FCSS Grant funding

Times Reporter    

 

A committee was formed earlier this year to review and assess applications for grant funding through the Strathmore Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) program. 

The committee is made up of five citizens and two town staff members. A limit of $30,000 was set for grants to be made under the FCSS program. On April 3 committee members Dave Collins and Robert Breitwieser made a presentation to Town council discussing the funding for the applications. 

There were 13 applications, four of which were from new matters and nine were from organizations that had previously received funding from the former WFCSS.  

“It was determined that the most appropriate method to determine the eligibility of the applications was to place the most weight on the FCSS Act and Regulations as we’re all bound by this legislation,” said Dave Collins, FCSS grant committee member. 

Collins said at the end of the year evidence will need to be provided that to the province that the applications did meet the requirements. 

The committee utilized the information from the program advice inventory listing and the results from the community needs assessment to assess the applications. 

It was felt that the fairest way was to first determine if the applications were eligible, or partially eligible for funding.

“From there we looked at how much each application had received from the WFCSS in 2012. Next we calculated how much of the funding they received in the past from the Town’s portion of the grants,” said Collins.

“The Town’s contribution equated to 54 per cent of the former WFCSS grants and that is made up of the provincial and municipal contributions to the WFCSS in the past.”

Collins said it was determined that if each application was granted 54 per cent of the funds allocated in 2012 then the Town would be funding 100 per cent of its portion if things were equated to the previous year. 

“Through the course of our review it was discovered that some of the applications did not meet the criteria or mandate of the legislation,” said Collins. 

“However, it was felt would not be fair to place a financial hardship on organizations that have been dependent on the former FCSS funding.”

Some of the organizations not eligible are a critical and important part of the community. Contact was made with the Minister of Human Services’ office and it was agreed that the ineligible organizations would be weaned from the funding after this year, with the understanding they would need to search out other forms of financial assistance in the future.