West-end BIA seeks to enhance community through compassion

Jerry McFeeters met a man in a bad situation with few options to get out of it. His clothes were dirty. His shoes didn't fit. He was in no shape to take a bus, and no one would let him use a washroom to clean himself up.

All McFeeters could do was try to direct him to Value Village.

"I was looking for any which way that he could possibly get something clean," said McFeeters, an outreach navigator with the Stony Plain Road Business Association. "I said, 'We need a dignity kit. We need some way that he can have a bag where there's a pair of pants in there, maybe some wipes and some water, some shampoo, something to help clean him.'"

Building kits with such supplies for businesses to hand out became part of the work of McFeeters and fellow navigators Justine Flores and Ivy Gu, who were hired by the business improvement area with the help of an $81,000 enhanced services grant from the City of Edmonton. The money came from $850,000 split among the 10 Edmonton BIAs that do not get subsidies for addressing social disorder and/or cleanliness, as the three most central ones do.

The outreach navigators also provide literature listing resources, give businesses advice on dissuading crime, take calls for assistance, and conduct patrols.

Although city council directed administration to keep the enhanced services grant as an ongoing program when it funded it in the 2024 fall budget adjustment, its continuation will depend on the outcome of deliberations of the next four-year budget.

"I think on behalf of all of the BIAs, we're very appreciative, and we think the enhanced services grant needs to stay," Todd Janes, executive director of the Stony Plain Road BIA, told Taproot. He noted that businesses "pay considerably more than residents do" in terms of taxes, and these kinds of programs are warranted.

That said, the program could continue regardless of municipal funding if members vote to prioritize it as a use of the levy that they pay to the BIA, Janes later added.

(The Alberta government reviewed proposed changes to the Municipal Government Act, including the option to apply levies to property owners, not just business owners, which would greatly expand BIAs' capacity. But an amendment to the BIA section of the MGA in June included no such change.)

Summer is a busy outreach season along Stony Plain Road because it is a more tolerable time to travel from the hub of social agencies downtown, a pattern that the navigators are tracking.

"People are coming from downtown primarily because the west end is a softer area than the south side, the north end, or downtown," said McFeeters, who has worked in outreach for more than 30 years in places such as Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The Stony Plain Road area has fewer police, less concrete, more nature, which makes it more inviting.

Member businesses are the main distributors for dignity kits; they also display FAQ-style posters about agencies offering help to those in need. Janes added that businesses can improve outcomes without bending over backwards — a little sidewalk-cleaning and information-sharing can help treat the condition rather than just the symptoms.

"We need to understand that we're all in this together, and we each need to does a little bit," he said. "I think running a business is hard, but if each of us do a little bit, it becomes easier. Maybe not right away, but over time."

For McFeeters, the only way to make a difference is by helping people where they're at, not just shuffling them along.

"I like doing this because I believe that once we are doing this kind of work, there is an end result," he said. "Something is born out of this to help the community. I'm not sure exactly what we can create — but if there's something that we can help with in our community and create something long-term, so that it helps alleviate the way things are currently standing — then I'm on board."