A big boost to a number of community groups in the area thanks to the WindsorEssex Community Foundation and Green Shield Canada.
On Tuesday, the groups announced a total of $564,000 has been invested in four local charities to fund critical mental and oral health programs in the Windsor-Essex Community.
The organizations funded through these grants include:
- The Canadian Mental Health Association Windsor-Essex County Branch, awarded $200,000 to support the Youth Wellness Hub Windsor-Essex
- The Windsor Family Health Team, awarded $200,000 to support their Community Oral Health Care Project
- Harrow Health Centre Family Health Team awarded $100,000 to support their Community Oral Health Care Project
- Trans Wellness Ontario awarded $64,000 to support their Queer and Trans* Counselling Services Program
Richard Wyma, chair of the WECF board, says they try to get to know what the needs are in the community through things like their Vital Signs survey.
"And then we find the partners, or we help with the partners direct funding to those types of initiatives. Today we heard the stories from people directly impacted by these initiatives. And even when you heard the different organizations speak, I think there's over 5,000 or 6,000 people that are going to be directly impacted by those $564,000 dollars."
Wyma says the process of selecting recipients depends on the type of funding available.
"So this year with Green Shield we were able to work directly with some of the organizations that we knew in the community that would help deliver the interest of what Green Shield wanted to make sure their resources went to benefit. We were able to take that commitment from Green Shield and find the people in the community to make it happen," he said.
Green Shield's Executive Vice President of Human Resources and Social Impact, Mila Lucio, says they're very excited about supporting these organizations.
"When we think about being able to make an impact in people's lives through oral healthcare and mental health," she continued. "But especially when we're able to do it when we apply that kind of diversity lens and be able to support the more vulnerable populations."
Lucio says since 2018, they've provided more than $2-million to the WECF.
"Of course Green Shield has always invested back in community for our overall history, and then specifically what we're looking to do between 2020 and 2025 is make an overall investment of $75-million across Canada," Lucio stated.
Funding recipients joined Green Shield and the WECF at the temporary location of the Youth Wellness Hub Windsor-Essex, located at Maryvale, to celebrate the latest community investments.
- with files from AM800's Rob Hindi