The town of Collingwood has awarded $50,000 to local non-profit, charitable, and volunteer groups.
Council approved the allocations of funds in a vote at last night's council meeting (April 8) through the Community Recreation and Culture Grant program, part of the Parks, Recreation, and Culture (PRC) mandate.
The program is overseen by a public advisory group and a PRC staff member, who will review applications for funding before making recommendations on how much to allocate to each applicant.
According to a staff report by PRC Director Dean Collver, the program prioritizes applications requesting support for youth participation and engagement in recreation and the arts, reduction or elimination of financial barriers for participation in recreation, sport, or arts activities, and initiatives that take place at the Shipyards Amphitheatre.
The town received 25 funding applications totalling more than $100,000. Since the 2019 budget only allocated $50,000 for the program, staff used a funding formula to score each applicant and split the money between all those who scored 50 per cent or higher.
Applications included a written portion and an interview with the grant review team.
All 25 applicants achieved funding. Elephant Thoughts and Environment Network were awarded the highest funding amount at $3,123 and $2,986 respectively.
Magic of Children in the Arts received $2,747, Theatre Collingwood received $2,732, the CCI marching band received $2,732, Home Horizon received $2,669, the 1909 Collingwood Army Cadets received $2,669, Breaking Down Barriers received $2,637, South Georgian Bay Music Foundation received $2,431, Scouts Collingwood received $2,417, Ontario Music Co-op received 2,367, and Highlands Youth for Christ received $2,113.
Further donations include $1,986 for Summer Music Festival, $1,906 for Big Brothers Big Sisters, $1,874 for Quarter Century Theatre, $1,779 for Collingwood United Soccer Club, $1,673 for the Collingwood Tennis Club, $1,621 for Port Music Festival, $1,511 for Collingwood Minor Baseball, $1,323 for Route 26, $1,239 for the Blue Mountain Watershed Trust, $1,167 for Collingwood Music Showcase, and $1,110 for Continued Adult Special Learning Experience (CASLE). Rounding out the bottom of the donations is $724 for the Blue Mountain Foundation for the Arts and $489 for Georgian Triangle Music Teachers.
There may be changes to the grant program for next year. According to Collver’s report, staff are reviewing the grant process to better integrate it with the facility in-kind grant policy, as per recommendations contained in the PRC Master Plan. Staff will bring back another report to council on the matter later this year.
