REGINA — An organization has expressed a desire to partner with the Regina Street Team (RST) to continue the group’s work.
The Regina Downtown Business Improvement District (RDBID) recently informed city council that the work RST has undertaken is beyond its mandate.
RDBID had overseen the street team since its inception as the previously known community support program in 2021.
The city is now deciding whether to incorporate the RST within the municipality or find a suitable non-profit organization.
One of those non-profits could be Regina Mobile Crisis Services, which has previously worked with the RST.
“[We’ve worked] alongside them in some cases, supporting them or they providing us support in some of the clients that we deal with,” said Dana Wilkins, executive director of Regina Mobile Crisis Service.
Wilkins said the idea behind a partnership with the street team came from discussions with Jason Knudsen, former director of the RST.
Knudsen and Wilkins toured Winnipeg’s Downtown Community Safety Partnership, which is a non-profit organization providing 24/7 support while promoting health and safety.
The organization partners with their provincial government, the City of Winnipeg, Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, and a handful of other groups.
After meeting with their CEO and director of operations, Knudsen and Wilkins had planned to propose a downtown community safety partnership as a model for Regina.
This plan had gotten derailed after Knudsen left. Now, Mobile Crisis has shifted to a proposed partnership with the RST.
“We would provide that oversight and administrative support for them,” noted Wilkins.
Wilkins said the benefit of a potential partnership would be applying for grants and funding on behalf of the RST.
“We'd have a congruent picture and idea of what the number of cases that come in and the type of people that we're dealing with and their issues, so that we can more adequately tell stories for cases of support.”
Both Knudsen and Rob Kraushaar, another former RST member, expressed concern over how the street team would be viewed if overseen by the city.
“There is a lot of mistrust in the people living rough on the streets when dealing with government institutions," said Knudsen during his delegation at city council on Nov. 18.
As for Mobile Crisis, Wilkins believes they’ve a good reputation with stakeholders and partners in Regina.
“Some of our clients will advocate on our behalf that we're the only ones that are out there 24/7.”
“We're one of the only ones that are out there with police, fire, and EMS. So I think we have a good reputation.”
Through its 24/7 service, Mobile Crisis deals with roughly 35,000 calls yearly, anywhere from mental health to addictions.
Wilkins said a partnership with the RST could create flexibility in who responds to calls.
“If we received a call and instead of us going out to manage that call, we could potentially talk to the dispatcher, which would be in our area as well, and dispatch a street team [or] a couple of street team members to that location if they're closer or on site.”
The RST currently has 10 members, which Wilkins said would all stay through their proposed partnership.
An additional supervisor and administration would also join the team.
The proposed partnership would likely cost $1.3 million, the current amount to run the RST.
If the partnership is approved, Wilkins expects it to be fully operational within two years.
