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The street team stopped operations in May after funding ran out.

Forrester says the group team focuses on services for women and other vulnerable people, tackling “issues that are further upstream” to prevent assaults and other safety risks “from ever even happening.”

The team has a grant from the Vancouver Police Department, but the team focuses on problems police “usually wouldn’t notice,” Forrester says.

BIA president Charles Gauthier says the team’s “peer to peer” approach is modelled off programs in cities like Amsterdam, based on the idea police don’t have the resources to monitor all activity and should focus on addressing more serious crimes.

“Police usually signals confrontation,” he says. “By having a peer to peer approach, it changes the tone and how entertainment districts function … you need to have police, but you need to have something a little bit different, too.”

The team recorded 2,500 interactions between June 2018 and April 2019, most of which were general check-ins or assisting intoxicated people.

Forrester says $5,000 of the city’s funding will go toward building a long-term funding plan.

In the meantime, she’s calling on Granville strip businesses to donate to the team, noting various security teams often contact the team to assist their intoxicated patrons.

“My kind of vision for a long-term sustainable budget for the street team is that there is funding from the venues we support,” she said.

She says if the 14 largest liquor-primary venues each donated $100 a month, it would fund the street team’s operations indefinitely.

Gauthier notes those businesses indirectly pay for Good Night Out’s grant through their BIA levy but says he’s not opposed to exploring that avenue.

“I see them as being a very important service that is not being provided by anyone else,” he said.

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