WOMEN'S INITIATIVES FOR SAFER ENVIRONMENTS (WISE) Verified listing

Women’s Initiatives for Safer Environments, WISE, is a small, nonprofit, feminist organization providing service for women and vulnerable groups in Ottawa for the past 20 years. 
We work with individuals and groups throughout the city who are concerned about their safety and the safety of their children.  We work conducting Community Safety Audits during which we audit a space looking at what makes primarily women feel unsafe.  We work closely with other community agencies, police, councilors and city staff to ensure that the action plans developed in the audit are acted on. 
WISE provides Personal Safety Workshops to numerous diverse groups in the city of Ottawa such as: youth groups, seniors, women with disabilities, new immigrants, high school students, health and social service workers in rural and urban locations and in particular, women living with or fleeing abuse in the home. 
 Our youth workshops help teens understand the cycle of violence so that they might develop strategies that will help them form healthy relationships early in life; while our senior’s workshops help the elderly learn strategies that reduce isolation, enhance assertiveness, and incorporate safety techniques that can be applied in the context of health concerns and reduced strength.
Our workshops for women living with violence present specific information that will help vulnerable women maximize their safety while living in difficult situations or to keep themselves and their children safe once they leave. 
 Another service offered by WISE is working with city staff on capital projects to provide consultative services/feedback on design or retrofit. In addition, WISE is an active partner in the women’s network, working with other groups and coalitions such as the City for All Women Initiative, the Step It Up Campaign and the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women.
 WISE, as part of our work in the women’s network of organizations, collaborates as an integral organizer of the public education events such as: Take Back the Night, International Women’s Day Celebrations, The Clothes Line Project, and the December 6 Vigil. 
Check out the video:
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