for action. One of the important messages is that everyone can make a difference – so join us!
What more do we need to do? Considering all the good efforts already under way, are you satisfied with the work of the community or would you like to do more? Is there a particular area in which you would like to see our community put more collective and concentrated effort?
Essentially…. Where do we go from here? Speak up community, you’re great at this! And you’re great at making things happen too.
Who knew I’d be joining the Friends of Crime Prevention in my retirement years? Well, it has to be destiny, no one could have told me this would be in my plans, but what a blessing.
Let me back it up a bit for you, to Nov. 3, 2011 when my son Daniel, then 28, went missing. Once we learned where his vehicle was found (Temagami backcountry, Red Squirrel Road), we at least know where he potentially was and that there was no evidence of foul play or crime. But, the need to file a local missing persons report and then have another police force take over the search (OPP, Temiskaming), we were confronted with a lot of new learning about police procedures and, most importantly, about the gap in support services for families with missing loved ones, particularly when there is no evidence of crime.
Daniel is still missing today.
Fast forward to December 2013 when I joined Friends of Crime Prevention. In an effort to find meaning in the uncertainty of my son missing for over 2 years, I reached out to agencies in our community to try and get a network started to help support families like mine. Having known Christine Sadeler at the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council when I worked at the Region of Waterloo and knew about their close workings with the community, I reached out to her to share my need. I wanted to spread the message about missing persons so we could create a network that would to help raise awareness and fill a gap I see in our community.
I attended the Friends of Crime Prevention event on January. 9, 2014 and was pleased with the number of representatives from the community, as board members, professionals and friends. This reinforced that my decision to become a Friend of Crime Prevention was indeed a good one. Not only was it informative, but it gave me a much better sense of the diversity of the group and the many facets of crime prevention from a community perspective. A bonus was getting a tour of the new WRPS North Division Station, where the meeting was held.
My hope is that not only do I have the opportunity to become part of a group with many facets of crime prevention as their objective, but also to get others engaged in making it a better place for those who may be impacted by a missing loved one. I thank Friends of Crime Prevention for giving our community this opportunity to participate and play as active a role as we can give.
In an effort to do my part as a Friend of Crime Prevention and raising awareness about what it’s like for families with missing loved ones, I want to point you toward a very timely media series in the Waterloo Region Record. Anyone who feels they can help play a role in providing support services for the families with missing loved ones, please contact me, Maureen Trask.
Media Series: MISSING in Waterloo Region
In collaboration with Waterloo Regional Police Service and the Waterloo Region Record, families with missing loved ones are currently sharing their stories, challenges and issues. Greg Mercer is the reporter writing this series and is supported by Richard Dorling from WRPS who is working with the missing cases and the families concerned. We are very grateful for their amazing support and assistance.
Check the Saturday paper or online for ‘MISSING’ articles, giving a better awareness and understanding of what it’s like for families with a missing loved one.
I stood at the gate in the large fence waiting for someone to notice me. “How can I help you?” came the voice over the intercom. “My name is Andrew Jackson. I’m from the Accelerator Centre and I’m here to run the Entrepreneur Session.” I replied. The gate buzzed and I walked through the gate, went up the path and entered the building. I handed over my identification, signed in and then passed through a metal detector. Five minutes later I stood at the front of a classroom with 25 women waiting for me to start talking. “Good morning” I said. “Good morning.” came the reply from the women of Grand Valley Institution for Women (GVI).
This past Saturday was the third year I have gone to Grand Valley Institution as a representative of the Accelerator Centre in order to deliver four 2-hour sessions over two weekends to the women. It has quickly become a highlight of the year for me and the numerous volunteers that help teach the course.
The Accelerator Centre is a business incubator for tech companies where we are paid to provide facilities and programming in order to help start-up companies speed up the process of becoming large, sustainable, revenue generating entities. So the inevitable question is “Why do you go to Grand Valley?” The short answer is: “because the women let us.”
Three years ago Jessica Hutchison, a hard-working and passionate person from the Region of Waterloo, approached the Accelerator Centre to see if we would be interested in presenting an entrepreneurial course to the women at GVI. After some internal discussions we agreed we would do it.
Our first chore was to figure out what the content of the sessions would be. We have done presentations numerous times before on why people should become entrepreneurs and the skills and knowledge they need to do so. It was very important to us that we didn’t simplify our sessions for the women but instead we tailored the information to make it appropriate for women who would be looking to form their own company when they left GVI or would be looking to set themselves up for employment after some tough times.
