Saying no can be a very difficult thing to do. In the case of grants administered by City of Powell River, no doesn’t even seem to be an option.
Including Powell River Community Forest grants and city grants-in-aid, more than $2 million dollars was divvied out this year to non-profit organizations. While these funds are fundamental for several key projects, events and upgrades, the need for scrutiny around how these grants are given out has never been more apparent.
Powell River has become a city where organizations can put their hands out and expect to receive money, which creates a dynamic where fundraising for projects and events appear to be reserved to filling out grant applications. Like a teenager who expects spending money from a parent instead of earning it themselves, this becomes an unhealthy codependence for some organizations. And if purse strings on the grant money ever tighten, or get cut off, then what?
In April 2016, the city formed a Grant Funding Advisory Committee. This committee’s mandate is to review the way the city currently awards grants and compare current policy to other similar communities.
The committee is questioning the criteria and process with which it awards grants and is looking at changes to the process.
Part of the grants committee’s mandate was to hold biweekly meetings and have a decision in September of this year, when its mandate expires. While regular meetings were held at the outset, the group has not met in several months due to more pressing business at city hall, according to committee members Russell Brewer and Ann Nelson.
When the grants committee does return to work, one of the most important issues for it to consider is how to ethically and equitably administer grant money, as well as rethinking how to gauge positive results. A certain amount of grant money reserved for social programs would be an ideal option.
Community forest grants will require a more in-depth conversation at city hall due to bylaws surrounding the city corporation’s operations. More transparency around community forest grants is a much larger issue for council to tackle at a later date, but it is also integral.
For now, council has the chance to follow the committee’s upcoming recommendations to improve the way city grants are handed out and ensure that groups receiving public money can prove they deserve it, and that funds will be used for projects that most benefit the community.
Jason Schreurs, publisher/editor
