Funds announced for community club upgrades, ‘make good on real work,’ councillor urges

Winnipeg city Coun. Sherri Rollins claims the city is underspending its grant programs that support community centres.

Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) penned an open letter in response to the city’s announcement of $1.8 million for community centres Tuesday, saying the funding is not always used when city-owned facilities are in need of repairs.

“The funding today has not yet been secured. Sometimes the quotes expire, the costs rise and the grants fall short, and that’s how the volunteer boards have to cash manage the city-run rec facilities,” Rollins told the Free Press.

Her letter calls on the mayor and the executive policy committee to “stop mistaking announcements for delivery and make good on the real work.”

“Making sure approved funds actually flow, projects are delivered, and council’s directives to support the volunteers and community boards who do the day-to-day work of providing community recreation services are respected,” the letter states.

The city’s November 2025 capital expenditures report showed that in 2024, more than $1.38 million of the Community Centre Renovation Grant program funds were unspent. In 2023, $162,647 was left over. All of the cash was spent in 2022.

Mayor Scott Gillingham announced the $1.8 million in funding Tuesday through the grant program to 24 community centres for renovations, upgrades and safety enhancements, up to $100,000 per project.

The program awards $2 million every year to some of the 63 city-run community centres which apply for the funding through the General Council of Winnipeg Community Centres.

Gillingham told reporters that some projects don’t come to fruition for a number of reasons, such as delays in procurement or construction inflation. He admitted that the need for money is always present.

“I remember years ago, initially for council, we had this fund set at $2 million annually for a certain number of years and then the plan was to go back to a million dollars, and the community centers and (General Council of Winnipeg Community Centres) said, you know, ‘please don’t,’” he said.

The executive director of the council defended the funding structure, saying the money rolls over into the new year.

Of the $2 million allocated for 2025, about $154,000 remains and will be included in the next intake of applications, said Lora Meseman.

“I guarantee you, we have usually more applications than we have funding,” she said. “The city has a finite number of dollars, and we advocate for as much as we possibly can get.”

Rollins said the money needs to be allocated quicker to spare the volunteers who run the community centres and spend their free time repeatedly applying for the grants and getting construction quotes.

“It’s disrespectful. It is not providing communities the recreation service, and volunteers, the respect they deserve,” she said.

The city has a programming grant that helps cover staff wages so community centres can have some staff on payroll. The program allocated $250,000 for 2026.

David Desousa, operations manager at the Tyndall Park Community Centre, has one part-time staff member who cleans and does maintenance work.

“We would just be drained without it,” he said. “So having that is beneficial.”

The Tyndall Park centre received $100,00 of the 2026 grant program to upgrade one of its aging outdoor hockey rinks.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca