Solicitor-General Promises Funds To Save Local Non-Profits

By Michelle Cyr-Whiting

Prince George, B.C.- With the very survival of a number of local non-profits hanging in the balance, a private meeting in Prince George with Solicitor-General Rich Coleman appears to have turned their fortunes...

Executive members of the Northern Interior Communities Association met with the minister at the end of last week, and NICA President, Shawn Bellamy, says Minister Coleman "has promised and guaranteed that he will be addressing (those groups') financial needs - most, if not all - to the best of his ability."

Beyond that, Bellamy says, the meeting has province-wide implications because the minister stated he would be restoring the gaming revenue disbursement to charities to $159-million dollars, 33-percent of the cost of living index, in the next six months. (In 2009, the total amount of gaming revenue handed out across the province dropped to an 11-percent share, based on the index)

Bellamy says the community of Prince George lost approximately one-million dollars in funding between 2008-09 and 2009-10. In addition, she says changes to the way that money is now handed out - including staggered disbursements - have created a potentially-fatal funding gap for a number of local non-profits and charities, primarily in the human and social service sector, who fall at the 'end' of the funding schedule line. That's groups like the Hart Pioneer Centre and Prince George Native Friendship Centre.

Bellamy explains those groups received their final installment under the 'old' bingo affiliation grant program last August (it was expected April 1st, 2010), but won't receive their next yearly allotment, under the new Community Gaming Grant program, until February 2012.

Bellamy says at last Thursday's meeting, facilitated by MLAs Shirley Bond and Pat Bell, Coleman committed to transitional funding for those specific, hard-hit groups, that can provide him with financial documents supporting their need. And, she says, he assured NICA it would not come out of those groups' future grants, but was, in fact, interim funding to bridge their gaps.

"This is an amazing, amazing offer," says Bellamy. "And, while I can't really say it's a gift, I think it's an amazing statement coming at this time."

For the first time in a long time, the NICA president says she gets the sense that the provincial government is willing to work with B.C. non profits and charities to address concerns that have mounted over the past several years. She says more communication is still needed, but NICA, "is very hopeful for the future (of these groups) and that they will have a more secure and stable funding source for them to access in the future."

Bellamy has been in touch with her provincial counterpart, the president of the BC Association for Charitable Gaming, who, Bellamy says, was "absolutely amazed" to hear of this ground-breaking discussion.

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Bellamy says NICA is primarily a communicative body that acts as a flow-through of information from the government and Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch to community groups. The association also acts as an advocate for its more than 90 local non-profit societies and charitable organizations.

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