The next thing to do was figure out who would come with us to present the material. Again, it was important to us to bring the same top-notch, experienced people that we would use for any of our presentations. We are very lucky to have CEOs and upper management level people volunteer their weekend time and join us at Grand Valley. As I tell the women, we bring the best available people because we believe they deserve the best available people.
The first year we attended GVI we had 12 women attend the course. The last two years we have had 24 and 25 women, respectively, attend. The women are respectful and polite and ready to learn. None of them have to be there but they choose to be and that means a lot to us.
It is our hope that we are providing the women of Grand Valley Institution with some knowledge that will empower them upon their release. We know that they are in GVI for a variety of reasons and the courts have decided they warranted some form of punishment. But we also know that when they are released from prison they deserve every opportunity to reintegrate into their communities in a positive way. I look forward to the day that I can enter a business that is owned by one of the women that attended our Entrepreneur Sessions.
What impact has this experience had on me personally? Well, this past Friday I had the opportunity to talk to the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council about our involvement with the Grand Valley Institution. I am proud to let everybody know about the awesome feeling I get when I see the smiling faces on the women as we shake their hands and give them a certificate of completion for our course.
I had to stop talking three times to choke back my tears. But please keep that part quiet.
Author: As Vice President, Client Services, Andrew Jackson leads the educational curriculum for Clients at the Accelerator Centre. In addition, Andrew manages the celebrated in-house mentorship program, an essential component of the Accelerator Program. As clients seek to grow their business knowledge and develop essential skills, Andrew connects them with the resources necessary for their business to achieve long term success.
Data Source: Statistics Canada, Census (Released every five years)
Story Behind the Numbers
In 2006, 23.8% of residents in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo CMA did not have a high school diploma. This is the exact same as the Ontario provincial average and slightly above the Canada average of 23.4%. However, when the results are examined for individuals under the age of 35, the Waterloo Region has more residents without a high school diploma than the Provincial average. This is significant because individuals under the age of 35 are at the highest risk of participating in criminal activity.
It is no surprise that the length of involvement in schooling significantly impacts participation in criminal activity and the probability of incarceration, as found in Snapshot in Time: Root Causes of Crime in Waterloo Region. In fact, this has been well-known in the education sector for many years – which explains the great lengths to which school boards go in mitigating against this problem.
As part of the Student Success Learning to 18 Strategy — through the Re-engagement (12 & 12+) Initiative – school boards contact students who have either left school or have not been attending to re-engage them in their studies to complete their Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD). Funding is provided to the boards to support programs for these students once they return and in Waterloo Region’s Catholic Schools we dedicate a significant amount of staff time to, first, actually locating the whereabouts of these students and then helping them complete their required volunteer hours and/or registered them at our St. Louis Adult Learning & Continuing Education Centres or their home secondary school to accumulate credits toward the OSSD.
The tracking of all of our in-risk students (Grade 9 to those that have left our system without an OSSD) is reported to the Ministry of Education along with other student success tracking data through “Taking Stock” reports. These reports outline the following:
how many students our schools are tracking that are in-risk;
are these students attached to a caring adult;
was their timetable individualized;
are they getting advice on pathways planning;
has a strengths profile been created for the student.
Our own internal tracking for students who have left our system without an OSSD looks at:
number of students contacted;
did they register for courses, how many;
how many credits did they accumulate.
In addition to the above some key initiatives are in place to meet the needs of all of our students on their way to successful completion of the OSSD.
Specialist High Skills Majors allow students to focus on a future career through a bundle of classroom courses, workplace experiences and sector certifications
Expansion of Cooperative Education allows students to count this hands-on learning towards two compulsory high school credits
E-Learning provides students with online courses and allows teachers to share resources across the province
Dual Credits count toward a student’s high school diploma as well as a college certificate, diploma or apprenticeship certification
Credit rescue programs intervene prior to a student experiencing failure in a course
Credit recovery programs allow students who have failed a course to only repeat expectations where they have been unsuccessful rather than redoing the whole course
Supervised Alternative Learning programs allow students to work full-time, get mental health supports, volunteer hours and accumulate credits
So…when it comes to playing our role in reducing the number of local residents without a high school diploma you can rest assured Waterloo Region’s Catholic Schools are front and centre in closing the gap.
Author: David DeSantis is the Superintendent of Learning for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board and responsible for Student Success, Secondary Schools, St. Mary’s FOS, Leadership Development and Succession and 21st Century Teaching and Learning.
