A motion that would have directed the City of Airdrie’s administrative staff to work with the provincial government to facilitate a webinar to help local civil societies with grant application processes was withdrawn at the Feb. 16 regular council meeting.
The decision to withdraw the motion came after multiple councillors said they would not support the motion. Deputy Mayor Tina Petrow, who put forward the motion, said after discussion that other councillors made their points known.
“I would be prepared to withdraw this motion,” she said. “The conversation has happened, which is very important. Although I think the point of the webinar was missed, as long as those things are relayed through monthly meetings, I would be comfortable withdrawing my motion.”
Initially, Petrow said she brought forward the motion because she feels civil society funding is changing and she wanted to ensure the community knew how to take the proper steps to secure funding.
“Who do you collaborate with? How do you collaborate with other non-profits and private businesses?” she said. “Any information that we can give to our non-profits to help them be successful, I think this [webinar] is an easy way for us to do it.”
Following Petrow’s pitch, Clay Aragon, manager of community services with the City, went through the process of what the municipality does when funding requests come in.
“[When] we get information about a grant, typically what we do as administration in both social planning and community development is, we then review the grant and ensure they are appropriate for here and support social services,” he said.
Aragon added there is a program that was started in 2020 called the Community Cares Coordinating Centre, which meets with local organizations monthly.
“This was certainly one of the agenda items that we shared with them,” he said.
According to Aragon, there are already processes in place to help educate local organizations on steps to ensure they are properly applying for funding. He said the City has also provided non-profits with one-on-one workshops.
He said there are approximately 400 non-profit organizations in Airdrie.
“Maybe the opportunity is to connect them directly to those funders,” he said. “Maybe they can answer some of those questions.”
Mayor Peter Brown said he couldn’t support the motion because he feels what Petrow was asking for is already being done by the municipality.
“There is a lot of uncertainty around connecting with the government to produce a webinar,” he said. “As much as I appreciate what you are trying to achieve, I think we are already meeting those expectations from everyone that I’ve talked to. I’m not seeing any gaps.”
Coun. Candice Kolson said she couldn’t support the motion either, as she believes there are many grants available, and she doesn’t understand how the City would set up a specific webinar to support local organizations effectively.
“I feel like this is a provincial and federal [issue],” she said. “If they want us to understand to apply for those grants, they need to put these webinars out there.”
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @Jay_Strickz
