5. Community Supports

The support young children receive from their communities is increasingly recognized as an important contributor to their healthy development. This support comes in a variety of forms — for example, formal support through the education and recreation systems and informal support through friends and family.

The Government of Canada has initiated a number of programs to strengthen the supports for young children in communities. The National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) is described in this chapter. In addition to this initiative, the Government of Canada provides a variety of other programs that are based on community development and community capacity building. These programs include the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program (Chapter 2); the Community Action Program for Children (Chapter 3); First Nations and Inuit Child Care, Aboriginal Head Start in Urban and Northern Communities, and First Nations Head Start programs (all described in Chapter 6). As noted, they are described in other chapters of this report, but are also central to strengthening community supports for children and their families.

Justice Canada – Highlights

National Crime Prevention Strategy

Children under six are a priority for the NCPS. The year 2002-2003 saw an increase in both expenditures and activities addressing the needs of children under six — which are reflected in the Activities and Expenditures table at the end of the chapter. Since the NCPS responds to and funds proposals as they are submitted from communities, this increase was a result of needs identified within communities.

Partnerships with the voluntary and private sectors have always been central to NCPS programs, and 2002-2003 saw further developments in these partnerships. The NCPS has enhanced and developed its Business Network on Crime Prevention which is made up of the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores, Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, Canadian Bankers Association, Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, Insurance Bureau of Canada and Retail Council of Canada. The NCPS also worked with groups such as the Community Action Program for Children, Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Canadian Parks and Recreation Association, Canadian Teachers' Federation, Media Awareness Network, Concerned Children's Advertisers and Canadian Public Health Association. The voluntary and private sector continue to have strong advisory roles within the delivery of the NCPS.

The NCPS also assists communities in developing and implementing community-based solutions to local problems that contribute to crime and victimization. Many of the projects funded through the National Strategy focus on building capacity within Canadian communities and fostering the ability for communities themselves to develop and implement projects that address healthy child development. During 2002-2003, the NCPS, through its funding programs, increased community capacity within countless communities across Canada to do crime prevention through social development. Many community-based partnerships have been developed and strengthened through the work of the NCPS.

The NCPS uses data in a systematic way to collect lessons learned across funding programs. During the past year, changes have been made to data collection instruments, application forms, data collection databases, financial tracking systems and evaluation guidelines.

Community Supports Activities and Expenditures Tables
Other Supporting Programs
	Who mediates the activity?		Who does the activity reach?			What is the expenditure on children under 6 and their families?
	Intermediaries	Number of intermediaries	Children under 6	Families	Other
	2002-2003	2002-2003	2002-2003	2002-2003	2002-2003	2000-2001	2001-2002	2002-2003
Justice Canada
National Crime Prevention Strategy	Teachers Police community Health community Recreation communityi	N/A	X	X		$1,370,000ii	$1,378,000ii	$2,628,000ii,iii
Total expenditures						$1,370,000	$1,378,000	$2,628,000

Note: N/A refers to "not available" at the time of publication; -- refers to "not applicable."

i. Not an exhaustive list.
ii. Represents the total amount of money given by the NCPS through grants or contributions. It is not possible to distinguish the exact amount of money which went to children under 6 and their families.
iii. Increase in expenditures due to an increased number of projects funded.