One City team ready to help downtown businesses and individuals in time of crisis

Since its launch, Unity Project has been involved in over 600 supportive interactions

We’re sharing this information with you, even though we didn’t write it. It was provided by One City Peterborough. This copy was reviewed and edited by the Metroland editorial team.

A new team of outreach workers is now available to help downtown Peterborough business owners and employees as well as individuals in crisis.

Launched by One City Peterborough, the new Unity Project is made up of a team of three outreach workers who can provide a variety of supports to businesses and individuals in the downtown community on a regular basis. This includes intervening and de-escalating crisis situations, redirecting individuals to places of support as needed, mediating conversations between business owners and community members, cleaning up sharps or drug-use equipment and providing overdose and naloxone training to businesses.

Jason Smith is one of the outreach workers and said the purpose is to help support community members in the downtown area who are experiencing significant challenges, while also supporting business to function in ways that make sense for them.

“We get to be an additional resource for people to call when community members need support,” said Smith in a prepared release about the new outreach team.

Businesses are encouraged to call the Unity team in situations where an individual requires support or intervention, but not in medical distress or breaking the law.

“We are not security guards, and we don’t enforce anything, rather we step in with support when deescalation or mediation is needed,” said outreach worker, Will Bartley.

The team is rooted in a support model, therefore it does not engage in enforcement such as forcefully removing individuals from a space, removing tents or retrieving stolen property.

The project officially launched in early January, with a focus on building connections with downtown businesses, sharing information about the program and establishing a consistent presence in the downtown area.

“We are blown away by the amount of compassion and understanding we are seeing from businesses toward members of our community,” said Smith.

Since its launch, the team has already been involved in over 600 supportive interactions. Calls for support are steadily increasing, and the project has already received a great deal of positive feedback from the community, including requests for expanded hours of operation, states the release.

“I feel like it’s going exceptionally well,” said Bartley. “When we respond to a call, businesses are excited to have us show up, and community members who need support are starting to know us by name. We are building capacity and meeting people where they are at, and it’s a sign that the program is clearly working well and is needed in our community.”

The Unity team is available Tuesday through Saturday, in the downtown core, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. They can be reached at 705-9917720.

‘‘ We are blown away by the amount of compassion and understanding we are seeing from businesses toward members of our community.

JASON SMITH OUTREACH WORKER