Northern Health
News Release
Northern Health is looking for community partners with ideas for projects that will improve the health of those living, working, learning and playing in northern BC. The call for applications to apply for the latest round of IMAGINE Community Grants is now open.
IMAGINE grants provide funding to community organizations, service agencies, Indigenous organizations, schools, municipalities, regional districts, and other partners with projects that support northerners in their efforts to stay healthy.
The application deadline for this cycle is Sunday, March 31, 2019. For more information and to access the application guide and form, please visit IMAGINE Grants.
Background
Over the past decade, IMAGINE Community Grants have provided funding to 860 projects across northern BC. Past projects have included; community gardens and projects that support food gathering and traditional methods of food harvesting and preservation, community walking trail enhancements, sporting equipment libraries for community lending, education sessions and workshops to support skills development in community - just to name a few.
The most recent cycle of IMAGINE Community Grants awarded more than $128,500 in funding to 31 projects across the region.
Fall Cycle IMAGINE Grant recipients
| Northeast Region | Organization | Project | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chetwynd | Chetwynd Senior Citizens Housing Society | EACHS - Energizing And Challenging Healthy Seniors | The purchase of weights and various fitness equipment will enable the provision of a free-access exercise program for seniors in Chetwynd, delivered by a certified fitness instructor on a volunteer basis. The classes are open to all seniors who want to move more for their health. |
| Dawson Creek | South Peace Art Society | Open Minds | Studies have shown that engagement with the arts can have a positive effect for those with mental health challenges. By providing pop-up workshops in a variety of locations, this project will bring the opportunity to enjoy that engagement to potentially vulnerable community members. |
| Fort Nelson | BC Emergency Health Services (BC EHS) Community Paramedicine | Wednesday Walkers | Getting enough physical activity can be challenging for seniors, especially during harsh northern winters. This partnership between BCEHS Paramedics and several community groups will support seniors taking walks in a safe, indoor environment, with access to support and healthy snacks too! |
| Fort Nelson | Fort Nelson FN | Heartpacers | Under the supervision of a certified fitness instructor and a community health nurse, this program will provide elders with the opportunity to access healthy physical activity, including chair- based exercises and stretching. |
| Fort St John | Bert Bowes Middle School & Dr. Kearny Middle School | Stretch, Breathe, Achieve in Schools Pilot Project | Yoga is recognized to have wide- reaching health benefits, but accessing classes can be difficult. To remove these barriers, this project will build capacity by completing certification of an instructor at Bert Bowes Middle School, who will then deliver yoga programming both there and at Dr. Kearny Middle School, free of charge. |
| Fort St John | Bert Bowes Middle School | Healthy Earth, Healthy People | Building on a student-led recycling program, this project will utilize compost in a tower garden to grow fresh, healthy food for student consumption. Learning about healthy eating and increasing food security have never been more fun! |
| Fort St John | Bert Bowes Middle School, Aboriginal Education Program | Tower Garden - Taking Part in a Healthy Classroom | Use of specific plants and herbs for both food and medicinal purposes is an important part of indigenous culture. Development of a tower garden by the Aboriginal Education program students will support learning about these traditional practices in a culturally safe environment. |
| Fort St John | Clearview PAC | Playground Upgrade Project | This IMAGINE grant is the final piece of funding required for purchase and installation of a $18,000 playground, supporting physical activity for students at Clearview Elementary School. |
| Fort St John | Rosy Window Productions | Guided Imagery in the Classroom: Theory, Benefits and Practical Application | By providing free training online for teachers, and support packages to involved schools at no cost, this project will seek to grow positive mental health in students through the use of guided imagery in the classroom. |
| Fort St John | YMCA of Northern BC | Ma Murray Playground Development | This project will support the purchase and installation of playground equipment at the Ma Murray child care facility in Fort St John. |
| Northern Interior | Organization | Project | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burns Lake | Burns Lake Band | Equipped to Bridging Healthy Connections | Sport brings people and communities together. This project will establish free drop-in programs for floor hockey in the winter and baseball in the summer for the Burns Lake Band, and will also lead to tournaments in those sports with surrounding communities. |
| Fort St James | Chuntoh Education Society | Yunk’ut Whe Ts’o Dul’eh Outdoor Primary Class at David Hoy Elementary | Outdoor classroom education has been shown to increase student attendance and performance. In the north, this means having appropriate seasonal clothing, which can be a serious challenge for some. By purchasing winter and wet weather gear, this project will let a whole class of Kindergarten and Grade 1 kids learn outside. |
| Mackenzie | Mackenzie Public Library | Winter Wellness Lounge | Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and chronic pain are major challenges in northern communities, especially in the winter. By providing full-spectrum lights and infra-red heating pads at no cost to borrowers, the public library will help make these therapies more accessible to Mackenzie. |
| Mackenzie | Mackenzie Community Garden Society | Community Garden Improvement Project | The Mackenzie Community Garden has been an asset to the community for 10 years. By replacing some structures that are deteriorating, and upgrading the garden with more seating, enhanced accessibility for those with limited mobility, and adding bike racks, it will continue to be a positive community project for many more years to come. |
