News Release
HRM Announces Grants to Volunteer Sector
(Thursday, July 15/04) -- Halifax Regional Municipality has approved 100 grants to non-profit groups throughout the region under the Community Grants Program for 2004-05. Awards cover applications from non-profit groups and charities involved in heritage programs, the arts, recreation, trails, environmental protection, community-owned and operated facilities, and community-based social support.
Of the $460,364 awarded so far, grant recipients are dispersed across all regions of the Halifax Regional Municipality and include diverse communities of interest. The program received a total of 142 applications for a total of $1,274,306 in requests. (The complete June 22, 2004 staff report is available on the HRM web site www.halifax.ca )
Councillor Russell Walker, Chair HRM's Community Grants Committee, said today that 37% of the 100 grants awarded so far under this year's program went to new applicants.
"This is an indication of the program's increased profile across the region. These grants should not be considered as entitlements. We are not tied to the same list of recipients every year, and each and every application is judged on its merits each year, " he said "HRM has only a finite amount of financial resources, so our Committee must decide where need is the greatest. Those needs are constantly changing, so the Committee has also asked staff to conduct a complete review of the Community Grants Program this fall."
Applications for the 2004 program were distributed fairly evenly across the four funding sectors: heritage, education and interpretation; community-owned and operated camp sites and community halls; amateur performing arts groups; and affordable housing initiatives.
There was a modest increase this year in the percentage of funds awarded to heritage groups (16% a 2% increase over 2003-04); community facilities and arts remained constant at 28% and 31% respectively; while social supports dropped by 1%. The final distribution of funds will not be confirmed until after the HRM Grants Committee meets on September 20th when several deferred applications are reviewed.
Councillor Walker said the increase in grants to community heritage is the result of improvements in the program's scope. The traditional focus on built heritage (buildings and sites) has expanded to include the preservation of artifacts, efforts to interpret the social or community significance of a particular site, route, artifact, person, event or social collective.
The addition of ethno-cultural heritage in the 2003-04 program broadened the program's scope to include the social histories of groups typically excluded from mainstream accounts, public records or collections-- such as racial, ethnic, and linguistic minorities, occupational groups, the disabled, women and children.
New grant recipients include the Passages Project ($5,000) a collections management program for local museums; the Maritime Blacksmiths Association ($3,000), an exhibition of the craft or ironwork; and St. James Anglican Church ($5,000), a former navigational landmark for local fishermen in Boutilier's Point, dating to c.1846.
Community-owned and operated facilities continue to be an area of high demand for public assistance, especially for community halls and recreational amenities. The municipality's grants to this sector show consistent support for recreational facilities in rural HRM; communities which typically do not have the population to support a municipal recreation centre or the discretionary income to attract commercial operators.
Councillor Walker said the recent media profile of funding to the arts and the affordable housing issue are credited for an increase in the number of new applications in the arts and community social supports sectors.
"While the region's arts groups tend to be concentrated in the urban core, the diversity of projects requesting assistance is improving. Different musical genre (improvisational jazz, operatic, classical, choral), local amateur writers and performers, and exhibits with a focus on the region's artists and artisans are encouraging signs for the region's cultural sector," he said
Among new grant recipients are Paradise Sisters Film Society ($10,000 towards equipment) who are developing a repertory cinema; Nova Scotia Opera Society Association ($5,000);and the Unicorn Theatre Society, in the Hubbards area.
The federal government's investment of capital funding for affordable housing ventures has sparked participation in the HRM Community Grants Program from a number of groups serving specific interests. Some of these groups include the Halifax Branch of the Performing Arts Lodges of Canada ($5,000 for a feasibility study); Supportive Housing for Young Mothers, which focuses on new mothers and their children in the urban core ($5000); and the Safe Harbour Housing Society , which serves rural women and their children ($1,500).
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Councillor Russell Walker
Chair, HRM Community Grants Committee
(902) 497-7215
Peta-Jane Temple
Regional Coordinator, Grants
(902) 490-5469
Grant Recipients for 2004-05
The following is a list of registered, non-profit organizations and charities who received a grant through the HRM Community Grants Program for 2004-05. (Prior year's funding, if applicable, is shown in brackets).
