An initiative in downtown Sudbury is helping businesses deal with issues such as loitering and open drug use without the intervention of the police.
Welcoming Streets is an initiative focusing on downtown that aims to address social disorder crimes.
The goal is to improve the area by fostering positive relationships with businesses by having outreach workers respond to and address non-urgent calls.
The charity Go-Give provides trained frontline outreach workers to respond to calls.
“That kind of works as a holistic approach for both local businesses that are dealing with … loitering, open substance use, those kinds of things,” said Evie Ali, executive director of the Go-Give Project.
“As well, (it) allows our friends in community get connected to other resources or services without the presence of police.”
‘It allows our friends in community get connected to other resources or services without the presence of police.’
— Evie Ali, executive director of the Go-Give Project
Welcoming Streets is a partnership between the Go-Give Project, the Greater Sudbury Police Service and Downtown Sudbury that started more than a year ago.
“The folks that are struggling on the streets of Sudbury right now, people would come to work you are dealing with somebody that is in crisis not necessarily violent but might be sleeping or having a hard time,” said Jeff MacIntyre of Downtown Sudbury.
“As a business person, you want to deal with it with compassion, but you also have to operate your business and generally when your timeframe is really tight, compassion becomes harder.”
Sudbury police Sgt. Matt Hall said the program was designed to help business owners dealing with “social disorder crimes that we kinda’ see on a day-to-day basis with our vulnerable population.
“Sleeping in people’s entranceways to using drugs, alcohol stuff that where a social worker can come and respond immediately and address the concerns of the businesses,” Hall said.
The Go-Give Project said the approach is being used in many other cities.
“There is just a lot of evidence that supports the fact that it helps support our community members where they are at, provides more longevity in services and solutions,” Ali said.
“As well as lessens policing dollars with the high number of calls that they typically get regarding these types of incidents.”
In 2024, the initiative received 419 calls, almost half of which were loitering complaints.
The other top concerns were for physical well-being and open drug use on the streets.
