The GNWT has bumped up a fund designed to reduce poverty.
The Anti-Poverty Fund, through 52 individual grants of between $4,800 and $67,000, has distributed $1.75 million this year.
The increase was “to help eligible organizations and Indigenous governments provide innovative community driven solutions in their poverty reduction initiatives,” according to Julie Green, minister of Health and Social Services. “The additional funding has allowed us to help more applicants help their communities than in previous years.”
The Health department put the spotlight on five of the grant recipients in an announcement circuated to the media July 14.
They include:
- The From All Directions program, which will support food security focusing on the knowledge of harvesting, developing a community garden and donating food;
- The Qmunity Camp, which is run by the Rainbow Coalition, the only sleep-away camp for youth aged 12 to 17 which promotes self-expression;
- The Building Safe Housing, Skills and Well-being, run by the Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation in Kakisa, which will provide the training to complete repairs and maintenance to houses in a summer internship program for minors, and;
- The Healing Families On-the-Land camps run by the Tlicho Government, which allow people to participate in healing workshops and culture-based outdoor activities which should help create personal and cultural identity and a sense of belonging.
The proposals also had to include one or more of the five pillars from the Anti-Poverty Strategic Framework and Action Plan: Children and Family Support, Healthy Living and Reaching Our Potential, Safe and Affordable Housing, Sustainable Communities and Integrated Continuum of Services.