SAFETO bia
ABOUT Safeto bia
SafeTO BIA is a partnership between The City of Toronto’s 10 year Community Safety and Wellbeing Strategy, SafeTO and The Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area (DYBIA).
SafeTO BIA’s objective is to better understand the growing challenges of community safety and well-being (CS&WB) across Toronto’s Business Improvement Areas. This partnership explores the relationship between CS&WB and economic development to better support safe and inclusive neighbourhoods.
Guided by a passionate, BIA-led advisory committee, SafeTO BIA held its inaugural summit in 2023, bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders to drive cross sectoral collaboration. These efforts, combined with SafeTO BIA’s knowledge mobilization tools, ongoing partnership development and consultation process have earned recognition at The Ontario Business Improvement Association with the 2024 Merit for Advocacy & Governance Award.
KEY GoalS
- Clearly define existing concerns in BIAs through extensive community engagement strategies (2023- 2024)
- Build knowledge mobilization tools (2024- 2025)
- Enable clearer pathways to connect community partners in the public & private sectors with BIAs (2023 – 2025)
- Lead site specific pilots advancing community safety and well-being initiatives through placemaking, and community collaboration. (2024-2025)
Ways to engage
BIAs can engage in the pilot in a variety of ways, both passively and actively. If you’d like to engage or learn more, please reach out to calves@downtownyonge.com
SafeTO BIA Advisory Team – Available to any BIA who would like to support shaping the SafeTO BIA deliverables and project outcomes.
- Online Sessions are from 10am – 11am and continue monthly from September to May.
Engagements
Preliminary consultations for SafeTO BIA were complete by October 2023
Engagement initiatives included:
- SafeTO BIA Summit (April 2025)
- SafeTO BIA Summit (Dec. 2023)
- Information sessions (July – Oct. 2023)
- One-on-ones & group discussion (July – Oct. 2023)
Project Resources
CS&WB Toolkit A folder with various resources for street safety, key service providers, community audits and other materials to support community safety and well-being initiatives.*Please note this is subject to change, and to be edited periodically. The most updated document can also be found on canva.
Social Service Provider Map
Open source map identifying services and support in the City. Meant to provide more information for BIA’s when managing community safety and well-being concerns.*Please note this is subject to change, and to be edited periodically.
CS&WB Resource Booklet
A working document collecting resources and precedents for community safety and well-being projects. This document is searchable by using key words.*Please note this is subject to change, and to be edited periodically.
SafeTO BIA Survey Results A final document of summarized survey results from ~300 business across the city in the BIA communities.
De-escalation Training – City of Toronto Economic Development & Culture Ongoing free webinars that explore using supportive communication and de-escalation skills with individuals who may be displaying agitated behaviours in your business.
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is a strategy that aims to reduce crime by influencing the design and management of the physical environment. Please reach out to you Crime Prevention Officer or Neighbourhood Community Officer at your Division.
City of Toronto Grants Commercial Façade Improvement Grant Program – City of Toronto Commercial Space Rehabilitation Grant Program – City of Toronto
Non city led grants are available in the CS&WB Resource Booklet above (see pages 15- 20)
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Presentations, Data & Project Highlights
- SafeTO BIA Overview & Key Highlights
A sharable 3 page PDF of the SafeTObia Pilot - Review of 2025 SafeTO BIA Summit Feedback Results from participants from the 2025 Summit
- SafeTO BIA Presentation (Stage 1) – June 2023
Details about the scope of the SafeTObia pilot - SafeTO BIA Presentation (Stage 2) – Oct 2023 Details about the consultation & engagement phase
- SafeTO BIA Presentation (Stage 3-4) – January 2024 Details about the BIA summit results
- SafeTO BIA Presentation (Stage 5) – April 2024 Details about the SafeTO BIA Survey & Next Steps
- Review of SafeTO BIA Qualitative Data
Results from all engagement stages (stage 2-5)
Questions?
For more information on SafeTO BIA, please contact
Cassandra Alves
Community Safety and Well-being Consultant
SafeTO & Downtown Yonge BIA