School parent groups in Richmond have received more than $400,000 this year for extracurricular activities through the province’s gaming grants program.
Funding for the annual Community Gaming Grants, run by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, comes from B.C.’s commercial gambling revenue and is awarded to parent and district advisory groups across the province.
A total of 50 Richmond school PACs received $414,300 in funding from the province.
Based on data from the ministry, parent groups at Richmond private schools received a combined $12,880, while $225,860 went to public elementary school PACs.
Richmond secondary parent and alumni groups received $173,060 while the local district parent group received $2,500.
Grants awarded to individual public and private Richmond school PACs range from $1,900 to nearly $25,000.
The funds go towards activities that “benefit the social, cultural and physical health and well-being of students,” according to a statement from the ministry, for example, student publications, grad ceremonies, sports, playground equipment, as well as drama, writing and music clubs.
“This has been a difficult year for everyone, and I’d like to acknowledge the hard work and creativity of parent advisory councils, which have worked tirelessly to find ways to continue to safely engage students in extracurricular activities,” said Josie Osborne, Minister of Municipal Affairs, in a statement.
There was no change to the program’s budget for 2020-21, according to the ministry.
This year, however, the program made it a condition that all grant funding complies with the provincial health officer’s orders, and organizations can delay projects or services until it’s safe to do them.
The Richmond PACs are among 1,300 school advisory councils throughout B.C. to receive funding from the Community Gaming Grants in the 2020-21 school year.
In total, PACs and DPACs across the province received more than $11.2 million from gaming grants this year.
