$2.6M funding will extend employment services for Manitobans on EIA, province says

Manitoba is spending $2.6 million to help people on employment and income assistance move out of the program into jobs, Families Minister Rochelle Squires said at a news conference Tuesday.

The funding will be given to service providers who work directly with recipients of EIA.

A two-year extension of the single parent employment program at Opportunities for Employment will get $1.3 million, which will help 200 single parents with preschool-age children.

The single parent employment program helps single parents whose main barrier to employment is a lack of immediate child care. The program runs jointly with Taking Charge, which was started in 1995 to help single parents.

"Programs like this can not only change a woman's life, a single parent's life — it can also change the trajectory of her entire family," Squires said.

The province will also give $850,000 to Taking Charge to provide personal development and pre-employment readiness programming.

An additional $500,000 will go toward three programs that focus on employment skills training in rural and northern Manitoba:

• $142,600 will go to FireSpirit for the Belong to Employment program to support EIA clients in Thompson and northern Manitoba as they transition to employment.

• $150,000 will go to YMCA Thompson to support its work and provide individualized pre-employment and mental health support.

• $214,500 will go to Career Connections in Brandon to provide essential skill development for employment preparation and training in rural Manitoba.

The province is also updating an agreement with the Denturist Association of Manitoba from April 1 of this year until March 2024 to provide health services to EIA recipients, including the cost of basic denturist services.

During the new three-year agreement, fees for denturist services will remain the same as in 2021-22. They will increase six per cent in 2022-23 and three per cent in 2023-24.

Participation in the new programs will be voluntary for EIA recipients and are intended to help recipients get an attachment to the labour market, Squires said.

The province is still working on moving Manitobans who are on disability benefits off of EIA and into a separate benefit category for people with severe and prolonged disabilities, and those changes will be completed this calendar year, she said.

The province will also create a benefit program for people with "episodic" disabilities that are short-term in nature in coming years, Squires said.