Sechelt council is awarding $45,600 in community investment program grants for 2019.
The money is on top of the $89,569 as part of the multi-year “standing grants” to Restorative Justice, Victims Services, the Sunshine Coast Arts Council, the Community Services Society’s Youth Outreach, and the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts.
The biggest grants for 2019 were $5,000 to the Arrowhead Clubhouse Society, $4,210 for the Sunshine Coast Marine Rescue Society and $4,150 to the Sunday in the Park with Pride Society.
The grant committee also turned down some significant requests, including a $5,000 ask from RainCity Housing to pay for “wages and other costs” of running an overdose prevention site at the Sechelt shelter because the grants are not allowed to fund “expenses associated with activities and programs that are clearly the responsibility of other governments or government agencies.”
A request for $15,000 – to cover development and rezoning application fees for the Sunshine Coast Community Services Society’s proposal to redevelop its property on Inlet Avenue to include affordable housing – was rejected because the grants cannot be used for “major capital projects.”
The committee also asked council to approve a change in the criteria used to evaluate applications, by adding that the grant committee could consider “the ratio of grant request to overall organizational budget.”
“There’s the occasional organization who, let’s say, their entire operational budget is $10,000 and they’re asking us for $5,000. If we are unable to fund that, they are at risk of not being able to run their organization… We had a couple of those situations come up,” Coun. Brenda Rowe, who chaired the grant committee, said.
Council voted to send that idea back to staff for clarification on how the new criteria would be applied.
