Organization helping older crime victims appeals city decision to reject $150-K grant request

A seniors’ organization is making a second attempt to claim city funding for a program that helps older victims of crime, after its first application was rejected.

A&O Support Services for Older Adults sought a $150,000 community and neighbourhood grant to help provide one-on-one supports to seniors, including counselling, help navigating the justice system and safety education.

The city rejected the grant, a decision A&O is now appealing.

“To lose these (services) is critical and pretty scary for a lot of people…. Older adults need us and they need the city to be behind us to provide this really important support. Folks that have been using their motorized wheelchairs in the skywalk and been attacked, or people who have had home invasions (need this). It’s a huge loss,” said Amanda Macrae, A&O’s chief executive officer.

In a letter to the city, A&O said the change will leave those who’ve experienced crime at greater risk of repeat victimization, since public safety outreach is no longer possible.

Macrae said the organization was forced to stop funding the program after its grant application was rejected. The city previously paid for the program for more than 20 years, she said, including a $95,000 grant in 2025.

“Given everything that’s going on in our city… this is a time when the needs around providing safety and security and (ensuring) people feel safe to age in their own communities seems more important than ever before. So, the timing around this seems to not really reflect the reality of what the city’s going through,” she said.

Macrae said the rejected funding application will have a ripple effect on the clients A&O serves, since workers often connect seniors who have become victims of crime to other supports they need.

A city letter states the grant was not approved due to steep competition for limited funding.

“While your proposal received a competitive score, funding limitations required difficult decisions. As such, this outcome reflects the competitive nature of the program rather than the merit or potential impact of your project,” it notes.

The city revealed in February that it had received 167 applications for $15 million of community and neighbourhood grants but awarded just $2.5 million to 60 non-profit organizations.

Awards were determined through a new points-based formula that prioritizes applications that best match city priorities.

Coun. Jeff Browaty said city staff are handling the appeal as part of an effort to “de-politicize” the intake process for this set of grants.

“(For) these particular grants, the criteria is set by elected officials, but not the actual awarding and final decision-making because we wanted to remove the politics,” said Browaty (North Kildonan), city council’s finance chairman.

Clear categories are meant to help ensure all funded programs meet key city goals and services.

“When it came to these community grants, we felt that so many of the groups… were getting them because they historically received them year after year after year. We felt it was time to depoliticize the decisions a little bit,” said Browaty.

He said he expects the city will hold firm to its overall budget for the grants.

“We do, unfortunately, have to work with limited taxpayer resources and prioritize,” he said.

An “administrative appeal body,” which includes the city’s chief financial officer, manager of financial planning and director of community services, is set to hear the appeal on Thursday.

The city did not grant a request to speak with any of the committee’s members Friday.

In an email, city spokeswoman Tamara Forlanski said the city could also not provide written answers on several questions until after the weekend.

It is not clear if the appeal body’s decision is final. A city letter suggests the decision could be referred to city council’s executive policy committee.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

X: @joyanne_pursaga