Over 5-million dollars is being allocated by the province to the Union of BC Municipalities for the Poverty Reduction Planning and Action Program.
Interested communities can apply for funding until the end of February to support local initiatives that will help decline the poverty rate in BC by 25% and the child poverty rate by half in the next five years.
Prince George City Councillor and UBCM Past President Murry Krause spoke with Vista Radio on the announcement.
“I want to either to develop a plan or a project to help reduce poverty. Local governments have been asking for this for a long time and are just another thing for them to be involved in.”
The program includes two streams of funding where communities can receive up to $25,000 to develop a poverty reduction plan and up to $50,000 to undertake local poverty reduction projects.
Krause adds the city has a few options on which funding route they want to take.
“It’s up to local governments to decide what they want to do and that will be up to Prince George as to what we might apply for, certainly we’ve been having those discussions for a very long time and this provides us with an opportunity to get some of the resources we might need in the city.”
New projects will be funded that focus on Together BC’s priority action areas, which include housing, children and youth along with income and social supports.
For regional applications, the funding maximum for both streams is $150,000.
British Columbia has the second-highest overall poverty rate in Canada.
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