This year provincial wellness grants are assisting 23 community groups to promote wellness and help Islanders to live healthy.

The Wellness Grant Program provides $50,000 annually to support community-led wellness initiatives in the following priority areas:

• living tobacco free;
• being physically active and reducing sedentary time;
• healthy eating;
• consuming alcohol responsibly; and
• mental health promotion.

“These grants offer community partners assistance so they can creatively promote wellness within Island communities. I am so pleased to see a wide range of innovative programs receiving grants this year, touching on all wellness priority areas. The work our community partners do to improve the wellness of people across the province makes a real difference in the health of Islanders and we want to continue to work together and support these important initiatives.”

- Health and Wellness Minister James Aylward

This year the program offered two different funding streams to make it more accessible: a Community Catalyst Grant and a Health Promotion Impact Grant. The Boys and Girls Club of Charlottetown was one of the groups to receive a Health Promotion Impact Grant for their YOUth Belong Here inclusion program to engage youth ages 12 to 15. The program is free to youth in the Charlottetown area and runs once a week from 6 -8 p.m. throughout the 2019-2020 school year.

“YOUth Belong Here provides an accessible, safe, supportive and inclusive space for youth to develop skills to make healthy choices, build healthy relationships, and bolster their self-esteem; all factors known to build resilience and promote health and well-being,” said Executive Director Amanda Beazley. “Evidence shows the positive impact of structured, youth centred programs in mitigating the effects of poverty, mental health, and addictions by providing the supports that youth need to succeed and thrive. Thanks to the Health Promotion Impact Grant the Boys & Girls Club of Charlottetown is fulfilling our mission to make this available to all youth in our community,” Beazley said. For more information, visit:

Backgrounder

2019-20 Health Promotion Impact Grant Recipients

Abegweit First Nation Wellness Centre - Welatpetmu'k : We are benefiting from this

Boys and Girls Club of Charlottetown - YOUth Belong Here

Heart and Stroke Foundation - Translating knowledge into action: food environments in PEI's recreation settings

Holland College - Investigating food security among post-secondary students

PEI Lung Association - A Toolkit for Educators and Parents

Wild Child PEI - Queer and Gender Creative Kids Nature Program

2019-20 Community Catalyst Grant Recipients

24 Strong - International Women's Day music video

Boys and Girls Club of Montague - Sensory Pathway

Brackley Friendship Group - Stronger Together

Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) - Rethink Technology Tech Bar

Le Groupe consultatif communautaire Évangéline (GCCÉ) - L’éco-anxiété fait mal à ma santé mentale et physique!

Island Trails - Trails Wes

Kensington Senior Surfers’ Club - Community Inclusion Learning

PEERS Alliance - Did You Know! Increasing access to locally relevant health promotion resources with marginalized populations

PEI Lung Association - Exploring Youth Vaping

Rural Municipality of Breadalbane - Building capacity to address the determinants of mental wellbeing in rural PEI

Rural Municipality of North Shore Community - Recreational Needs Research and Imagination Station

Rural Municipality of St. Peter’s Bay - St. Peter’s Bay Fitness

Tignish Member Relations - Community Picnic Area

Tignish Recreation - West Prince Nature Explorers

Town of Borden-Carleton - Reconnecting with Nature: Development of a Trail System through the Noonan Shore

Town of Stratford - Trails Fit Benches

Wild Child PEI - Building Organizational Capacity to Continue Foresting Programming in PEI

For more information on recipients and their projects, visit: 2019-20 Wellness Grant Projects.

Image description: Minister Aylward visits with staff and participants at the Boys and Girls Club of Charlottetown's YOUth Belong Here program, a recipient of Health Promotion Impact Grant.