Posted on: September 10th, 2013 by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
You might have noticed it in the title… the operative word being “early”. Every three years Senior Kindergarten teachers evaluate their students using the Early Development Instrument. This tool provides scores on a number of factors, two of which directly relate to crime prevention. Social competence measures a child’s interactions with others, ability to control their own behaviour, and cooperation with others. Emotional maturity measures a child’s ability for impulsivity control, ability to deal with feelings, and empathy for others. The percentage of children scoring low on these indices is noteworthy because antisocial behaviour among children is associated with an increased risk of persistent delinquency and criminal involvement later in life
The Statistics
Data Source: Ontario Early Years Centre, A Community Fit for Children Report (Released Every Three Years)
The Story Behind the Numbers
The percentage of children scoring low on the social competence and emotional maturity index declined from 2007 to 2010. However, despite the improvement Waterloo Region did not score as well as Ontario in 2011 which had 9.3% of children score low in social competence. Waterloo Region was also lower than Ontario, at 10.3%, on emotional maturity but this difference was not statistically significant. These numbers suggest that prevention opportunities exist through a focus on improving children’s emotional and social readiness for school.
When reviewing the Snapshot in Time: Root Causes of Crime indicator comparing the 2007 and 2010 results of the ‘social competence’ domain of the Early Development Instrument, Waterloo region shows some improvement. 1.7% less children scored low on ‘social competence’ in 2010 than did three years previous, and this difference is statistically significant. While encouraging, the percentage of children in Waterloo Region who are vulnerable (scored low) on this domain is still 1.2% higher than that of Ontario as a whole. This tells us that we still have room for improvement as well as an opportunity to set a goal to match or do better than the Ontario average in this domain. Since children in Waterloo Region are not scoring significantly different than Ontario as a whole on the ‘emotional maturity’ domain and in fact the percentage scoring low has decreased, we want to continue with this trend. The inclusion of these indicators in understanding crime prevention serves as a reminder that the importance of early learning goes much beyond the reading, writing and arithmetic facets.
Currently, there are many organizations and agencies involved in addressing this issue in the community services sector. Ontario Early Years Centres provide universal, free access to early learning and parenting programs for children age 0-6 and their caregivers. Early Development Instrument data is used in program planning to help ensure that programs encompass the most current needs of the children and that programming brought into other sites across our communities are geared to address the areas of child development that need improvement. Operating as a “hub”, Ontario Early Years also connects families with other resources in the community that can provide services related to the early development of children, including social and emotional development.
Community and Community Health Centres, Neighbourhood Associations, Social Planning Councils, non-profit organizations such as the YMCA and KidsAbility, to name a few, also place great value on early child development as an up-stream approach to preventing negative child outcomes. Beyond the community services sector, local school boards, municipalities and public health units similarly use data on social and emotional development for planning programs and services for families.
Throughout my time working in the community services sector, I have seen how hard agencies work together not only to ensure that we are aware of the importance of early child development, but also to provide services that work towards reducing the number of vulnerable children. Programs that promote and offer early learning opportunities need to be prioritized, implemented and given a chance to prove their value in the long term. It is especially the universal programs which have the most impact.
Author: Amy Romagnoli is the Data Analysis Coordinator at the YMCA Ontario Early Years Centre, working with data related to the developmental health and well-being of young children in Waterloo Region. She holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Being a leader doesn’t necessarily mean being at the front of a rally with a megaphone. There are many components to leadership. It’s important, especially for the guys reading this, to remember that we are all leaders, whether to our brothers and sisters, our partners, our friends, or to our sons and daughters.
The sexism, misogyny, transphobia and homophobia found in the media and in our everyday interactions can be overwhelming and confronting these issues can make us feel vulnerable or powerless. At the same time, many men (and women) do not know how to confront these issues in their own lives. Unfortunately, this means that a lot of us remain silent. However, when we remain silent about violence against women we are perpetuating a rape culture – whether we intend to or not.
What does rape culture mean?
Rape culture is a term used to describe a society wherein sexual violence is normalized through behaviours, attitudes and practices that tolerate rape. Okay… what does that mean? Rape is not the only action that perpetuates rape. How we act and what we say go a long way in telling those around us what is acceptable. For example, if we laugh or remain silent when a rape joke is told by one of our co-workers while we are not condoning the behaviour described in the joke – we are allowing the attitude expressed by the person who told the joke to remain unchallenged and spread.
While sexist and misogynistic attitudes may not physically harm women we know that language structures our thoughts and behaviours. The more prevalent these attitudes become, the more they are internalized by men and used as justification for their treatment of women. Admittedly, the intent of jokes that dehumanize women is generally not to encourage men to physically harm women. However, the impact of rape jokes is the creation of a rape culture that tells the men listening that their behaviours and attitudes towards women are acceptable.
