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Empowered Student Partnerships

Empowered Student Partnerships is a cooperative program led by secondary school students, and joins together the Toronto Police Service, Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board, Le Conseil scolaire public de district du Centre-Sud-Ouest, le Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud, the Canadian Safe School Network, ProAction, and the City of Toronto. E.S.P encourages students to promote and create a safe environment in their school and their community.The Toronto Police service hopes that this new campaign will raise awareness for youth violence, and encourage young adults to help stop it. The goal of Empowered Student Partnerships is to inspire secondary students to take action against youth violence, and advocate for safe schools in Toronto. The target for all Empowered Student Partnership groups is "to empower students to plan, organize and execute a yearlong safe schools initiative in their local schools and communities." (Empowered Student Partnerships Online, 2006). Through Empowered Student partnerships, students may gain leadership skills, establish partnerships, and build experiences, related to preventing youth violence and establishing safe school environments.

Empowered Student Partnership Committees

To participate in Empowered Student Partnerships, schools form a committee composed of a staff advisor, and a group of students who represent the population. This committee then establishes a new project, or builds from an existing one, that will work within their school, and the local community to create a safe environment and reduce youth violence. Projects that have been created by E.S.P groups in the past have included bringing a speaker to the school and participating in programs at other schools. Each month, representatives from each school in the Empowered Student Partnership program meet with Toronto Police and staff supports in Divisional Meetings. Empowered Student partnerships is primarily funded by ProAction Kids and Cops, a charity who recieve their donations from Bell Canada. Student members of an Empowered Student Partnership committee are often able to collect their community service hours required for graduation through the program.

Empowered Student Partnerships Background

Empowered Student Partnerships was launched in 2002 by the Toronto Police Services. By 2006, 110 High Schools had been registered to be part of the program, and it had developed to become Canada's largest student-driven public safety program. E.S.P was created as the Toronto Police Service felt there was a need to acknowledge youth victimization and violence priorities. By 2009, thousands of students had participated in a Empowered Student Partnership group. Many schools have provided training to E.S.P members, one being R.H King Academy, which instructs students to implement new initiatives in their schools, and take a stand against youth violence.