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Low demand for city capital grant program

+ A city grant program that aims to provide funding for community projects is going largely untapped this year.

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A city grant program that aims to provide funding for community projects is going largely untapped this year.

The community capital program grant has about $500,000 available for community groups but received only three applications totalling less than $80,000. The deadline for applications was last Thursday.

“I’m a little surprised that we only had $80,000 worth of requests,” said Chris Jardine, general manager of community and protective services.

His department has spoken with a number of organizations that are interested in applying but weren’t ready this year, he added.

The city created the program in 2009 to provide more structure for groups seeking city funding, Jardine said. It allows non-profit groups to apply for up to one third of their project’s cost.

In its first year the program had $850,000 available and received $1.2 million worth of requests, Jardine said. Last year there were $700,000 worth of applications for the $500,000 that was available.

The low level of interest this year may be a sign the program is flying under the radar, said Mayor Nolan Crouse.

“We might not have enough knowledge out in the community,” he said.

Jardine said the city has provided information about the program to all local groups who are eligible to apply, so it should be well-known in not-for-profit circles.

“We’ve got a pretty good feeling that people are aware of it. It’s one of those ebbs and flows,” he suggested.

The program has provided $1.2 million to 12 to 15 projects over its three years, he said. This means it helped create $3 million worth of infrastructure, including four or five playgrounds, a new headquarters for Transitions, and renovations to the community hall and rugby clubhouse, he said.

“The program has done exactly what the general intent was,” Jardine said. “It’s providing [non-profits] with some seed money to get their project rolling.”

However, it’s a work in progress for the city to figure out how much money to allocate each year, he said.

“Clearly, the first year we had the program there was significant pent-up demand,” Jardine said. “We haven’t quite figured out what the equilibrium point is.”

“We’re three years in. It’s still evolving,” he added.

Coun. Len Bracko moved to have the program discussed at an upcoming meeting of the standing committee on finance. He’d like to see the program made easier for smaller groups to access since they’re often able to contribute more volunteer hours than cash toward their projects.

“We need to look at that and see if we can make it more flexible for some groups,” Bracko said.

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