Neighbourhood-Level Responses to Safety Concerns in Four Winnipeg Inner-City Neighbourhoods: Reflections on Collective Efficacy‪.‬

Abstract We use interview data from four Winnipeg inner-city neighbourhoods to illustrate the strengths and limits of neighbourhood-level responses to safety concerns. We view these local responses through the lens of collective efficacy. We find that in most cases, inner-city community-based organizations (CBOs) do not see safety and security problems simply through a "crime" lens, but rather acknowledge the complexity of issues called "crime" and respond to them as complex problems. They do so creatively and effectively, in ways that we identify. We find, however, that community-based responses to what are primarily poverty-related problems are limited. Neighbourhood-level responses to safety problems, even when they fit the definition of collective efficacy, are in some cases counterproductive and at best only mildly ameliorative. In the absence of outside intervention in support of neighbourhood-level efforts, in the form of public investment that addresses the roots of safety problems, collective efficacy is likely to be a sometimes significant but largely Sisyphean effort.