Community Heritage - $73,725 ($76,350)
Feeding Others of Dartmouth Society $10,000 (new)
Sackville Heritage Society $4,725
West Chezzetcook/Grand Desert
Community Interest Group $5,000 ($1,785)
Cole Harbour Rural Heritage Society $5,000 ($9,500)
Passages Project (7 museums) $5,000 (new)
Halifax Citadel Regimental Association $4,000 (new)
Halifax North West Trails Association $5,000 (new)
St. James Anglican Church $5,000 (new)
Maritime Blacksmiths Association $3,500 (new)
Moose River Museum $5,000 ($4,500)
Musique Royale $2,500 ($500)
Musquodoboit Valley Tourism Association $2,000
Regional Firefighters Interpretation Centre $1,000 ($1,000)
Shearwater Aviation Museum Association $2,000
Black History Month Association $3,500 ($2,400)
Multicultural Association of Nova Scotia $2,500
Victoria Road United Baptist Church $3,000
Community Facilities/Environment/Trails - $129,139 ($149,090)
Arthur Kidston Memorial Camp $10,000 (new)
Beacon House Interfaith Society $10,000 ($10,000)
Cheema Aquatic Club $5,000
Grace Lutheran Church $2,800 (new)
IOOF Armistice Lodge (Comm.Hall) $10,000 (new)
Lake Charlotte Heritage Society $10,000 ($9,500)
MicMac Native Friendship Centre $5,000 ($1,000)
Orenda Racing Canoe Club $1,421
Rockingham Community Centre $5,000 ($5,000)
Scouts Canada (Camp Lone Cloud) $5,000
Sheet Harbour Rockets Association $5,000
St. Margaret's Bay Community Hall
& Legion (Seabright) $7,000 (new)
St. Mary's Lawn Bowling Club $2,500
Tangier Deanery Association $2,500 (new)
Wanderer's Lawn Bowling Club $1,800
Freedom Foundation of NS $3,618 ($3,479)
YMCA of Greater Halifax/Dartmouth $5,000
Bedford Waters Advisory Board $5,000 (new)
Nova Scotia Nature Trust $2,500 (new)
Sackville Rivers Association $2,500 ($5,000)
Springfield Lake Watch $5,000 (new)
Atlantic View Trails Association $2,500 ($1,785)
Beechville-Lakeside-Timberlea
Rails-to-Trails Association $2,000 ($1,785)
Canoe to the Sea Society $2,000 ($1,785)
Cole Harbour Parks & Trails Assoc $2,000 ($1,785)
Dartmouth Harbourfront Trails Assoc $2,000 (new)
Friends of First Lake $2,000 ($1,785)
Musquodoboit Trailways Assoc $2,000 ($1,785)
Porter's Lake/Myra Wilderness Area Assoc $1,000 ($1,785)
Portland Estates Residents Association $1,500 ($1,785)
Shubenacadie Canal Commission $2,000 (new)
St. Margaret's Bay Area
Rails-to-Trails Association $2,000 ($1,785)
Woodens River Watershed Environmental
Organization $2,000
Community Arts - $143,250 ($164,650)
Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative $5,000 ($5,000)
Centre for Art Tapes $5,000
Dalhousie Art Gallery $5,000 (new)
Paradise Sisters Film Society $10,000 (new)
Black Artists Network of NS $1,500 (new)
Eastern Front Theatre $10,000 ($20,000)
Neptune Theatre Foundation $40,000 ($40,000)
Eye Level Gallery $4,750
(Note: $30,000 was transferred to HRM Recreation, Tourism & Culture in 2004-05 budget for Attractions & Events grants).
Community Social Supports - $113,250 ($142,109)
Black Community Advocates of NS $2,000 ($4,000)
Callow Veterans & Invalids Welfare League $5,000 (new)
Independent Living Resource Centre $4,000 (new)
Dartmouth Literacy Network $4,000
Halifax Regional Municipality Literacy
Association $2,350 (new)
Community Care Network $12,500 ($12,500)
Metro Transition House Association $1,600 ($2,200)
Performing Arts Lodges of Canada $5,000 (new)
Safe Harbour Housing Society $1,500 (new)
St. Leonard's Society of NS $1,400
Supportive Housing for Young Mothers $5,000 (new)
Community Justice Society $5,000 ($1,000)
Coverdale Centre $2,500
Help Line Society $5,000 ($10,000)
Leave Out ViolencE $5,000 (new)
Eastern Shore Family Resource Assoc $4,900
Bedford Youth Development Association $5,000 ($2,000)
Chebucto Boys &Girls Club $5,000 ($5,000)
Cole Harbour Boys & Girls Club $5,000 ($5,000)'
Dartmouth Boys & Girls Club $5,000 ($5,000)
East Dartmouth Boys & Girls Club $5,000 ($5,000)
Family Pride Camping Association $3,100 (new)
Harbour United Soccer League $800 (new)
Nova Scotia Sea School $3,500
Preston Area Boys & Girls Club $5,000 ($5,000)
Sackville Boys & Girls Club $5,000 ($5,000)
Sackville Seniors Advisory Council $1,300
St. George's YouthNet $2,800 ($1,800)
Applications Deferred to September 20, 2004 meeting of the HRM Grants Committee
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
Pier 21 Society
Tree Canada Foundation
St. Margaret's Bay Sailing Club
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