The Blueprint for Violence Prevention is Edmonton's long term plan to reduce and stop violence before it starts. The blueprint is a collaborative plan.
We're bringing together governments, communities, cross-sectoral partners, law enforcement, businesses and City departments to use everyone's unique abilities and make Edmonton safer.
The Blueprint sets out three measurable and tangible goals to address violence and safety:
We strengthen how we lead and work together, now and into the future. This means creating a shared and lasting plan to put our violence prevention strategy into action.
We tackle violence occurring now. We use targeted strategies to stop violence where it's happening and help those most affected.
We stop violence before it even starts. It's about creating safe, healthy places that help people thrive, so violence doesn't have a chance to take hold.
See the Council Report and The Blueprint for Violence Prevention for more details.
Blueprint for Violence Prevention Grant
In 2025, $1,000,000 will be invested in community grants to support community organizations working to address and prevent violence in our city. This grant aims to scale up existing evidence-based projects/programs, with a focus on youth and/or place-based projects that address one or both of the following goals:
- Prevent Violence in the Near Term: We tackle violence occurring now. We use targeted strategies to stop violence where it's happening and help those most affected.
- Move Upstream: We stop violence before it even starts. It's about creating safe, healthy places that help people thrive, so violence doesn't have a chance to take hold.
The BVP Grant opens August 11, 2025 and remains open until September 24, 2025. To learn more about the grant, see Blueprint for Violence Prevention Grant.
Needs Assessment
Our current focus is on a needs assessment to better understand violence in our community and ensure our actions are data-driven. A working group of dedicated partners is looking at local data to identify key violence prevention priorities and establish how we will measure success. This foundational work will help develop shared priorities for the Violence Reduction Network (currently under development).
Why This Matters
Violence, crime, and negative perceptions of safety can affect any community, but it doesn't impact everyone or every place the same. Our city faces complex challenges related to crime and violence, impacting peoples' quality of life and coming at a high cost, socially and economically. But we believe violence is preventable.
BVP promotes the need for a shared response from many sectors. It is intended to evolve areas of focus as needs change. Based on a 2023 motion from City Council, BVP takes an initial focus on youth, increasing safety within neighbourhoods most impacted, and targeting specific areas of concern. It also supports local initiatives that fix the underlying issues that lead to violence.
What We’ve Done So Far
The Blueprint for Violence Prevention is grounded in research, data, and local knowledge. The work began with a review of what is already happening in Edmonton and where gaps may exist.
To guide the early development of the plan, partners worked to:
- Review local, national and international violence prevention strategies
- Collect and analyze data related to safety and risk and protective factors
- Held initial engagement sessions with more than 60 organizations and community partners
- Identify priority areas for action based on what we heard and learned
Working together through the Violence Reduction Network
More focused and meaningful engagement with communities and partners is planned as the Blueprint grows. This work will be coordinated through the Violence Reduction Network (VRN), a group of partners working together to align efforts and reduce violence across Edmonton.
The VRN is currently in development, It will help guide shared priorities and strengthen communication across sectors.
For more information, email sppteam@edmonton.ca with subject line “BVP”.