WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg-based community safety program built around lived experience, relationship-building and alternatives to conventional security has received the International Downtown Association’s highest industry honour, putting a locally developed model in the international spotlight.
Zoongizi Ode and Persons Community Solutions (PCS) received the Downtown Achievement Pinnacle Award for their Community Safety Host Initiative (CSHI). The program won in the Public Space Management and Operations category, recognizing its approach to creating safer and more accessible public spaces while developing employment opportunities for people with lived experience.
Community Safety Model Records More Than 87,000 Hours of Work
The Community Safety Host Initiative was co-developed by Zoongizi Ode and PCS as a community-led alternative to traditional security models. Community Safety Hosts receive extensive training in trauma-informed care, harm reduction, crisis intervention, de-escalation, system navigation and relationship-based approaches to safety.
According to the organizations, Community Safety Hosts worked 87,242 hours between August 2022 and September 2026. During that period, they made 89,444 new connections and provided 19,689 referrals to resources.
The program also recorded 6,353 escalated incidents, with 78 per cent de-escalated without requiring police involvement.
“This recognition belongs first and foremost to the Community Safety Hosts and the communities whose knowledge and experiences shaped this initiative,” said Mary Burton, Executive Director of Zoongizi Ode, and Arielle Dartigues, President and Co-Founder of Persons Community Solutions, in a joint statement. “The CSHI began with a simple but powerful idea: the people most affected by barriers in our systems also hold invaluable knowledge about how those systems can work better. Together, Zoongizi Ode and PCS have turned that idea into a sustainable employment model that recognizes lived experience as expertise and demonstrates that safety can be built through relationships, dignity, and connection. Between August 2022 and September 2026, Community Safety Hosts worked 87,242 hours, made 89,444 new connections, provided 19,689 referrals to resources, and de-escalated 78% of 6,353 recorded escalated incidents without requiring police involvement. Receiving IDA’s highest honour shows that a model built here in Winnipeg, from the knowledge and leadership of our community, has something meaningful to offer cities far beyond it.”
Wahkohtowin Principles Shape Winnipeg Initiative
The initiative is grounded in Wahkohtowin, a Cree concept of kinship and the interconnectedness of people and relationships. Instead of relying primarily on enforcement, the program emphasizes connection, dignity and practical assistance.
The organizations say the approach is designed to address several challenges simultaneously, including barriers to employment and access to public spaces and essential services. By treating lived experience as expertise, the initiative also aims to create longer-term employment and career pathways.
IDA Says Project Sets New Standard for Cities
The International Downtown Association presents its Downtown Achievement Awards annually to recognize projects advancing urban centres worldwide. Pinnacle Awards represent the association’s highest level of recognition for innovation in urban place management.
“PCS and Zoongizi Ode’s innovative project received the IDA Pinnacle Award for setting the new standard for improving cities around the world,” said David Downey, IDA President and CEO. “The Community Safety Host Initiative has made an impact on its community and the people who live, work and play there, and is evidence of the continued commitment to champion livable, vital and thriving urban centers.”
The award was presented during IDA’s 72nd Annual Conference & Marketplace, held in Toronto from September 1 to 3. The three-day Intersections: Where Districts, Disciplines & Ideas Converge conference brought together urban place management professionals to discuss emerging trends and practices affecting downtown districts and city centres.
Urban Place Management Sector Continues to Expand
Washington, D.C.-based IDA represents professionals and organizations involved in managing and developing downtown districts. Its membership spans areas including economic development, public-space management, planning, infrastructure, marketing, events, leadership and policy.
More than 2,500 downtown and place management organizations operate across the United States and Canada, according to IDA, employing approximately 100,000 people across North America.
Persons Community Solutions is a social enterprise that works with communities to design and implement operational systems, policies and training for programs addressing complex social challenges, with an emphasis on eventually transitioning programs to community ownership.
Zoongizi Ode is an Indigenous, women-led, community-rooted non-profit based in Winnipeg’s North End. Its work focuses on families and youth navigating complex systems, including child welfare, through education, advocacy, system navigation and community-led approaches.
The Pinnacle Award places the Community Safety Host Initiative among IDA’s leading examples of urban innovation in 2026, while highlighting a Winnipeg-developed approach that combines public-space safety, employment and community relationships.