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Grant helps Redwood Park Communities enhance services

Organization received $118,300 from Ontario Trillium Foundation
BarrieToday Staff
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Redwood Park Communities received a $118,300 Resilient Communities Fund grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.Photo supplied by Redwood Park Communities

NEWS RELEASE
REDWOOD PARK COMMUNITIES
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On Friday, local MPP Doug Downey joined Redwood Park Communities at their Barrie office for a barbecue.

MPP Downey, along with Ontario Trillium Foundation’s (OTF) Arlette Utton, were there to hear from the group about the impact that a $118,300 Resilient Communities Fund grant has had on the group’s work in the community since receiving it in 2022. The Resilient Communities Fund grant program was developed by OTF in 2020 to help the non-profit sector recover and rebuild from the impact of COVID-19 to effectively meet the needs of communities across Ontario.

“Redwood Park Communities plays a vital role in addressing, and working towards the elimination of, the housing and homelessness crisis in our community,” said Doug Downey, MPP for Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte. “Supporting organizations like this, that have such a clear and direct impact in the community, is an important part of the government’s role. Thank you to Redwood Park leadership, staff, and volunteers for all the hard work you have done with the goal of helping everyone find safe, affordable housing.”

The grant has helped Redwood recover from the pandemic by increasing its financial and organizational capacity to meet the community’s need for safe, affordable, hopeful housing. With the hiring of a director of finance, this new role is supporting the leadership team in implementing a strategic plan that includes additional revenue streams and financing tools, allowing Redwood to better respond to the growing need for creating supportive housing in Simcoe County. Funds from the grant were also used to help with some key administrative costs during this period as well.

“We are grateful to OTF for recognizing the importance of the kind of supportive housing that Redwood builds in addressing today’s housing and homelessness crisis and investing in Redwood to enable us to do more of it,” said Timothy Kent, CEO of Redwood Park Communities. “The funding is allowing us to set up systems and additional revenue streams, increasing our ability to respond to the growing needs in our community. When everyone has a safe, affordable, hopeful place to call home, the entire community benefits for generations, and that’s our goal.”

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