With a new granting process underway for city funding, board members at the BNC (Broadway Neighbourhood Centre) say they may be in danger of losing the funding that has kept their doors open for as long as they can remember. 
   “We’ve always got our core funding from the city,” said BNC board chair Dorit Kozmin. 
Kozmin explained that the city grants have always covered the basic operating costs of the centre, such as their full-time staff, upkeep of the building, lights, and water. “It’s very hard to get operating funds really from a lot of institutions, so that’s something that we’ve been relying on for many years, and we would be really at a loss without it.”
Among other changes, the new funding process caps grants at $250,000 and dropped the total amount available through the fund from 3.2 million to 2.5 million; opens the door to other organizations to apply (previously organizations that had received operational funding could simply apply for a renewal of funding); and requires that applications be completed by mid-September.
Sherri Rollins, Fort-Rouge, East Fort Garry city councillor (responsible for the West Broadway Neighbourhood) is concerned the changes come at the busiest time of year for many non-profits. She believes some sensitivity is needed around organizations that were organically created to respond to specific needs, especially in Winnipeg’s lower income neighbourhoods. 
   “Restructuring grants can be very difficult and destabilizing on organizations that we know have had multi-year and generational benefits like (West Broadway) organizations have had. The other issue that I have is that the timing of the grants will get it ready for the (city) budget, but…to throw the grants out in the summer time when a lot of these places are either on vacation or having the busiest time of the year can be stressful too.”
    Art City director Eddy Ayoub said that the criteria the city is using is sound, and transparent – and asks grant recipients to align with city’s strategic plan to 2045 – however former recipients are worried that the funding, which is now capped at $250,000 each, may become a significant shortfall.
“It’s like a partnership, but everyone’s competing to be a partner, and so it’ll be interesting to see how that how that plays out,” said Ayoub. “If we’re not successful, it will be another existential crisis that we’re facing,” he said. “We’re optimistic, but it’s stressful.”
   BNC board member Rebecca Ford said she worries that “folks in the community, businesses, government might not see what we are providing.” Last year the centre received $257,000 from the city, split between the Just TV program, and the rest of the BNC’s daily programming – including free drop-in sports and after-school programs, meals, a homework club, community garden boxes, recreation, and hosting many community events in partnership with other non-profit organizations in the area.
    “According to our last annual report in 2024, we’ve given out 10,000 meals, 5,000 school lunches, and 600 food hampers. That’s a lot of food and a lot of hungry bellies in this area.” 
   Ford is also concerned with an upward tick of youth violence. “I feel like reading the news you see a lot of violent, impulsive crime and it’s getting younger, like 12, 13, 15 year olds. I feel like it’s a sign of desperation, it’s a sign of bad influence, a lack of belonging. There are programs here that keep youth and community safe. We provide recreation. We provide workshops, job skills, mentorships, nutritious meals, an outlet for creativity and outlets to get energy out and a space for kids to be all summer, especially those who don’t have the opportunity to spend summer at home or any other safe space.” 
Because of their worries about a possible shortfall, Ford says the BNC has been looking at ways to bring in income, including organizing car washes on Fridays.
“We’re looking for different avenues and ways that we can make up for a potential shortfall from the city, so that we’re not so 100% reliant on it, we’re looking to community,” says Ford.
Steve Wilson, founder and director of the Graffiti Gallery said he’s always believed that the city has a role to play in youth recreation, and supporting programming in neighborhoods that don’t have a big sportsplex. 

  “We treat these taxpayer dollars as being sacred,” he said, saying that the city cannot offer the kinds of services that non-profits do. With a total overall city budget of more than 1.6 billion, “$3 million (the amount previously available through the fund) is a lot of money, but in the context of the overall budget, it’s a small percentage.” 
She said non-profits have played an essential role in responding to community needs, sometimes in ways that council members are not familiar with.
She explained, as an example, that the Tommy Prince Recreation Centre in Winnipeg’s North End was built with the expectation that “once you build it, they will come,” but it wasn’t the case. Youth who lived in the area were not coming to use the centre at all, until the city helped to support the Winnipeg Aboriginal Sport Achievement Centre (WASAC), which started with two coaches, four leaders, and 40 neighbourhood youth, and has grown into an organization that now provides programming for thousands of youth year-round. 
   Rollins highlights that new planned city recreation centers in Winnipeg’s suburbs have massive budgets, such as the South Winnipeg Recreation Campus, estimated to cost almost $100 million to build starting in 2026, and she has sometimes had to draw attention in council to competing needs. 
   “It really doesn’t make sense to rob the inner city of needed recreation resources it has developed over time,” she says, and agreed that newer city councillors may not be aware of the important work they do.