OPA is happy to announce that, in partnership with the City of Toronto, we are able to introduce our Parks Encampments: Outreach & Response One Day Workshop to our members.

Park Encampments:  Outreach and Response is a full day workshop designed to provide information to Parks and municipal staff dealing with encampments; exploring best practices, safe operating procedures and sharing experiences.  The workshop will provide an overview on understanding the scope of this complex issue, contributing factors to homelessness and the need for creating a coordinated response team.  Participants will learn about tools to track encampments, provide outreach and engage with clients.  The workshop focuses on staff roles and responsibilities, best practices in staff training for both hard and soft skills and shares information about tools and equipment needed to work on all types of terrain and park areas.  This course also covers strategic thinking and innovative ideas as well as ideas to keep parks spaces open, safe and accessible for all.  This workshop encourages information and idea sharing, as well as group discussion around shared concerns to help all participants gain a deeper understanding of how to offer outreach and respond to encampments in public greenspace.

Running May 10, 2023 from 8 AM to 3:30 PM, this one day workshop will provide attendees with information on best practices for interacting with and handling encampments in our public parks. This course will be structured as a combination of seminar presentation and open discussion. We look forward to opening up a conversation with attendees on this sensitive and highly relevant topic, and discussing solutions to your municipality’s concerns.

If you are interested, please don’t hesitate to sign up, as spots will be limited.