Ottawa, Ontario
Centretown Community Health Centre
Piloting Peer-Led Community Response to Site Closures
Requested amount: $50,000
The Challenge
The closure of supervised consumption services in Ottawa has changed where people use substances and where they seek support. Community health centres are increasingly responding to complex health and social needs outside their buildings while continuing to provide primary care, early years programming, mental health services, and harm reduction.
At Centretown Community Health Centre, this shift has increased demand for outreach, de-escalation, environmental stewardship, and community engagement in the public spaces surrounding our site. Staff are spending growing amounts of time responding to issues that fall outside traditional clinical care, while neighbours, local businesses, and people experiencing homelessness all continue to look to us for support.
Although these needs are immediate, there is currently no dedicated funding to help community health centres adapt. We are seeking short-term funding to test a practical, peer-led model that improves safety, strengthens relationships, and creates additional pathways into health and social services while informing longer-term community responses.
The Approach
Centretown Community Health Centre will expand an emerging peer-led community response model around our facility and surrounding neighbourhood.
People with lived and living experience will be employed to undertake community cleanups, distribute basic supplies, welcome families and visitors accessing the centre, engage with people spending time in nearby public spaces, connect individuals to available health and social services, and help communicate shared expectations for respectful use of the area.
This work will be coordinated alongside existing outreach, harm reduction, primary care, and crisis response services, allowing staff to focus on clinical care while increasing the centre’s presence in surrounding public spaces.
The project will test whether a visible, relationship-based approach can improve community wellbeing, reduce preventable conflicts, and strengthen connections between community members and available supports.
What Success Looks Like
Quantitative metrics:
- Number of peer work hours created
- Number of peer workers employed
- Number of referrals or warm connections to health and social services
- Number of visitors assisted by greeters
Qualitative metrics:
- Changes in neighbour concerns and feedback
- Staff perception of safety and ability to focus on core roles
Project Timeline
This model could be implemented within one month as it builds on existing initiatives that are precariously or unfunded. Without further funding they will have to be discontinued at the end of the summer.
Funding Need
$50,000
Budget available upon request
If you’d like to support or reach out with any questions about this project, please contact: