One of the reasons the Youth Community Centre no longer qualifies for Family and Community Support Service grant funding is because it targets at-risk youth, city council heard Monday.
It was the first time since May that any specific reason for the decision to withhold FCSS grant funding from the youth centre has been made public. Previously, only general reasons had been given, such as lack of preventative programming and duplication of services.
Councillors heard the news while endorsing the recommendations of the community services advisory board to provide more than $730,000 in funding to groups such as the Family Resource Centre, Stop Abuse in Families, the Community Village, Community Information & Volunteer Centre, 50+ Club and for youth asset development.
In explaining funding for youth asset development, FCSS director Scott Rodda said the reason youth centre programming isn’t considered preventative is because it targets a specific group of youth, such as those considered at-risk.
“By its sheer nature, preventative programs we’re working towards are programs that are universal in nature,” Rodda said. “They reach all youth and are not targeted at at-risk youth, which by admission is what they work with, so true prevention would not target a specified group.”
Rodda later clarified that primary prevention involves education and awareness and needs to be universally accessible.
“I’m not saying it’s not prevention. It’s not primary prevention,” Rodda said.
Council endorsed in May a recommendation by the community services advisory board to no longer provide FCSS grant money to the youth centre.
Mayor Nolan Crouse said Rodda’s statement caught him off-guard.
“I would call it a pretty grey area,” Crouse said. “That being said, you have to rely on the experts, professionals to sort some of that out.”
The $114,183 the youth centre was supposed to receive will instead be held by FCSS for asset development. Rodda said the group Building Assets and Memories will be part of that, but it didn’t qualify for direct funding because it hasn’t been a registered non-profit for one year, which is required. It still has to work out a governance model. The money will also be used in working with schools, business and other sectors to help youth.
There will be changes at the St. Albert 50-plus club as well, according to the agenda report given to council. Of the $126,090 the club received, $45,855 will go to fund the adult day program, which gives seniors the chance to socialize at the club.
But the report states the club wants to offer the program in a different way, saying the “intent is to transition the adult day program to other community-based services and then re-distribute the financial resources to provide additional outreach, education and support services …”
Executive director Val Niblock said she would reveal more specifics after a meeting with FCSS later this week.
