Winnipeg council's executive committee votes to reverse planned cut to community grant program

Community groups that protested against a cut to City of Winnipeg grants earlier this summer won a victory as the mayor's inner circle voted to restore $2.1 million to the program. 

The Tuesday vote was originally set for June 27, but was delayed by the executive policy committee after dozens of groups rallied outside city hall to call on council to reverse a plan to cut its community grants fund from $3.4 million to $1.3 million.

City officials had also planned to prohibit grant recipients from using the money to pay for core staff and administration, which non-profit organizations said would limit the funding to short-term pilot projects rather than long-term programs. 

On Tuesday, Mayor Scott Gillingham and the rest of the committee voted unanimously to refer the $2.1 million that would have been cut to the 2025 budget process, in order to keep the fund at its current level.

They also voted to change the criteria to allow the money to be used for operational funding. 

"These organizations are doing really important work on the front lines of our community. We didn't have an intention to destabilize these organizations," Gillingham told reporters at city hall.

Groups that have received funding through the program include BGC Winnipeg (formerly the Boys and Girls Club), Resource Assistance for Youth, the Downtown Community Safety Partnership, End Homelessness Winnipeg, Art City, Graffiti Art Programming and Take Pride Winnipeg.

The organizations provide meal programs, recreation and community cleanups, among other services. 

"This is what community grants do," said Kate Kehler, executive director of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg. "They nurture and deliver on the city's chartered responsibilities to look after the health and well-being of its inhabitants."

Coun. Vivian Santos, chair of the community services committee, said she's pleased with the decision to reverse the cut to the program, particularly as the councillor for Point Douglas, a ward with some of the highest poverty rates in the city.

Protests against the cut were "heard loud and clear in the previous months," she said in an interview.

"This is really, of course, near and dear to my heart as a councillor that represents the inner city, [which] has a lot of these non-profit organizations in [it]."

One aspect of the original plan remains, however. A new committee will select which groups receive the grants.

Previously, the city clerk's office would receive applications, with grants allocated through the annual budget process.

That meant decisions were being made behind closed doors, said Santos. 

"Now what we're doing is we're being a little bit more open and transparent," Santos said.

Kehler told the committee the non-profits receiving the funding have no problem with making the process more open.

"None of us has funders that simply allow us to do whatever, whenever," she said.

"The currently funded programs already have to apply every year and then report on their activities.… No one takes this funding for granted."

Gillingham says he's still concerned about where the city will find the money. 

"We have a financial challenge before us. One of the things that we're trying to avoid at all costs, to make every effort to avoid, is reducing our … funding to the front-line organizations."