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Welcoming Streets program has a successful first month in Kingston

The sun sets and the sky is blue and pink. a string of lights is visible lining the sidewalk. across the street, there is the Kingston Visitor Information Centre
Ontario Street in Downtown Kingston. Photo by Christena Lawrie.
Christena Lawrie - CFRC - Kingston • ON | 14-08-2023
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Welcoming Streets, a collaborative project between the Downtown Kingston Business Improvement Area (BIA) and Addiction and Mental health Services Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox, and Addington (AMHS-KFLA), has reported a successful first month in Kingston.

The one-year pilot project, supported by the City of Kingston and funded in part by the Ontario Homelessness Prevention Program. aims to connect directly and provide support to individuals who are experiencing homelessness, addiction, or mental health difficulties in the downtown core. The program also saw success in both Guelph and Belleville before coming to Kingston.

The Welcoming Streets stewards, both professionals from the mental health and addiction sector, one from each chief organizations running this intiative, have been situated downtown to engage with the community and offer support. The Street Outreach Case Manager with AMHS-KFLA is out every day connecting people that could use mental health and addiction support to primary care, while the Downtown Kingston BIA steward is primarily dealing with businesses who require support. The presence and guidance of stewards is coupled with other initiatives like providing naloxone training.

Julie Lambert, one of the program managers at AMHS-KFLA and Mental Health Program Manager of the Welcoming Streets Program said the program has been going well so far.

“It's been fantastic. The collaboration, it's just like, it was just waiting to happen and it's come together so smoothly and without really any hiccups," Lambert said. "Even though they're from two different organizations, they're one team, there's no barriers. It just has been, it's been amazing actually. And it's really nice to see the collaboration happening. You can see connections to care.”

Marijo Ceurrier, executive director of Downtown Kingston BIA, added to Lambert’s statement, saying “It feels like there was a bridge missing in various levels of communication around this particular subject. And it's like all the bridges got built at once. We have a very compassionate team of bylaw officers and police officers that work with us as well. It's better than I ever hoped for.”

With a successful start, the project will continue through its first year, keeping daily and weekly data and reporting to the municipality on a monthly basis.

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