Grants available for community and nonprofit groups

Local community groups and nonprofits in our city are set to receive some much needed financial help. Applications for the Community Event Support Grant and Community Capital Support Grant are now being accepted by the City of Lethbridge. Lori Harasem is the Recreation and Culture Development Manager for the City, and she says that many have reached out to say they were in need, and want to continue to support community events in the city during the pandemic.

“We have been encouraging event coordinators, and not-for-profit organizations to plan to their level of comfort. Also to be flexible, because with COVID-19, things change so quickly. It’s generally one or two weeks before the event to the point where they can get permission from Alberta Health Services to even go ahead. As well, the city likes to have a pandemic plan filed within the event permits that we hand out. Making sure that people have considered different things like PPE, and social distancing. We’ve been very flexible with events that have applied during the pandemic, and some have been cancelled and postponed. We just work with those groups knowing that this is out of their control, and our control,” says Harasem.

The Community Event Support Grant has existed for a number of decades within the City of Lethbridge says Harasem, “The grant was created to help not-for-profit organizations with the costs associated with putting on events.”

The Community Capital Support Grant is also available. This will allow recreational, cultural, and social service agencies in Lethbridge for capital projects. “This could be anything from replacing a roof, getting capital equipment, or major renovations within a facility they own or lease,” adds Harasem.

The deadline for the two grants is April 30th, and for more information on these and other available grants you can visit the City of Lethbridge website https://www.lethbridge.ca/Things-To-Do/Special-Events/Pages/Grants.aspx