Call for Letters of Intent – Quebec

Download the "Application Guide" (PDF 239KB)

Public Safety Canada's National Crime Prevention Centre (NCPC) and the Quebec Ministère de la Sécurité publique are inviting organizations to submit letters of intent for the implementation of crime prevention projects in Quebec.

To effectively reduce criminal behaviour, the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) is focusing on implementing interventions that target children and youth with multiple known risk factors related to an increased probability of engaging in delinquent behaviour as well as offenders in the community to reduce their risk of recidivism. The proposed interventions will draw as much as possible on the knowledge gained from model or promising programs (especially, but not exclusively, those found in the NCPC's compendium of programs). Funding applications may also propose innovative programs as well as proposals that support the dissemination of knowledge to benefit practitioners.

A letter of intent is a document that presents an overview of a crime prevention project that your organization wishes to implement in your community in partnership with other groups, organizations and practitioners. The letter of intent is essential in order to provide the basic information necessary to review proposals that, if selected, may be developed as a project eligible for funding.

Letters of intent must comply with the following principles:

1. Integrated efforts: Interventions must be integrated as much as possible with other programs and services, and should include partnerships with the appropriate community organizations: governmental and non-governmental organizations, police and correctional services, schools, health services, and sports and cultural organizations.
2. Evidence-led efforts: The crime problem targeted by the project must be substantiated by objective information (e.g., based on research or statistics) on issues specific to the targeted community and populations, and interventions must be chosen by drawing on the knowledge base of best practices. A review must therefore be conducted of existing information sources on recognized, effective practices to reduce risk factors present among the project's target clientele.

   Sources of information include:

   • NCPC - Building the Evidence
   • NCPC - Promising and Model Crime Prevention Programs
   • Centre québécois de ressources en promotion de la sécurité et prévention de la criminalité (available in French only)
   • Blueprints for Violence Prevention, University of Colorado at Boulder
   • International Centre for the Prevention of Crime
   • The Campbell Collaboration
3. Organizational capacity: Applicants must show that they have the competencies and the organizational capacity to execute the project either by providing the required resources and competencies themselves, or by working with partners who can supply them.
4. Measurable results: Proposals must demonstrate their potential for reducing risk factors, increasing protection factors and/or decreasing criminal behaviour or re-offending among the individuals targeted by the interventions. They must be developed in such a way as to be able to report on results. Proposals must therefore demonstrate connections between the problem, the risk factors in their target population, the chosen interventions and the expected results.

Action Priorities in Quebec

In addition to meeting the above requirements, letters of intent must fall within the following action priorities:

1. Priority issues:
   • Drug-related crime
   • Gang-related crime
   • Crime prevention in Aboriginal communities
2. Target populations:
   • Children and youth from 6 to 25 years of age with proximal delinquency risk factors associated with criminal behaviour, such as drug use
   • Juvenile and adult offenders who are addicted to substances, are no longer under correctional supervision, and who present a high risk of re-offending.

Funding Streams

To develop knowledge and support best practices related to crime prevention in Quebec, this call for letters of intent has established three funding streams:

1. A. Direct intervention by implementing model or promising programs (see the "Application Guide" for more on these programs)

   All of the programs described in Promising and Model Crime Prevention Programs may be proposed in a letter of intent, such as:

   SNAP&™ (Stop Now and Plan)
   Program rating: Model program
   Target age: 6 to 11
   

   The SNAP™ Under 12 Outreach Projectand SNAP™ Girls Connection are community-based programs for children who have come into contact or are at risk of coming into contact with the criminal justice system and display early signs of antisocial or aggressive behaviour. These two programs use behaviour modification techniques to decrease the risks of children engaging in future delinquent behaviour.

   Multisystemic Therapy
   Program rating: Model program
   Target age: 12 to 24
   

   Multisystemic Therapy (MST) views individuals as being a part of an interconnected network of systems and reduces delinquency by targeting one or any combination of these systems. MST is a family and community based treatment model that addresses antisocial behaviour in juvenile offenders. MST targets youth who are already involved in the juvenile justice system and are at risk of being imprisoned.

   Youth Inclusion Program (YIP)
   Program rating: Promising program
   Target age: 12 to 17
   

   The Youth Inclusion Program aims to reduce youth crime and antisocial behaviour in neighbourhoods by creating a safe place where high-risk youth can go to learn new skills, take part in activities with others and get help with their education. Positive role models, both workers and volunteer mentors, help change young people's attitudes to education and crime. The program was designed for youth at high risk for delinquency.

   Leadership and Resiliency Program (LRP)
   Program rating: Model program
   Target age: 14 to 19
   

   The Leadership and Resiliency Program (LRP) attempts to enhance youths' internal strengths and resiliency while preventing involvement in drug use and violence. It uses workshops on resiliency, community volunteerism and outdoor activities. This program targets youth at risk for violent behaviour or drug dependence.

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   Applicants may also propose a model or promising program that is not in the Promising and Model Crime Prevention Programs document. However, applicants must demonstrate, using scientific data, that the selected program meets the stated criteria to be recognized as a model or promising program.

2. B. Direct intervention through the implementation of innovative programs (see the "Application Guide" for more information on these programs)

   An innovative program could, for example, have been designed and implemented in Quebec but originate from another field, such as health, mental health or education. The goal of the project will therefore be to adapt and test this approach from a crime prevention perspective.

   Innovative projects will have to show the logical connection between the proposed intervention and the expected results with the target population in terms of decreasing risk factors, improving protection factors and reducing crime.

3. C. Knowledge transfer (see the "Application Guide" for more information on these projects)
   This third stream supports projects that aim to summarize and transfer knowledge for their eventual application. The goal of these projects is to allow crime prevention practitioners to develop their knowledge of what interventions work, in what conditions and with which target groups, thereby promoting the use of proven crime prevention practices.

Required Documents

In addition to the Application Form (DOC 99.5KB), proposals for direct interventions and projects involving knowledge dissemination require a different description. Letters of intent must clearly answer all of the questions listed in the "Project Description" document and must not exceed ten pages.

Application Form (DOC 99.5KB) and  Direct Intervention Project Description (PDF 11.2KB)
Or    Project Description Knowledge Dissemination (PDF 7.92KB)

Steps

The letters of intent that will be selected for future development and funding (see the Crime Prevention Action Fund: Application Guide (PDF 239KB) for the steps involved and the required documents for each step) will be those that fit with either of the proposed funding streams and which best correspond with the aforementioned priorities and principles.

Note: Evaluation is an essential component of all projects funded by the National Crime Prevention Centre. If your letter of intent is selected, you will be required in the second step to present a detailed evaluation plan, along with your project proposal. A process evaluation must minimally be conducted throughout the project in order to assess whether it is being implemented as planned.

The NCPC and Quebec's Ministère de la Sécurité publique may also decide to conduct an external impact evaluation for some projects. In this case, the groups will need to cooperate with an external evaluator. Whatever the type of evaluation; time, funds and staff must be allocated to all evaluation components.