Description/Purpose

REACH Edmonton Council for Safe Communities is a community-based coordinating council working to make Edmonton a safer city in one generation. Their focus is on crime prevention initiatives. REACH Edmonton works with organizations, agencies, community groups and individual Edmontonians to realize their innovative ideas for crime prevention.

Origins

In 2008, Mayor Stephen Mandel created a 25 person task force on Community Safety. The Mayor directed the taskforce to address the root causes of crime and provide suggestions that would make a lasting difference.

The work of the taskforce was summarized in the 2009 REACH Report, which contains nine recommendations to make Edmonton a safer community.

The recommendations focused on investing in youth and children; driving change in the coordination and delivery of programs to reduce crime; and, seeking out and developing community leaders who support and promote prevention.

Establishing a new leadership body for community safety was a fundamental recommendation of the report. In 2010, REACH was established as an overarching centre for promoting and sustaining community safety.

REACH is not an acronym. The name was chosen to reflect reaching out to help and include all Edmontonians, and reaching for new goals and ways of working.

REACH Today

REACH Edmonton is building on a 20-year legacy of collaborative and leading-edge approaches to community safety.

The role of REACH is to initiate, coordinate and integrate, not duplicate what already exists. It is focused on building and supporting existing good work.

REACH is involved with over 30 projects city-wide that have diverse approaches to prevention and safety. Some of these projects focus on youth at risk, newcomer families, and creating new leadership while other projects help vulnerable populations.

REACH's success depends on a true spirit of collaboration, with three levels of government, the EPS, community organizations and the corporate sector.

Edmonton City Council Advisor

Name of Appointee First Appointed Term Expiry Date
Councillor Erin Rutherford Nov 10/21 AGM in 2025

 

Meetings

The Board meets bi-monthly on the third Wednesday of the month.