CANMORE – Canmore's elected officials are investing $397,000 into a community social development pandemic response plan.
The majority of the funding comes from the tax stabilization reserves, with $42,000 coming from grants the municipality has received to address the social effects of COVID-19 according to manager of community social development Lisa Brown.
"The COVID-19 pandemic is an emergency that the world and our municipality have never experienced before and it has affected our residents and community in unprecedented ways," Brown said, adding her department has been working over the past three months on understanding how they can support residents.
"The need is larger and broader than we have ever experienced and in addition the situation ... needs constant monitoring."
In April, council directed administration to develop a response plan that supported the community.
Councillor Joanna McCallum commended the work and information presented in the report, asking for regular updates to council.
"I am hoping you will come to committee of the whole every month with an update on how things are changing and evolving, and how your department is meeting the needs of these eight pillars," McCallum said.
She said as the province and businesses reopen, the best support the municipality can provide is a healthy community and workforce by helping people meet their basic needs during this difficult time.
"I feel this is an effective use of tax dollars," McCallum said. "This is a way to ensure the basic human needs of our residents are met."
Mayor John Borrowman said since the beginning of the public health crisis and economic shutdown, governments have been resonding to emerging and changing needs and the municipality is no different.
"I am so proud that we have people working for the Town of Canmore that are caring and putting careful work and thought into helping people in a time of need," he said.
Brown said there are eight areas the funding to support social development would be focused: food, housing, social/emotional wellbeing, affordability, family, seniors and vulnerable residents, support for community organizations and the municipality's call centre.
"For each of these areas there is a municipal lead that will connect with the relevant community partners to address emerging needs," she said, adding there is also a community survey out to better inform the response work.
When it comes to supporting food efforts, Brown said there is a need to coordinate volunteers for groups working to meet this needs on the ground, like the twice-weekly Food and Friends program and Meals on Wheels for example.
There is also a need for protective equipment for these community groups. As a result, the pandemic response plan includes $25,000 to support increased coordination and food support services, and $13,000 in provincial grant funding for Meals on Wheels.
"The preliminary data says that what we are seeing to date is that people are concerned about their food budget," Brown said. "There is more awareness of the food budget, but they may not be comfortable with accessing food resources, or be aware of all the food resources out there."
She said normalizing food supports is critical to help those who may be hesitant to reach out for them.
With respect to housing, Brown said her department is currently collecting information on the changing housing needs and resources in Canmore.
She said while some residents are doing fine, others have mounting debt and are concerned about the end of the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit, and some feel they will have to leave Canmore as a result of the financial crisis.
The response plan included the postponement of the Safe Park program to help support those living out of their vehicles and working in the community, a trend that had increased over the past several summer seasons. The $110,000 council approved funding for that program would be reallocated to the pandemic response, along with $25,000 from the Alberta Rural Development Network.
The pandemic response would provide for a better understanding on the effect of recent housing benefit programs, monitoring and responding to increased vehicle dwelling, creation of an emergency housing response fund and partnering with community housing programs to create short and medium-term housing recommendations.
The social and emotional wellbeing of the community will see $30,000 dedicated to provide for the increased need for support for individuals before they are in crisis, creating a referral pathway to Alberta Health Services supports and prevention-based community programming.
Brown said staff are working with the Bow Valley wellness preparedness and recovery team, which includes regular clips on Mountain FM, to normalize that it is OK for community members to access available support services.
"They are trying to get people to identify what they are feeling and to realize it is what everyone is feeling and normalize there is support to reach out to," she said. "Early results from our survey identify a number of residents feel high anxiety, loneliness, feel overwhelmed and have concerns for children and teens."
For affordability issues, there is an increased need to access Canmore's affordable services program, as well as expanded eligibility criteria, additional benefit programs for middle income families and individuals, especially when it comes to childcare and housing.
There is $2,000 allocated to create personal kits for those experiencing extreme income challenges and $52,000 to create a new residential benefit program.
Brown said her team is working on a targeted support program for middle income residents of Canmore, due to this community's high cost of living combined with the fact some do not qualifying for provincial and federal supports. The result is they do not earn enough to cover their expenses, but earn too much to qualify for programs.
For families, there is an increased need for one-on-one parenting support and whole family supports. Currently, the municipality has adapted parent education programs run through Family and Community Support Services and referral supports.
A 0.5 full-time equivalent staff position from the new Bow Valley Family Resource Network will support this work along with $5,000 in funding for materials and supplies.
For seniors and vulnerable residents, the pandemic response plan includes $9,000 to support a specialized driver program, with $4,000 coming from the Bow Valley Emergency Grant. The response in the community for these groups already includes adapted volunteer programs, new support programs like Meals on Wheels and the specialized driver program, and an adapted social connection program.
In order to support community organizations, the pandemic response plan includes $80,000 in additional operating grant funds for non-profit groups and $26,000 for a 0.5 FTE to support strategic planning efforts to adapt to COVID-19.
The call centre includes $20,000 for one FTE call centre administrator to manage that program, which was launched to support the community in March. Brown said a dedicated staff member would free up staff from other departments to focus on their programs and pandemic response and be able to collect data from the inquiries received through the call centre.
