A new Crime Prevention Ottawa hopes to clean up abandoned shops along Montreal Road by decorating them with youth drawn art.

The project, organized by Crime Prevention Ottawa intern Meaghan Shanahan, will help connect youth and businesses in Vanier to both beautify closed shops on Montreal Road as well as give youth an outlet for their creativity.

“We were looking for a solution to all the closed up shops and found this project has the potential to improve the look of the road and offer students a great opportunity to showcase their art,” Shanahan said.

The University of Ottawa student is currently studying youth gangs in Ottawa and is interning with Crime Prevention Ottawa as part of her program requirements. Shanahan said it was executive director Nancy Worsfold’s idea to look into a way to clean up the abandoned storefronts on the main road in Vanier. Shanahan said she looked up different ideas and found this particular one was a success in the United States.

The idea is to give children of all ages the opportunity to display their art in the storefront windows of currently closed stores along Montreal Road.

According to Shanahan’s last count there are eight closed stores in the area and she hopes this project will be just the right answer.

“We have found there is an opportunity to get as many youth as possible involved with the project,” Shanahan said.

Crime Prevention Ottawa has been an integral piece to the work which has made significant change in Vanier over the years. The committee has spearheaded the drugs and prostitution committee, now renamed the Working Group on Crime Prevention, which works at tackling the ongoing concern of drugs and prostitution residents in the area have.

When Shanahan presented her idea at the latest Vanier working together on beautification meeting everyone around the table supported the idea.

The next step for Shanahan and Crime Prevention Ottawa to make this project a reality is to meet with the Vanier Business Improvement Area. Executive Director Suzanne Valiquet said she is excited about this new idea and looks forward to seeing it come to fruition.

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