Undoubtedly, this is a societal issue — but it also needs to be addressed individually. I want to encourage men to become accountable in their own lives and understand that they can make a difference simply by working to be the best version of themselves that they can be. One way we can do this is by leading with lollipops:
To end, I would like to say that while men need to become more active, we must continue to be accountable to women and women’s organizations such as the Sexual Assault Support Centre Waterloo Region (sascwr.org) who have been doing this work for decades and who make the work we do possible. Men who become involved in ending violence against women are often romanticized while the work of women goes ignored or unnoticed. As such, it is important to remember that while the dominant construction of masculinity may not work for all men – patriarchy does.
Author: Stephen Soucie is a MAASV Public Education Facilitator for the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region. Currently, he is a Masters student in the Critical Sociology program at Brock University. His research areas include: violence against women, men and masculinities, masculinity and sport, and engaging men in anti-violence activism.
Fans of the television show The Simpsons will remember an early episode where a casino opens in Springfield and Marge becomes addicted to gambling.
The episode continues with Marge neglecting the Simpson family and Homer ultimately declaring “the only monster here is the gambling monster that has enslaved your mother! I call him Gamblor, and it’s time to snatch your mother from his neon claws!”
Oh Gamblor, the problem gambling demon that many fear moves into town when a casino opens. With the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation considering a new casino somewhere in southern Ontario, possibly even Woolwich Township in our region, we started looking for evidence of the link between casinos, crime and the impact on communities.
Do casinos increase crime?
Ontario’s casinos are government owned and operated which likely decreases the presence of organized crime in casinos. Street-level crimes such as money laundering, counterfeiting, theft, assault, robbery, drug dealing, and prostitution sometimes occur in and around casinos. There is disagreement in the research as to whether or not street-level crime increases when a casino opens.
In Ontario there is no clear link between casinos and crime. Since opening casinos in the 1990’s Ontario casino towns have not experienced increased crime. However individuals with criminal records may be attracted casinos. There is a lot of research from outside of Canada that indicates robbery and theft increase when a casino opens. The largest U.S. study on casinos and crime found that crime decreased for the first two years of casino operations and then increased three to five years after a casino opened, spilling over to neighbouring communities. Another U.S. study found that violent crime increased by 10% after a casino opened.
Casinos increase problem gambling
What is clear in the research is that the presence of a casino increased problem gambling in the community. Problem gambling, like any addiction, can lead to crimes such as fraud, theft, drug dealing, or prostitution. The impacts on family can be severe as problem gambling has been linked to increased domestic violence and child abuse.
Casinos decrease social capital
Casinos can erode the level of trust in a community by increasing fear of crime and therefore decreasing social capital. Calls to police reporting suspicious person are greater in casino areas, suggesting people may be less trusting around casinos.
So what can be done to ensure that Gamblor does not take hold of your loved ones? Casinos can take steps to promote responsible gambling including: information to gamblers, casino policies, and the physical casino space.
Having information on problem gambling visible and available to all gamblers. This includes putting gambling helpline numbers and websites on slot machines
Limiting the size of bets
Posting the odds for games and increasing awareness of how random chance works. Just for fun… here’s a great video on how random chance works and how to gamble responsibly (produced by Gambling Awareness Nova Scotia in cooperation with the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre (OPGRC) and in partnership with Addiction Services, Nova Scotia Health and Wellness)
Not serving refreshments at gaming tables or machines
Training casino staff to identify and intervene with problem gamblers
Allowing players to set their own loss and time limits
Closing the casino for at least 6 hours a day
Having a gambler tracking system that helps identify problem gamblers and sends all gamblers regular statements on their winnings and loses
Having self exclusion programs that are well promoted and easy to use
The physical casino space
Having a registration desk where gamblers must sign in and present identification
Only having one ATM in a casino that does not take credit cards and has a withdrawal limit of $250 dollars per person per day
Modifying slot machines to eliminate features that encourage excessive play
Having fewer tables and gaming formats
The discussion about casinos and crime needs to be informed by evidence and we found that alongside problem gambling there are other problems that come with a casino such as the possibility of increased crime and likelihood of social capital decreasing. However some of these impacts can be lessened by casinos implementing best practices in responsible gambling. If Waterloo Region does choose to host a casino considering these best practices could lessen the harmful effects of problem gambling.
Gamblor will happily move in with a casino but we might be able to prevent his neon claws from getting a hold of the community. Do you know of examples where communities have successfully preserved their social capital and prevented the potential negative impacts of casino may bring?
NB: If you are curious about the full list of sources used for this article, email us at info [at] smartoncrime.ca and we’ll send you the whole list!
