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Sixth Global Summit: Secondary Prevention through Whole-of-City Collaboration

Publication Date:

22/01/2026

Content Type:

Event Reports

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Community WellbeingFOCUS TorontoSecondary PreventionSixth Global SummitTorontoWhole-of-City Collaboration

— 4 minutes reading time

This report provides a summary of discussions during this session and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Strong Cities Network Management Unit, Strong Cities members, event sponsors or participants.

Introduction

On 9 – 11 December 2025, the Strong Cities Network held its Sixth Global Summit in Toronto (Canada), bringing together more than 300 representatives of local governments, national governments, civil society organisations, academia, the private sector and international organisations. This included nearly 60 mayors and governors, as well as 110 other local government officials from 100 cities and 42 countries. Under the theme Stronger Together: Forging Safer, Connected, Thriving Cities in a Changing World, the Summit provided a platform for city leaders to share practical and innovative solutions to prevent and respond to hate, extremism and polarisation, and build safer, more resilient and more inclusive communities.

The Summit agenda included a spotlight on FOCUS Toronto: Secondary Prevention through Whole-of-City Collaboration, showcasing how sustained, multi-sector collaboration can advance community safety and wellbeing.

Speakers

• Clara Ganemtore, Manager, SafeTO & Community Risk Intervention, City of Toronto (Ontario, Canada)
• Brian Smith, Staff Sergeant, Community Partnerships and Engagement Unit, Toronto Police Service (Ontario, Canada)
• Nation Cheng, Vice President, Community Impact and Mobilization, United Way Greater Toronto (Canada)

Overview

Furthering Our Community By Uniting Services (FOCUS) Toronto is a cross-sector partnership that aims to reduce risk, harm, crime and victimisation while improving community resiliency and wellbeing. It is a collaboration of over 190 Community Agencies led by a cross-sector partnership between the Toronto Police Service, the City of Toronto and the United Way of Greater Toronto.

The model brings together the most appropriate community agencies through weekly situation tables to provide a focused, wrap-around, risk-mitigation approach to help the most vulnerable individuals and families who are at acutely elevated risk (AER) due to complex crises, potential harm and/or victimisation. There are six geographically based situation tables across the city. Through these weekly, action-oriented forums, partners coordinate rapid, tailored interventions for individuals, families and households facing intersecting challenges. Tailored interventions and other support are typically mobilised within 24–48 hours, ensuring timely responses to complex needs.

Clara Ganemtore, Manager, SafeTO & Community Risk Intervention, City of Toronto (Ontario, Canada), illustrated how the model works in practice through a recent case in which a family facing immediate risk due to gang involvement and housing insecurity received coordinated support – including temporary relocation, mental health assistance and ongoing services – delivered through existing partner mandates.

The model offers a strong example of how to operationalise a whole-of-city approach to advancing community safety and wellbeing that includes an emphasis on providing wrap-around support to individuals before they turn to violence or manifest other criminal behaviour.

Key Features & Approach

A defining feature of the model is its trauma-informed, trust-based approach, which prioritises dignity, coordination and care over law enforcement-first responses. While a significant proportion of referrals to the situation tables originate from the justice sector, most interventions are delivered through community and social services. This reflects a shared understanding that elevated risk is often driven by unmet basic needs, mental health challenges and housing instability rather than criminal intent alone.

Brian Smith, Staff Sergeant, Community Partnerships and Engagement Unit, Toronto Police Service (Ontario, Canada), noted that FOCUS enables police to work further upstream by addressing vulnerabilities before they escalate into crisis. Police participation is structured to enhance safety and access to services, while maintaining strong privacy protections, reinforcing trust across sectors and communities.

Clara Ganemtore also highlighted the programme’s use of data to ensure sustainability and effectiveness. The model’s success relies on partner agencies working within their existing mandates while coordinating across sectors, supported by a small team of City of Toronto co-chairs who maintain partnership and table health, helping to resolve challenges or gaps through collaborative problem-solving and policy escalation where needed.

Sustainability and System-Level Impact

Sustained for more than a decade across multiple political cycles, FOCUS Toronto illustrates how prevention models endure when they are embedded within existing institutional mandates rather than reliant on short-term or standalone funding. Beyond individual interventions, the model also identifies systemic gaps and pinch points that inform broader policy, investment and capacity-building decisions.

Nation Cheng, Vice President, Community Impact and Mobilization, United Way Greater Toronto (Canada) underscored the importance of this systems lens, explaining that partners had to “think beyond programmatic solutions” to understand how crises move across housing, health and social service systems.

Lessons for Cities

Operating within existing municipal, community and philanthropic structures, FOCUS Toronto aligns partners around a shared assessment of acutely elevated risk and facilitates coordinated, timely responses. Over time, this collaboration has strengthened local prevention capacity while also generating insights into service pressures and unmet needs, contributing to ongoing policy and system improvement efforts.

Additional Resources

Recent Strong Cities policy briefs and resources:

• City Leadership in Partnering with Local Communities for Social Cohesion: Ten Considerations for Mayors and Local Governments, Strong Cities Network, 2025
• National-Local Cooperation: Opportunities and Lessons Learned for Secondary and Tertiary Prevention, Strong Cities Network, 2025
• City Leadership in the Face of Rising Incivility and Polarisation: Ten Considerations for Mayors and Local Governments, Strong Cities Network, 2025
• Innovations in Prevention: Piloting Multi-Actor Frameworks in Small and Mid-Sized Cities in the United States, Strong Cities Network, 2025
• A Toolkit for Cities: Building a Multi-Actor Local Prevention Framework, Strong Cities Network, 2025
• A Toolkit for Manitoba Municipalities: Addressing Anti-Government Hate and Harassment, Strong Cities Network, 2025
• A Guide for Cities: Preventing Hate, Extremism & Polarisation, Strong Cities Network, updated 2025
• A Guide for Mayors: Preventing and Responding to Hate, Extremism & Polarisation, Strong Cities Network, updated 2025
• A Guide for City-Led Response, Strong Cities Network, May 2024
• City Spotlights Library, Strong Cities Network

Donors & Partners

The Sixth Global Summit was co-hosted with the City of Toronto and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, and delivered with generous support from the Government of Canada, The Fourth Freedom Forum, The Toronto Foundation and Charities Aid Foundation.

Contact Information 

For more information about the Sixth Global Summit or the Strong Cities Network, please contact [email protected].

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