Project brings suburb, inner city together

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/12/2019 (2160 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On Dec. 4, I had the honour of taking part in a funding announcement with The Royal Bank of Canada and the University of Winnipeg which will build bridges between the suburbs and the inner city.   

For the past three years, the City of Winnipeg has provided an annual $200,000 grant to the University of Winnipeg to run the Inner-City Work Study program. Each summer, 20 U of W students from both inner-city and suburban backgrounds come together in the North End to learn in a “roving classroom”. Students spend four days a week at individual work placements within community organizations, and on the fifth day they are all in class together to study the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.   

The Royal Bank took note, and in early December RBC regional president Kim Ulmer announced $500,000 in funding from the RBC, spread over the next five years, for inner-city work study. Dr. Shauna Mackinnon, who chairs the University of Winnipeg’s Urban and Inner-City Studies department, thanked RBC and stated, “We’ve seen the powerful impact of bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous students together to work, learn and contribute to our inner-city neighborhoods. We applaud the City of Winnipeg for investing in this innovative initiative and we look forward to providing opportunities to more students thanks to the generous support of RBC.”   

I am proud to have championed this partnership with the University of Winnipeg, and I would also point out the program would not have been possible without the ongoing support of Mayor Bowman.   

In my first campaign for city councillor from St. Vital, one of my leaflets contained the pledge that I would work to establish a “city year” program that would offer youth from all backgrounds a chance to serve the City.   

The University of Winnipeg took this concept and improved on it by emphasizing the connection to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. With RBC now on board, I am hopeful that this project bringing together Winnipeg’s suburbs and inner city will continue to thrive.