For partners...

Who we fund

Find out how LITE has invested in inner city CED initiatives for 2010-2011:
Grant partners
  Purchase partners
Disbursement Criteria (2008)
  Help for LITE partners...

Food Connections Program- Wolseley Family Place

$4,000

Food Connections is a pre-employment program designed to provide local residents with an opportunity to work in the hospitality industry by learning and developing food preparation skills and job training in a supporting environment. This program empowers participants through education, accountability and relevant work experience while providing the tools and support they need to help reach personal goals.    Wolseley Family Place website

Odd Jobs 4 Youth - Spence Neighbourhood Association Inc.*

$5,000

Odd Jobs 4 Youth provides casual work experience and training for young people ages 12-16 who are income challenged and in need of work experience. This program seeks out, provides jobs, and reduces barriers for local youth to gain work experience and build their confidence levels. Youth have the opportunity to expand their skill sets in many areas including budgeting, time management, teamwork, baking, cooking, cleaning, lawn care etc.
Spence Neighbourhood Association's website

Childminding Program - West Central Women's Resource Centre (WCWRC) **

$6,000

The Childminding training program was set up to address the lack of safe occasional childcare resources for non-profits, government and community organizations. The program simultaneously offers training, employment and respite childcare, ensuring that women can participate in community meetings and events, and offering West End parents training in positive parenting and education. The program has also generated employment for people who may have otherwise had to rely on social assistance as their only means of income.    WCWRC's website

TOOLS (Training and Employment with On-Going Opportunities for Learning in a School-Based Setting) - John M. King School**

$4,248

The TOOLS program engages parents and forms partnerships with parents to build an understanding of the importance and value of their children's education. The program provides opportunities for volunteerism and part time work for parents and community members. The term positions offered to local parents/community members provide employment and skill building, while benefiting the entire student body and staff. Students benefit from healthy snacks, literacy support, supervision and safety, and increased opportunities and staff benefit from increased communication and partnerships with parents of students. LITE's funding will contribute to the wages of one of the program's term positions.

Inkster Work Readiness Project - Nor'West Co-op Community Health Centre

$5,000

The Work Readiness Program is a project that enables 20 Inkster residents to develop the necessary and appropriate skills needed to seek employment and become employed. The program combines a soft skills (negotiating, conflict resolution etc.) component with on the job training at local businesses from the Inkster neighbourhood. By working with local businesses, the program aims to help residents gain potential employment contacts and opportunities within their neighbourhood after the training is completed.
Nor'West Co-op Community Health Centre website

Newcomer Skills Building: Multi-Cultural Maintenance Project - Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba (IRCOM) **

$5,500

Building on the success of the project over the past 3 years, the Newcomer Skills Building: Multi-Cultural Maintenance Project gives newcomers, including at-risk youth, the opportunity to gain valuable experience in building maintenance, renovations, general construction, management and caretaking. Through hands-on experience assisting with maintenance projects at IRCOM and other housing maintenance projects, the participants not only gain skills and work experience, but also contribute to the beautification of their home and the home of nearly 300 other newly arrived immigrants and refugees.     IRCOM's website

Community Renewal Annual Project - SSCOPE Inc.

$5,000

The Community Renewal Annual Project aims to provide low income individuals with mental health disabilities the opportunity to gain employment in the area of community maintenance and revitalization in Winnipeg's West End. The project gives the participants the opportunity to gain valuable on the job training allowing them the opportunity to enhance their skills and demonstrate work readiness.    SSCOPE's website

The Soup Bee - West Broadway Development Corporation (WBDC)

$4,000

The Soup Bee is a social enterprise that employs low-income individuals from the West Broadway neighbourhood to produce gourmet soup made from locally sourced ingredients, sold fresh to customers who preorder. The Soup Bee provides work experience and supplemental earnings to Good Food Club participants and West Broadway residents while emphasizing environmental sustainability and food security.    WBDC's website

Youth Odd Jobs-North Point Douglas Women's Centre Safety and Youth Outreach Worker Program*

$3,000

Youth Odd Jobs provides employment opportunities to at-risk youth in North Point Douglas in the form of a casual labour pool. Youth work in familiar surroundings with supportive staff who train youth in employment readiness. The Odd Jobs program functions as an alternative to gangs, and provides a safe and healthy environment for children and youth to work, make money, belong, and open doors to lifelong success.
North Point Douglas Women's Centre website

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Neechi Foods Community Store **

$30,000 - Christmas hamper food purchase

Neechi Foods Community Store is a full-range grocery store and Aboriginal specialty shop on Dufferin Avenue. Neechi Foods is a worker co-operative that provides employment, training and collective business ownership to 9-12 inner-city residents. Neechi has been in business since 1989 and is widely known for its leadership in Community Economic Development.

Food Connections Program - Wolseley Family Place **

$2,300 - cookie purchase

The Food Connections Project blends pre-employment programming and Community Economic Development (CED). This project has four components: a cooking class, a breakfast club, a community store and a catering business, and it employs up to ten community members. The Food Connections Project provides supported employment to single parent mothers with little or no employment experience who participate in Wolseley Family Place.    Wolseley Family Place website

Native Women's Transition Centre **

$2,300 - cookie purchase

The Native Women's Transition Centre is a long-term residential safe house for Aboriginal women and their children. The centre's catering provides employment and training to 15 women who live at the centre. Training includes preparing budgets, purchasing, food safety and handling and cooking. LITE's purchasing program supports NWTC's catering business through annual an annual order of baking for Christmas Cheer Board hampers.     NWTC's website

Star Blanket Project - Northern Star Workers Co-operative

$3,998 - blanket purchase

The Northern Star Worker Co-op is owned and operated by First Nations and Metis women who hand sew a range of traditional and contemporary quilted blankets. For the past seven years, LITE has purchased blankets from Northern Star to donate to other community organizations for use in their fundraising activities. This year 11 community organizations received blankets, providing sustained support for Northern Star through direct purchasing and exposure, and allowing LITE to support a wide range of community organizations.

* Project working only with children and youth
** Project with direct benefits to children and youth

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Our disbursement criteria ensure that we pursue our mission "to promote community economic development by supporting inner-city initiatives in Winnipeg that build capacity and provide jobs."

We believe that the future of our inner-city lies in promoting local initiatives that use innovative, long-term, social and economic strategies to implement solutions for individuals and their communities.

1. We fund initiatives that directly create jobs, or leverage new jobs, and that include skill development for inner city residents who are unemployed or underemployed. Individuals participating in these initiatives face multiple barriers to full employment (for example, at-risk youth, single mothers, ex-offenders, etc).
2. We give priority to those initiatives that create sustainable and long-term employment, or to initiatives that develop skills and experience that increase the capacity of individuals to get good, long-term jobs.
3. Given our limited funds, we select projects that most critically require our support to operate.
4. We fund projects which are well organized, have effective leadership, and have a clear project plan already in place.
5. We divide our funding between Purchases (mostly of Christmas hamper goods) from inner-city co-ops (about 50%), and Grants to non-profit initiatives (about 50%).

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Is your organisation or business seeking funding?

Download a Grant APPLICATION form (Deadline: January 20, 2012 - Grants).

If you are already a LITE partner, do you need to report on previous funding?

Download a REPORTING form to report on funding received in 2011 (Deadline: January 6, 2012 - Grants and Purchases).

Do you have questions about applying or reporting? If so, please contact us.

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