The City of Chestermere has temporarily paused the 2023 community grants.
Local not-for-profits received an email notice from the City of Chestermere on May 24, explaining that community grants are paused until an audit on programs and social services is completed.
An independent assessor will review the programs and services offered by the city to ensure they meet the needs of residents and council’s social master plan, the email said.
Effective immediately the 2024 Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) and United Way Chestermere Partnership Grant Awards Notifications have been postponed until the fall.
When the audit and the community needs assessment is completed, the city will issue award notifications.
“As the city reserves the right to change the schedule as needed, the 2023 Community Grants must also be put on hold until further notice,” the email said.
“We recognize the impact that this may have and apologize for the inconvenience,” the email said.
In a video posted on the city’s Facebook page, Mayor Jeff Colvin explained that the city wants to ensure the city is supporting residents through social programs and social services.
He said the city is looking at issuing a survey to residents to help identify how they feel about programs and services being offered, what’s missing, and what needs to be improved.
An independent third party will also complete a social programming analysis regarding how effective local programming is, what should be done differently, and find efficiencies to ensure funds are being spent wisely.
“We’re very lucky that we’ve restructured the city, so we now have the ability to take advantage of all of the things we should be doing but there is only so much money,” Colvin said. “There is opportunity, but we still have to spend it wisely, it’s very important to us.”
**Correction – statements from not-for-profits have been removed.**
