VICTORIA – United Way Greater Victoria and the Victoria Foundation are investing $1.6 million into local charities to help them adapt their frontline services to support vulnerable citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of 60 grants will help organizations across the Capital Region District, the Gulf Islands and north to Cowichan thanks to funding received from The Government of Canada’s Emergency Community Support Fund (ECSF). A grant call that launched on May 19 asked local charities to submit proposals to receive funding for a variety of purposes, including to cover staffing and/or emerging needs especially related to transitioning to digital services and platforms. A collaborative community review panel between United Way and Victoria Foundation sifted through over 120 applications to determine feasibility and need.
Out of the 60 grants approved, eleven programs were co-funded by United Way and Victoria Foundation. Two examples of these are the Island Deaf and Hard of Hearing Centre Association, which received support to safely re-open and deliver hearing health services including hearing aids to people whose social isolation has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis, as well as the Victoria Native Friendship Centre, which received support to access technology to help transition to virtual programming for staff working with at-risk children and youth as well as funding to fill food hampers for vulnerable Indigenous elders and families.
In the words of the Victoria Native Friendship Centre Executive Director, Ron Rice: “Our staff all breathed a sigh of relief when they got the news…this has a huge impact on our bottom line. We could not do all that we do without support from funders such as United Way and Victoria Foundation, nor could we continue to provide the services we do to urban Indigenous families, Elders, the disabled and the disenfranchised.”
Other grants being allocated include digitizing an opera performance and bringing it to schools alongside curriculum aid, haircuts for women in order to feel more confident during a job interview through a subsidy to the salon, and an intergenerational support program that matches Indigenous youth with vulnerable elders and a free online literary festival.
The Government of Canada announced the $350 Million Emergency Community Support Fund on April 21, 2020. The fund was administered across the country in partnership with United Way Centraide Canada, Community Foundations of Canada and the Canadian Red Cross.