Ingamo hall suspending programming
Friendship Centre blames delay in funding
Sarah Ladik
Northern News Services
Thursday, July 7, 2016
INUVIK
Ingamo Hall Friendship Centre has been forced to pare down its programming for the time being after its funding was not renewed in time.
Debbie Gordon-Ruben , left, Bernice Furlong and Shawna Kaglik sit at the Ingamo Hall Friendship Centre board table during an annual general meeting in October. A delay in funding has prompted the organization to suspend programming. - NNSL file photo
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"We submitted our information on time, even early, but then they changed the format completely," said Ingamo Hall board president Bernice Furlong.
"It happens every year, but this time it's really late."
As such, youth and family programs have been suspended until the federal funding comes in, hopefully, said Furlong, in the next few weeks.
It's not uncommon for Ingamo to close up shop temporarily each year, but this time it's worse than usual.
"We were in transition," Furlong explained, adding that the organization's interim executive director needed help navigating the new and more complicated format for proposal submissions.
"The board had to assist with filling out the forms."
According to last year's financial statements, the centre received just under $345,000 in core funding from the National Association of Friendship Centres, and an additional $28,000 from the federal government. The money, Furlong said, is typically used to pay the staff who run the programs for which the centre is well known.
"It's so sad," she said.
"The community looks to Ingamo for all kinds of family activities and programming for elders . It affects the whole community."
Furlong said that in past years, the centre was funded two, three, and sometimes even five years at a time, allowing the board and executive director to make longer-term plans and better manage the function of the facility.
Now, with funding an uncertain prospect each and every year, that jobs have become more difficult. This latest change in requirements has also affected other friendship centres across the country, Furlong said.
"It's so sad that the federal government makes people go through this every year," she said.
Still, Furlong is grateful for a good team of people on the Ingamo board who have stepped up to take on the extra work of re-filing all the proposals and necessary information to access federal funding.
"We want to say thank you to the community for all their support," she said.
"We look forward to serving the community again soon."