| Prince George | Caledonia Nordic Ski Club | Caledonia Mobile Outreach Program | Nordic skiing and mountain biking are healthy activities that unfortunately have high barriers to access due to the cost of the equipment. By bringing equipment and instruction to schools at a minimal cost, this project will help lower those barriers and let everyone experience these sports. |
| Prince George | Central Interior Native Health Society | Meals for Meds | Food insecurity has been identified as a major barrier to medication adherence for those suffering from chronic illnesses such as HIV and Hepatitis C. The Meals for Meds program seeks to address this by providing not just meals, but also workshops on healthy eating and cooking lessons. |
| Prince George | SD 57 Community Schools | Community Schools Roller Derby Project | Roller derby is a fun way to stay active, and the first step is to have the gear. By purchasing skates and protective equipment, this partnership between schools, businesses, and sport organizations will make it easier for some of the city’s most at-risk youth to get on track. |
| Prince George | Van Bien School | Spin to Learn at Van Bien | Physical activity and self-regulation go hand in hand. This project will help students learn about this relationship by installing six spin bikes in intermediate classrooms, and getting the students to think about and record how they feel before, during, and after being on the bike. |
| Quesnel | North Cariboo Aboriginal Family Program Society | Snowprints Made by Kids & Mentors | Healthy living isn’t a choice, it’s many choices. By getting kids and adults active in the winter on snowshoes, and providing education about healthy eating and avoiding substance harms, this project will make those choices easier for youth and their mentors in Quesnel. |
| Quesnel | Reformation House | Youth Lounge Initiative | For youth in smaller communities, having access to safe environments to play games, study, or just hang out with friends is an important piece in positive mental health and reduction of substance harms. By establishing a drop-in centre in downtown Quesnel with a pool table, foosball, darts and more, this project aims to provide that space. |
| Vanderhoof | 899 Royal Canadian Air Cadets Squadron | Camp & Hiking Equipment | Royal Canadian Air Cadets is a program that promotes leadership, citizenship, fitness, and teamwork. To provide outdoor experiences to participants and minimize barriers to entry, this grant will be used to purchase high-quality outdoor gear to be used by the squadron for years to come. |
| Northwest region | Organization | Project | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gitanyow | Gitanyow Human Services | Community Gardens | Healthy eating and food security are important issues. Establishing a community garden, and providing free workshops on planting and harvesting skills, are a great way to begin working toward addressing them. |
| Houston | District of Houston | Irrigation Lake Public Access Lifering (PAL) | Swimming at a public beach is one of life’s great joys, but it is also risky when no lifeguards are on duty. To help mitigate that risk, this project will see install a public access life-ring (PAL) at Irrigation Lake in Houston, making summer fun a little bit safer for everyone! |
| Kitimat | Kitimat City High School | Gyrfalcon Gully Trails | Gyrfalcon Gully is a piece of undeveloped land adjacent to Kitimat City High, the alternative school in Kitimat that provides education to 60 at-risk, severe-behavior designated youth. This project will engage those students in the development of a trail network in the gully, enabling them to use the area to walk, hang out, and take ownership of the trails they built with the tools and materials purchased through the grant. |
| Kitsumkalum | Kitsumkalum First Nation | Planting the Seeds to Healthy Living: Community Garden | Following a comprehensive survey of the community of Kitsumkalum, it became clear that there is significant demand for fresh food. To address this, a community garden will be constructed, and celebrated with a traditional blessing as part of the Nation’s Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations in July, 2019. |
| Masset | Haida Gwaii Society for Community Peace | Trauma Informed Yoga & Wellness for Women | Trauma-informed Yoga is a special yoga practice that seeks to ease the suffering of past trauma through meditation, breathing techniques, and poses aimed toward relaxation and stress release. By providing this service to women who have lived through violence, this project hopes to promote positive mental health in survivors. |
| Prince Rupert | City of Prince Rupert | Youth Centre Project | Boredom is a major problem for youth, and this project will seek to help them solve it. The purchase of games and equipment will make this a safe, substance-free space for kids to relax, and hang out, and the establishment of the space itself will give them a safe place to do homework or socialize. |
| Queen Charlotte | Healthy School Project, Feeding Our Youth | Garden Glory | Promoting healthy nutrition by offering fresh smoothies made with a new Vitamix blender is a great idea. But adding extra engagement by having students make their very own clay “glory bowls” for those smoothies makes this project unique. |
| Smithers, Witset, Telkwa | Bulkley Valley-Lakes District Airshed Management Society (BVLDAMS) | Clean Woodburning Outreach Plan for the Bulkley Valley | Influencing behavior takes time and effort, and one of the first steps is educating people about why they should change. This project will undertake a social marketing campaign promoting clean wood-burning practices via a variety of mediums, to get the word out about how to keep the air clean and keep warm too. |
| Terrace | Ecole Mountainview School | Kids Matter | Kids get sad, and lonely, and sometimes they just need a buddy. A buddy-bench is a unique way for them to ask someone to play with them, without having to actually say anything. Just sit on the bench, and others will know you need someone to play with! Add some resources to learn about emotional and mental health, and a social table to talk about it all, and you have a project dedicated to helping kids feel good about themselves and each other. |
| Terrace | Terrace Downtown Improvement Association | Terrace Clean Team | Discarded drug paraphernalia has become an increasingly dangerous problem in downtown Terrace. To address this, the project seeks to establish a Clean Team, supported by peers with lived experience, to help clean up the area. Safe disposal boxes for needles puncture-proof gloves, and two-way radios are important equipment for the team, and will be provided through this grant. |