ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: April 6, 1999
Author/Local: Gord Spencer/7628
RTS No. 00665

CS&B Date: April 15, 1999

CC File No. 3701

TO:	Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets
FROM:	Manager of Coordinated Enforcement
SUBJECT:	Odd Squad Productions

RECOMMENDATION

That Council support the work of Odd Squad Productions in developing a multimedia drug awareness presentation with a grant of $13,500. The source of the funding to be Contingency Reserve.

CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS

Odd Squad Productions is a member of Vancouver's Coalition on Crime Prevention and Drug Treatment, and have presented their work to many community forums. Their multimedia drug awareness program serves as a valuable educational tool.

POLICY

There is no applicable Council policy.

BACKGROUND

Seven veteran Police constables, working as beat officers in the Downtown Eastside, pooled their expertise and money together to form Odd Squad Productions (OSP), a Society that is dedicated to educating the public on drug issues effecting the community. Constables Toby Hinton, Al Arsenault, Walter McKay, Mark Steinkampf, Dave Kolb, Dale Weidman and Len Hollingsworth have, for the past several years, been capturing on film the results of drug use on the people in Downtown Eastside. Realizing they had a very powerful visual tool, they have been asked to give presentations on their experience to a variety of groups from school classrooms to community groups.

As drug use is one of the most pressing issues within the community, the mission of OSP is to provide education to youth on drug abuse and drug use prevention. Through the use of a slide-show/lecture format the police officers have been able to illustrate to students someof the dangers of drug addiction. Working with the National Film Board , OSP is filming an hour-long documentary that is expected to be aired nationwide later on this year. Their efforts to date have achieved nation-wide attention with feature articles in McLeans Magazine and numerous broadcasts on television networks such as CBC, BCTV and GLOBAL TV.

DISCUSSION

Unfortunately, the members of Odd Squad Productions have been so successful and the presentations so popular that they are now having difficulty meeting the growing demand for their services. In order to achieve the goal of getting the message out to as broad an audience as possible across the lower mainland and the province, the "Odd Squad" is developing a multimedia presentation and education package for use in the schoolroom. This is a significant endeavour and will require funding support. To date they have received funding from the following donors:

Health Canada $52,500
BC Tel $ 8,000
VanCity Credit Union $ 5,000
BC Tel Pioneers (pending) $21,000

In order to achieve the goal of $100,000, Odd Squad Productions are requesting from the City of Vancouver a contribution of $13,500. This donation would allow OSP to fully develop the project, part of which would be the creation of an Advisory Panel drawn from those concerned with the above mentioned issues. Possible panel members would be from such agencies as:

The National Film Board
Downtown Eastside Representatives
The Vancouver/Richmond Health Board
The Vancouver School Board
The University of British Columbia
Health Canada
The City Of Vancouver and the Vancouver Police Department

With the funding and the Advisory Panel in place, the Odd Squad will work over the next few months on a pilot presentation that will be evaluated and refined into a set of educational packages which will be introduced into different levels of the school curriculum, and available for a range of community groups.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver