Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan for City of Stratford, Town of St. Marys and Perth County

Stratford, St. Marys, North Perth, West Perth, Perth East, and Perth South are looking to their residents for input as they collaboratively develop a Community Safety and Wellbeing (CSWB) Plan. All municipalities in Ontario are required, under the Province's Safer Ontario Act, 2018, to develop a CSWB Plan by 2021.

The goal of the CSWB Plan is to achieve a sustainable community where everyone is safe, has a sense of belonging, access to services, and where individuals and families are able to meet their needs for education, health care, food, housing, income, and social and cultural expression. The six partner municipalities hope to engage residents during this stage of the development process.

Informed through consultation, the Plan will focus on ways community members, government, local agencies, and stakeholders can work together to sustain and improve the overall quality of life for residents in the City of Stratford, St. Marys, North Perth, West Perth, Perth East, and Perth South.

Citizens are being asked to participate by sharing their perspectives and experiences regarding community safety and wellbeing through an online survey which can be found at www.surveymonkey.com/r/CSWBPsurvey.

To participate in the survey by telephone or to receive a hard copy of the survey, call 519-271-3773 ext. 6231 or email jfast@stratford.ca.

The CSWB Plan survey is being launched on July 30^th, 2020, and will remain open until September 11^th, 2020.

If you have questions about this initiative or would like more information, please reach out to Kim McElroy at kmcelroy@stratford.ca or by phone at (519) 271-3773 Ext. 6252

Additional CSWB Plan and Survey Information:

The municipal CSWB plans will be created using a collaborative approach to identifying local priorities in four specific areas:

1. Social development – promoting and maintaining community safety and well-being
2. Prevention – Proactively reducing the risk of harm
3. Risk intervention - Addressing situations where there is an elevated risk of harm
4. Incident response – Immediately responding to urgent situations

Addressing these four areas will help to ensure local plans are as efficient and effective as possible in making communities safer and healthier.

This survey is part of the consultation efforts being carried out to inform the direction of the Plan. In order to ensure the creation of a successful CSWB Plan, we need to hear from you about the current state of safety and well-being so that we can work together to focus on local actions to improve the quality of life for everyone.

It will take about 20-30 minutes to complete the survey. The survey includes questions about your day-to-day life, health, employment, safety, and leisure and recreation experiences. By sharing your experiences and letting us know what matters to you, you can help to shape life in Stratford, St. Marys, and Perth County, determine key priorities, and indicate where you think change is needed.

Your participation in the survey is voluntary and you can refuse to participate or withdraw from the survey at any time simply by stopping the survey. Once you have submitted the survey, you will not be able to withdraw your responses, since they are not linked to individual respondents. Your responses will remain anonymous and confidential by grouping responses together and removing any identifying information.

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact info@dpra.ca. For more information about the CSWB Plan initiative, please contact Kim McElroy at kmcelroy@stratford.ca.