Revelstoke City Council voted to approve the recipients of the Columbia Basin Trust’s Resident Directed Grant Program for 2024, with more than $400,000 up for grabs.
According to the report prepared for council on Tuesday, March 26, The Resident Directed Grant Program (ReDi Grant) program has been supporting community projects for the past 20 years. The intent of the program is for funds to be allotted to projects that “provide additional value to Basin communities.”
The funds are distributed according to successful applicants, which are evaluated by the evaluation committee. The committee analyzes applications based on their eligibility criteria, public input, and the “spirit and intent” of the program. The evaluation committee was comprised of five volunteers that included Brady Blake, Lisa Cyr, Ardelle Hynes, Cindy Maloney and David Raven.
A public engagement session was held at the Revelstoke Community Centre on March 13 to give applicants the chance to present their project overviews to the public. Attendees could vote for up to 10 of their preferred proposals.
The program received 44 applicants to divide up $414,301 to applicants in Revelstoke and Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) Area B.
Requests ranged from as low as $999 for a Girl Guides international trip to $60,000 for the Community Connections Food Bank.
Although more than $400,000 will be dispersed, the total amount requested by the applicants came in at $698,005. Rather than turning away applications whose full request couldn’t be accommodated, the committee distributed a portion of the request.
For example, the food bank’s request topped 2024’s list of applicants and was awarded half of their request at $30,000.
“Glad to see this moving forward and grateful that the residents come out en masse to apply,” said Mayor Gary Sulz.
The motion to approve the funding allocations as recommended by the Program Evaluation Committee was passed unanimously by council.
A full list of applicants and their respective awarded grants can be found on the City of Revelstoke website.
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