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.

The Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre received a $12,000 Social and Community Development Grant in 2023. This is how the grant was used:

Submitted by the Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre 

Our goal with this project was to provide support to survivors of violence in our community through our crisis line. To do this, we needed to add volunteer capacity to our organization. With a blended model of both staff and volunteers, our crisis line serves survivors aged 13 and up from across the region. With a reduction in provincial government funding for the program, we needed to find a way to provide additional volunteer hours to keep the crisis line functioning.

The funding from the City of Kamloops helped support two volunteer training cycles, adding 15 new volunteers to the program. Recruiting and training volunteers is challenging, as is retaining them. This funding also supported volunteer appreciation, helping to acknowledge the important contributions of volunteers and keep individuals engaged in the work.

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.