Performance Reporting — Continued

Goal 2: Enhanced public safety

Objective	Strategy
Make communities and schools safer	Promote effective crime prevention programs in communities

Public safety is a priority for the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor, and enhanced public safety is a significant goal of the protective programs core business area. Protective programs, under the Policing and Community Safety Branch, work together and in partnership with communities to enhance public safety through crime prevention initiatives.

The link between the goal of enhanced public safety and the objective of making communities and schools safer is clear — communities and schools are key public settings affected by crime. Efforts to make communities and schools safer will enhance public safety and citizens' sense of safety in B.C.

Through the strategy of funding and promoting crime prevention programs and projects that have been implemented with success in various school and community settings throughout the province, other schools and communities across B.C. receive the information, tools and resources to implement effective programs and projects in their own communities, thereby moving toward enhanced public safety.

Performance Measure	2001/02 Actual	2002/03 Target	2002/03 Actual
Number of community-based youth crime, violence, bullying and sexual exploitation projects funded	250	275	200  Target not met

This performance measure indicates how many communities and schools were mobilized by the promotion of effective programs and funding to take action against youth crime, violence, bullying and sexual exploitation.

The target established for 2002/03 was to fund 275 community-based youth crime, violence, bullying and sexual exploitation projects. Although that target was not met, the ministry did fund 200 projects in fiscal year 2002/03, and B.C. continues to be recognized as a leader in the prevention of youth crime, violence, bullying and sexual exploitation by members of the Federal/Provincial/Territorial (FPT) Working Group on Crime Prevention.

Crime prevention programs and projects funded by the ministry in 2002/03 include:

Community Mobilization Program: The ministry worked in partnership with the National Crime Prevention Strategy to approve funding for 97 crime prevention projects throughout B.C. All funded projects use crime prevention through social development approaches to address the root causes of crime.

Safe Streets Safe Schools Fund: The ministry provided funding for 21 crime prevention projects through this new initiative launched in October 2002. The funding strategy of this program encourages community contributions, thereby building local capacity to address crime problems.

B.C. Safe Schools and Communities Centre: The centre provides a coordinated response to assist schools and communities provincewide to address the root causes of crime.

Youth Taking Action: This is a two-day training workshop that provides youth with skills to take action to prevent violence, intimidation and harassment in their schools and communities.

Nights Alive: This community-based crime prevention for youth program supports "after hours" use of schools, recreation centres and other community facilities for recreational activities designed for youth by youth.

Crime Prevention Week and Safe Communities Day: Created in partnership by the members of the Provincial Safe Communities Working Group, these campaigns support communities in hosting events to encourage community members to get to know each other, learn more about crime prevention, and get involved in community safety efforts.

Assistant Deputy Minister's Committee on Prostitution and the Sexual Exploitation of Youth: The Committee includes representation from nine provincial government ministries and is co-chaired by the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General and the Ministry of Children and Family Development. The Committee oversees two grant programs designed to assist communities in developing local initiatives to address the sexual exploitation of youth and prostitution-related issues: the Community Projects Fund and the Aboriginal Youth Projects Fund.