Couns. Cassi Hider, Ramona Robins and Robert Dumanowski attend the public services committee meeting earlier this week.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
City staff are recommending council approve eight of 15 Community Vibrancy Grant applications in 2025 for a total of $44,000. A total of $127,893 in grant applications were received though the city’s fall intake.
All applications were evaluated by city staff using a scoring matrix to determine where the community impact and inclusivity grant funding would go toward. This matrix helped staff narrow down eligible groups.
Some events did not receive funding because they are already budgeted by the , public services committee members heard Monday.
“It was events that were already going to happen in our community, whether we gave them the grant or not,” explains Dylan Giles, chair of the community vibrancy board. “We just obviously opted to not fund them in the recommendations so that our community got access to more events.”
Other groups did not receive funding because their objectives did not align with the community’s needs at the time.
The city offers two streams of funding budgeted through its Community Vibrancy grant that includes $25,000 for community projects and activities, as well as $19,000 for annual festivals and special events.
Some festivals and events receive multi-year funding that can affect the budget year to year. Council approved the bylaw to establish a Community Vibrancy Advisory Board in 2021 and approved its funding framework in 2023.