Keely Phillips is a Masters of Social Work candidate at Wilfrid Laurier University and has spent the past four months completing her practicum placement with WRCPC. She was excited to be able to use her love of The Simpsons to discuss casinos, crime, and problem gambling, marking the second time she has used The Simpsons as academic fodder. Previously, she used The Simpsons in her undergraduate degree to examine the gendered experience of leisure.
Posted on: September 17th, 2012 by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
I wish this were a fairy tale but sadly, it’s all too true. Every so often my white bread world is, to quote a British friend, “gobsmacked” (shaken, astonished, shocked) and this was the case recently when I attended a workshop on the issue of human trafficking in Canada. The event was sponsored by the Downtown East Project and hosted by the Steps to Change Diversion Program. Mill Courtland Community Association in conjunction with the Waterloo Region Police Services, the Bylaw Enforcement Division of the City of Kitchener, along with other community associations, are partners in an attempt to alert the public and various levels of government to the prevalence and severity of human trafficking. It’s an issue that largely flies under the radar of most citizens though I hope this will change in the near future as its cost in human terms is incalculable. Human trafficking is different from human smuggling. According to the RCMP, human trafficking involves the recruitment, transportation or harbouring of persons for the purpose of exploitation (typically as sex trade workers for forced construction labour) whereas human smuggling is a form of illegal migration involving the organized transport of a person across an international border for money.
Timea Nagy is a survivor of human trafficking and speaks to audiences in Canada and internationally about her experience. It is harrowing to listen to. Timea first became a victim of trafficking when she lived in Hungary. She was looking for a way to make money to help pay debts and was approached by a woman who offered her an opportunity to come to Canada where she could work as a baby sitter. The woman seemed sincere and offered Timea a contract written entirely in English. Timea neither spoke nor read English but trusted the woman. Upon arrival in Canada she was kept at Customs and questioned by officers who were seeing many Eastern European women entering the country under false pretenses. The officers, through an interpreter, explained the contract to her. She was expected to work as an exotic dancer and Timea, disoriented, exhausted and confused was just beginning a saga that would forever change her life.
She was sent back to Hungary but not before meeting up with members of the crime ring sent to meet her. They informed her of her debt incurred through the plane ticket and how she was to pay it back. That night she was taken to a strip club and raped. This was the start of the intentional dehumanization process used to control her mind and her body. Threats to her family in Hungary were made and though she was returned to Hungary, the threats continued in her home country. Feeling trapped, she returned to Canada to work to pay off her debt to the criminal organization. This world was completely foreign to her, literally and metaphorically. Timea, in her own words, was a good girl, whose mother was a police officer and Timea lived a fairly sheltered life. She was completely unprepared for the life she was to face. As she tells it, it was almost impossible to pay the debt because she was charged for ‘expenses’ such as $360.00 for an oil change or $560.00 to replace the headlight for the car used to take her to the club. If she or any of the other girls was late being picked up for their work shift (11 am to 2 am the following day) they were charged $100. 00 per minute. Girls like Timea were afraid to go to the police as some had bad experiences in their country of origin. They were broken down psychologically, almost as one in a prison camp, their dignity was stripped away and they did whatever they were told for fear of retribution but also, because many had lost the will to fight back. They were strangers in a strange land and this sense of fear was used as a form of manipulation and control.
Police forces at all levels have joined together to pursue, capture and prosecute those who traffic in human slavery. This is an international battle as criminal gangs, organized for this specific purpose, generate huge profits that cross borders every day. Many countries are moving forward with legislation and police resources but it’s not easy to get convictions if the victims are too traumatized to come forward or are kept virtual prisoners in motel rooms across the country, driven to strip bars or construction sites where few questions are asked.
Locally, the hope is to create a task force including enforcement groups and those providing recovery and support to develop a comprehensive action plan and strategic approach to help victims and also reduce the instances of this criminal activity.
We often think that slavery no longer exists but, having spent a day learning about human trafficking, it’s clear this evil continues to thrive in societies around the world. If you’d like to learn more, visit some of the links listed below and help join the battle against human trafficking.
I think you’ll be gobsmacked as well. It doesn’t feel good does it?
Author: Frank Johnson is a regular guest writer for Smart on Crime in Waterloo Region. Frank is a retired principal with the local Catholic school board, a dad, and sometimes runner who possesses an irreverent sense of humour that periodically gets him in trouble. He lives in Waterloo, Ontario.
Frank Johnson’s writing reflects his own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views or official positions of the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council.
Sharing the story of the Accelerator Centre with 50 
Data Source: Ontario Early Years Centre, A Community Fit for Children Report (Released Every Three Years)
Author: Amy Romagnoli is the Data Analysis Coordinator at the YMCA 