The Whistler Community Foundation (WCF) has funded $180K in grants intended to reduce poverty, and increase social inclusion.
Five organizations in the Whistler area will share the funding, which comes from a $25-million "Community Prosperity Fund" from the provincial government to support local initiatives.
The Whistler organizations are: the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment (AWARE), which will receive $50,000 for its GROW program; the Whistler Multicultural Society, which will receive $35,500 for organizational capacity building; the Whistler Community Services Society, which will get $16,650 for its food bank; and the Lil’wat Nation, which will see $45,000 for the Stqaka7stúmc Líl̓wat Transition House, and another $33,000 in partnership with the Sea to Sky Invasive Species Council (SSISC) and N’Quatqua Nation.
The $33,000 will go towards a collaborative approach, blending traditional knowledge and science in training Nation members on stewardship of the land in an effort to protect food sources and cultural land practices.
The SSISC, Lil’wat and N’Quatqua initiative was highlighted by the WCF's chief executive officer, Claire Mozes, as a standout, citing the latest WCF Vital Signs (VS) report.
“In our VS latest report, our team recognized the intersection of multiple community issues, and it excites me to see applications that address the overlaps receive meaningful funding,” she said in a press release.
"One project that really stands out to me is the Sea to Sky Invasives Species Council application. It’s impressive how it connects invasive species monitoring and control with the fund goals of advancing poverty reduction and social inclusion.”
The program will see the SSISC collaborate with the Líl̓wat Nation and N’Quatqua Nation to prioritize areas in need of attention, with the release noting invasive species are known to cause damage to Indigenous cultural land and natural food system sovereignty by pushing out biodiversity and wildlife habitat.
