The Columbia-Shuswap Regional District and Sicamous have each been awarded $20,000 age-friendly community planning and project grants to help support local strategies to help seniors stay mobile, physically active, socially connected and healthy.
The Columbia-Shuswap Regional District will use the funding to raise awareness on the services and supports currently available to older adults in the community and determining what additional resources are needed going forward. Sicamous use the grant to explore and enhance age-friendly planning to help improve the quality of life of seniors in the community.
“Seniors are a fast-growing demographic in B.C., and it is important that communities support the needs of older adults,” said Greg Kyllo, MLA for Shuswap. “Both grants will help Sicamous and communities in the regional district plan and develop programs so older adults can live healthy and independent lives.”
The age-friendly community planning and project grant program is a partnership between the provincial government and the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM).
For the 2015 grants, local governments were encouraged to consider projects that complement Accessibility 2024 and other provincial priorities for seniors such as dementia, elder abuse prevention and non-medical home supports
Accessibility 2024 is government’s 10-year plan to make B.C. the most progressive place for people with disabilities in Canada. Of the 28 funded projects, 12 projects include a focus on accessibility. Other successful applicants will specifically address issues facing seniors in rural communities.
Including this announcement, over 135 local governments throughout B.C. have received at least one grant, and over 225 projects have been funded.
