Community Development Fund in early stages of discussion in Woodlands County

Municipalities can provide funding supports to specific groups, from sports teams to non-profits
and even businesses. Grants or programs that provide funding are typically specific, with strict
requirements for eligibility. The Town of Whitecourt has fourteen different options, including the
Community Clean Up Program, the Community Crosswalk Grant Program, the Sports Hosting
Program, the Tourism Product Development Grant and the Vitalization Grant Program, to name
a few.
Wanting to fill gaps in the funding and support provided to community groups and non-profits,
Woodlands County Council recently motioned to have its Community Services Committee
investigate what it would take to create a Community Development Fund. In early February, the
committee met and discussed the topic at length, coming up with more questions than answers.
“They had a lot of discussions about what this would look like. We didn’t have an idea of where
we could go; it was pretty open blue sky,” began Heather Anderson, Community Services
Coordinator for Woodlands County. “A couple of questions that came out of that were: what is
the role of the municipality in supporting some of these groups? Is tossing money at groups the
best way to help them? Do we want to focus only on non-profits? Do we want to open this up to
say, businesses? Is this an economic development synergy?”
Another big question was how many dollars the Council would want to put towards the fund and
how it would be divided. “Are we going to budget $100,000? Are we going to budget $20,000?
We didn’t know what that would look like because depending on what groups you target, (that)
will determine what kind of money they’re looking for,” explained Anderson.
Provincial and federal grants are also available, raising another question: Does Woodlands
County want to duplicate funding offered elsewhere? “The consensus of the committee was that
this has huge potential. However, we didn’t realize where the Council saw the priority and where
you wanted to focus. The committee made a motion to toss it back to you and ask for a little bit
more focus and a little bit more direction for this fund and where your intentions are.”
A council’s intentions through a four-year term are heavily influenced by its strategic goals.
Woodlands County set its strategic goals at the beginning of its term, encompassing the entire
four years, with yearly check-ins to ensure they are still on track. Strategic priorities are areas
identified by the Council as important and are given priority, with much of what they do tying
back into those priorities. Woodlands County Council selected Financial Understanding,
Infrastructure & Asset Management, Regional Collaboration, Strategic Economic Development
& Tourism and Organizational Excellence as the five focus areas through 2022-2025.
In wanting to create a Community Development Fund, the Council had shifted focus to
something outside their current strategic plan. Anderson said adding it in so that any steps
forward could be tied back to the strategic plan could be an important first step.
“Could this be that we actually streamline our current grant funding that we have and maybe
change the parameters of some of those grant funding policies, or do we just throw money and
say have fun, or do we need a community support person,” said Anderson, providing some of
the possible solutions the committee came up with. “Or (do you) create a new policy based on
your priorities?”

She explained that the Whitecourt Mountain Bike Association is one example of a group that
falls outside the funding available from Woodlands County. They recently had a delegation in
front of the Council seeking a support letter and sharing their plans to apply for a more
significant grant. “They would be an example that if they come to you and want funding, they
don’t fit in any of our parameters (for funding), like the Fort Assiniboine Parent Society, same
thing. They just don’t quite fit.”
Another example is the Motorcross Association. “They have big plans out at the White Ridge
MX Park. (But), they’re not one of our groups that fit for capital (funding), (and) they aren’t a
sponsorship,” said Anderson. Groups that don’t fit within the current grant funding structure
cannot access municipal funding, hence the interest in creating something new that doesn’t
leave groups out.
“When we did a gap analysis at the Community Services Committee, there were a lot of
windows open (gaps). So, these are the type of groups that are going to be coming to you,” said
Anderson. Councillor Kuelken asked if municipalities could allow a non-profit to use dollars from
a Community Development Fund to leverage government grants. Often, government grants
require matching dollars, but most groups don’t have that kind of money in their piggy banks.
She said she couldn’t find an example of another program with the same name but said groups
could seek leverage through community organizations like Community Futures. She then asked
if that was the role they wanted to play. “Is it our role to do what some of these groups are
looking for? What is our role in funding? Do they need funding, or do they need somebody to
help them get other grant funding?”
Reeve Kusch agreed to have further discussions. He said there are groups that benefit the
community that don’t fit into Woodlands County’s current grant structure. He added that working
on something to fill those gaps would benefit everyone. Councillor Kuelken’s motion to discuss
the matter further at their upcoming strategic plan review passed. More information on whether
the Council decides to move forward with creating a Community Development Fund will come at
a later date.