The province has opened up their grant application for community organizations working to build safer communities through the Civil Forfeiture Crime Prevention and Remediation grant program.
The 2020-21 application for the grant opened up in October and will last until Nov.25.
In the 2019-20 grant period, the province gave out over $11 million in grants to various organizations, not-for-profits, school districts, by taking the proceeds of crime and putting them back into the communities. Around 267 projects received the funding.
For Burns Lake, $75,000 were granted to Lake Babine Nation’s Reconnection Project that works to operate a mentorship style program for youth who are dealing with mental health and/or substance use. Another $30,000 to Lake Babine Nation (LBN) was given out to improve the holistic health outcomes of the men of Lake Babine Nation by building three Dudes Clubs in the communities of Tachet, Fort Babine and Woyenne and LBN received another $30,000 for a project to implement antiviolence education and sexual assault prevention programs to protect vulnerable Indigenous women and girls.
The Northern Society for Domestic Peace received $30,000 for a project in Smithers, Houston, Telkwa, Witset, Hazelton, that would offer ongoing, voluntary, individual counselling services to those who use, or are at risk to use, violence in their relationships. The organization also received $75,000 for a project to build supportive relationships with vulnerable women living in the communities of Smithers, Hazelton, and Houston (Bulkey Valley) to increase women’s safety, decrease criminality, and work in partnership with the RCMP and others to support issues that otherwise divert limited police resources.
This year’s grant application has seven funding streams namely crime prevention, Indigenous healing, restorative justice, gender-based violence, violence against women, domestic violence and sexual assault; domestic violence prevention/intervention programming; human trafficking, sexual exploitation and sex worker safety; and child and youth advocacy centres.
The Civil Forfeiture Crime Prevention and Remediation grant program provides one-time funding to support community-based projects using the proceeds from the civil forfeiture process. The Civil Forfeiture Office works to remove the profits from unlawful activity by taking away the proceeds and assets used in crime, and reinvesting them in community safety and crime prevention.
Priyanka Ketkar
Multimedia journalist
@PriyankaKetkar
priyanka.ketkar@ldnews.net
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