ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: April 11, 2002
Author/Local: Rick Gates/871-6036

RTS No. 2656

CC File No. 2151

Council: April 23, 2002

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	Director of Social Planning
SUBJECT:	Additional 2002 Community Services Grants Allocations

RECOMMENDATION

A. THAT Council approve the following Community Services Grants, including conditions on the grants, as listed in Appendix A:

· Eagles in the Sky Association $10,000
· Law Courts Education Society of BC $20,000
· Self-Help Resource Association of BC $20,000

B. THAT Council approve the following reserves, to be reported on with specific allocation recommendation, at a later date:

· Partners in Organizational Development $20,000
· Emergencies, unforeseen circumstances $9,504

Note: source of funding is the 2002 Community Services Grants budget.

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of A and B.

COUNCIL POLICY

On September 30, 1993, Council adopted, as policy, the criteria and priorities which are used in assessing Community Services Grants applications. These were amended by Council on October 24, 1995.

Approval of grant recommendations requires eight affirmative votes.

PURPOSE

This report provides the final recommendations for allocating the funding in the 2002 Community Services Grants budget.

BACKGROUND

On March 26, 2002 City Council approved 87 Community Services Grants (CSG) totaling $2,871,096. At that time, Council had not yet decided what the budget ceiling for the CSG program was going to be, so the recommended allocations were held to a total that was slightly less than the 2001 CSG budget. Council was advised at the time that if the 2002 budget differed from the approved allocations, there would be further recommendations to Council. This report provides recommendations for grants and reserves that, combined with the previously approved grants, equal the total 2002 CSG budget.

Arising from Social Planning's original recommendations, 9 grant applicants requested reconsideration of their applications. Two of these requests came from organizations that we are now recommending grants for (Law Courts Education Society and Self Help Resource Association), and they have agreed to withdraw their requests on the basis of our new recommendations. The remaining 7 requests for reconsideration are scheduled to go to Council on May 2. One of the groups, Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW) has requested reconsideration of the recommended grant of $27,000, so that amount has been set aside pending the outcome of the reconsideration process.

DISCUSSION

In the midst of all the uncertainty about Provincial funding, staff felt that the best support that the City could provide to community groups would be in the form of some stability and certainty. This resulted in recommendations for 77 grants that are exactly the same as last year's. For 8 others, we recommended small increases for increased levels of service or to help pay for increased program costs. In order to keep the total of the recommended grants below last year's budget level to provide the flexibility that Council may have needed in balancing the budget, there were no recommendations for new or significantly increased grants.

However, there were an unprecedented 14 new applications for grants this year and several were worthy of some level of support, had sufficient funding been made available. Now that the budget ceiling has been established which includes an increase of $51,226 over the 2001 CSG budget, staff have considered this group of new applicants in the context of overall community needs, including those being met by groups we already fund and are recommending 3 that not only provide excellent, needed services but are supportive of overall City policy directions.

In summary, the recommended new grants are:

· Eagles in the Sky Association recommended $10,000 grant

With the City funding, this group will expand its current pre-school and out of school programs at MacDonald Elementary School to offer a family drop-in and support program in the evenings and on weekends. The City has, for many years, supported Family Places, and this proposed program would provide family place services to a very low income/high need area. Also, this program is an excellent example of the type of comprehensive child and family support program envisioned in the proposed new child development policy that is currently before Council.

· Law Courts Education Society of BC recommended $20,000 grant

This program provides information, education, referral and support to immigrants and refugees (speaking Spanish, Vietnamese, or Chinese) who are appearing in court as the accused, victims, witnesses or parties involved in a civil suit. Significant barriers to access basic services exist for these clients because of language, literacy and cultural differences. The Society has fundraised to support this program for many years, but is unable to continue the work without new financial support. The program is not, and has not been, eligible for funding from other levels of government. Improving access to services is a high priority for a wide range of City and City-supported programs.

· Self-Help Resource Association of BC recommended $20,000 grant

The City funding will be use to support Kinex, the youth initiative program of SHRA. This program provides skills training and capacity building for youth groups, develops emotional support models, helps youth build community connections, and facilitates community involvement for youth. Supporting this program is a positive strategic initiative that will assist youth and youth groups to deal with the changes being introduced by the Provincial government. Two key objectives of the Civic Youth Strategy are to ensure a strong voice for youth and to promote youth as a resource to the city. This program helps ensure that these objectives are being met.

Staff are also recommending the establishment of two reserves, as has been done in previous years:

· Partners in Organizational Development recommend $20,000

Partners in Organizational Development grant was initiated in 1989 as a jointly funded partnership of the Vancouver Foundation, United Way, Secretary of State and the City to help non-profit organizations deal with common organizational problems. In 1994, additional Federal and Provincial partners agreed to also provide funding to this program.

P.O.D. aims to strengthen community organizations' capacity to work more effectively and efficiently. Small grants, averaging $4,000 per group, are given to assist in the development of strategic plans or to bring about organizational change. This is a verysuccessful program, with increasing demand every year. If this reserve is established, a report seeking Council's approval of specific P.O.D. grants will be submitted later in the year.

· Emergency reserve recommend $9,504

This reserve is established to be able to provide funding during the year for emergencies or emerging needs. This reserve can also be used as a source of funding for any increases in grants that arise from the Reconsideration process.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

With the addition of an inflation adjustment of 1.75% on last year's grant budget, the 2002 CSG budget is established at $2,977,600 to be allocated as follows:

Grants already approved by Council $2,871,096

Recommended grant to WAVAW,
pending outcome of reconsideration $27,000

Grants recommended in this report $50,000
Reserves recommended

P.O.D. $20,000
Emergencies $9,504

TOTAL $2,977,600

CONCLUSION

The first round of grant recommendations, approved by Council on March 26, 2002, provided some much needed stability to non-profit social service agencies in Vancouver in an otherwise constantly shifting environment. With the approval of the recommended three new grants, continued service provision will be ensured in high priority, high need areas.

- - - - -

No.	Agency	2002 Recomm.	2001 Grant	2002- 2001 Diff.	CONDITIONS / Comments
21	Eagles In The Sky Association	10,000		10,000	CONDITIONS: grant to be used to ensure that there is a minimum of 8 hours per week of family programs. Comments: Quarterly activity reports are requested.
40	Law Courts Education Soc. Of B.C.	20,000		20,000	CONDITIONS: matching funding must be provided by the Society. Comments:Quarterly activity reports are requested.
67	Self-Help Resource Assoc. of B.C.	20,000		20,000	Comments:Quarterly activity reports are requested.
	Total	50,000		50,000

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