Each year, the City of Kamloops issues a call for proposals for registered charities and non-profit agencies in our community to apply for Social and Community Development Grants, which are intended to fund special projects, operational costs, and/or capital expenditures that address specific current social problems and/or issues related to the City’s Social Plan or the Livability and Sustainability pillar of the Council Strategic Plan.
BGC Kamloops received a $15,000 Social and Community Development Grant in 2023. This is how the grant was used:
Submitted by BGC Kamloops
BGC Kamloops recognized a need to support more youth during the day due to a lack of other youth-serving organizations in Kamloops that are open during school hours, 9:00 am–2:00 pm. Our team had noticed an increase in youth coming to our facility when the youth room was not open during school hours. The grant funding we received allowed us to modify our youth room hours to provide service for youth who wanted to attend recreational activities at the Club.
Since implementing the change, we have seen a steady increase in the number of older youth, aged 13-14, who arrive during school hours to have a quiet place to come, relax, talk with a safe adult, and access harm-reduction supplies or food. Since we changed the youth room hours, we have seen an average of 15 new youth per month and an average of 100 unique youth per month during our drop-in programs.
We found most of our new-to-us youth come referred from their peers. Zak’s Room, a barrier-free safe space for street-entrenched and at-risk youth to spend time, is a space that received extended hours with proven success. Youth can get some sleep, get connected to our 1-1 worker to get support for housing and education, have a meal, spend recreational time (i.e., watch Netflix, use wifi, etc.), and access free laundry facilities. Youth can also access harm reduction supplies, connect with safe adults about opioid agonist treatment options, and receive referrals to treatment facilities in partnership with the Interior Health street nurses, overdose prevention nurses, and opioid agonist treatment nurse.
To learn more about this Social and Community Development Grant, visit Kamloops.ca/Grants. To view stories on how other groups used their Social and Community Development Grants, visit Kamloops.ca/CityStory.
