Community groups with membership in the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan or MCoS can now apply for funding of up to $3000 for upcoming projects.
Officials with MCoS indicate the deadline is September 15th and even groups that are not members may apply for membership on the website.
Executive director Rhonda Rosenberg notes that in the past groups like Lloydfest have benefitted from the grant to support strategic initiatives.
“Lloydfest has been one that, not only has been a very public celebration of diversity in Lloydminster, but was also really innovative through the pandemic in finding ways that were possible to bring people together and have people learn.”
Rosenberg says MCoS supports events and projects that address at least one of the five streams of multicultural work. Those being:
- Cultural continuity which is evolution of cultural traditions and passing these to the next generation
- Celebration of diversity through opportunities to share cultures with each other at usually public events
- Anti-racism work
- Inter-cultural connections which require long-term relationship building among cultural groups and individuals
- Integration where communities become places of belonging and people can see themselves reflected in institutions and organizations, and be part of community life.
Over the last decade, Rosenberg says in her tenure with MCoS she has seen “enormous change.”
“When we started, issues around multiculturalism, racism and anti-racism work were really not in the news and not on the media’s radar at all. And the relevance of the work we do has become a lot more apparent to far more people than it was in the past.”
Rosenberg says there are some training sessions to inform on the specifics of the application process.
“We will talk about what we are looking for in the applications and especially what makes them strong. And then we open it up to ask questions.”
More details on applying for the strategic initiatives funding can be found on the MCoS website.