Mount Carmel Clinic new nest for Thunderwing

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This article was published 29/05/2023 (832 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mount Carmel Clinic, with a funding boost from the province’s justice department, will take over a community program meant to co-ordinate resources for families and others at risk in Winnipeg’s inner city.

Manitoba Justice will reallocate $200,000 in funding for the Main Street clinic to administer Thunderwing Project, along with an additional $100,000 to enhance the project to support women who are in contact with the criminal justice system.

The community mobilization project co-ordinates resources across sectors for clients, aimed at improving community safety and family well-being, the government said in a news release Monday.

“Thunderwing is really a program that supports families on a journey — whatever their goals may be,” clinic executive director Bobbette Shoffner said at a news conference.

“They come into the program, they meet with our staff, work together on facilitating the goals they have — whether that’s support with housing, support with (Child and Family Services), support in going back to school, whatever the case may be.”

Shoffner described the program as facilitating access to resources and removing barriers to those resources.

“We have an entire team here that helps support that. We have folks come from community-based organizations around us, they come from government services… that come together to a table. We talk about families individually, with their permission, and help to remove the barriers to help them on their path to living a good life.”

The program has operated since 2013, after starting as a community safety pilot project in the William Whyte and Dufferin neighbourhoods of the capital city.

The justice department, which until now has administered Thunderwing, decided to move the funding to a community-based organization to provide and expand it — which the province said is consistent with how community mobilization is funded throughout the rest of Manitoba.

In November 2022, Mount Carmel Clinic was selected through an expression of interest process.

The province is providing Thunderwing with an additional $100,000 in funding for an additional position to focus on supporting women who are in contact with the criminal justice system.

Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen said the funding is annual. He added the additional money comes as part of the department’s violent crime strategy.

erik.pindera@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @erik_pindera