Library tries out community safety host

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This article was published 03/05/2022 (1641 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A pilot project at the Western Manitoba Regional Library is aiming to help connect people in need with resources and make the library more comfortable for everyone.

The new community safety host position, which started on Monday at the library’s downtown location, is meant to help the library address issues seen over the course of the pandemic and the past winter, said library programming and outreach librarian Alex Rogowsky.

“What we found here at the downtown branch … is we were basically functioning as a shelter over the winter. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, we’re meant to be a public space, but we’re equipped as a library, not so much as a shelter,” he said.

The community safety host will take a “holistic approach” to some of the problems people have. Rogowsky said the position is not meant to be a security guard, but can help address homelessness, addiction and the impact of racism.

The host will have conversations with people, which can range to welcoming people to the library to de-escalating a confrontation or referring people to another local resource like Helping Hands or Samaritan House Ministries, he said.

The position is modelled after a program at the Winnipeg Public Library and the role has a combination of the skill sets of both a security guard and a social worker.

“The idea is they’re very present, so if someone is hoping to get away with something they shouldn’t get away with, the community safety host has eyes on them and can maybe have a conversation with them before something goes wrong,” he said.

The community safety host will address the “whole person,” he said, and help if someone didn’t sleep the night before because they didn’t have a place to stay or if they haven’t had a meal that day.

“We’re hoping to take in that full picture, and if we can bridge those people to other resources they need and to do all this in a way that’s respectful and compassionate instead of just stepping in with another uniform,” Rogowsky said.

Funding for the 10-week pilot project position comes from the United Way of Brandon and District. Director of operations Janis Evens said the organization contributed $9,000 for the position.

“The library is very important I think to everybody, and it gives them the opportunity to have more people coming down and taking advantage of the library,” she said.

“We just want people to feel comfortable coming downtown and taking advantage of the library.”

The funding through the community action grant is only until mid-July, she said. After that, the library would need to either apply for multi-year funding from the United Way or find the funds elsewhere.

Rogowsky said the program is an “experiment” to see how effective and necessary the position is and how the community responds. The community safety host will only work at the library’s downtown location, not at the Shoppers Mall branch.

“It’s still a pilot project at this point, but we’ve got high hopes for it.”

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