Budget Backgrounder: Supporting Women's Centres
The Nova Scotia government has added $276,000 to the budget for the province's six women's centres. The funding recognizes their efforts to deliver quality community-based services to women and will increase the grant for each centre to $100,000 from $54,000.
The six centres are:
- Antigonish Women's Resource Centre
- Lea Place, Sheet Harbour
- Every Woman's Centre, Sydney
- Pictou Every Woman's Centre, New Glasgow
- Second Story Women's Centre, Bridgewater
- The Women's Place, Lawrencetown
Women's centres offer a wide range of community-based services to women, including crisis intervention and problem-solving support; referrals to other agencies and services; advocacy and accompaniment to legal, medical, and social service appointments; self-help and support groups; and development programs such as literacy, skills upgrading, and women's health.
The centres also work with other agencies to develop and strengthen their communities. They provide community education through presentations and workshops, outreach services, and resource libraries for community use.
Women's centres have experienced increasing demands in recent years. Funding was added in 1998 99 to bring all Nova Scotian women's centre grants up to $54,058. However, two centres lost Status of Women Canada funding of $40,000 in March 1999, and all centres face continuing financial challenges.
Representatives from women's centres have been actively involved with a team of provincial officials in a long-term planning process, designed in part to establish a plan to secure and diversify their revenue from all sources.
The joint team is studying how to improve the ability of women's centres to meet the needs of their communities. A research project is under way to determine the needs of women using the centres and identify links with other government programs. The increased funding will ensure that women's centres can focus on this important initiative without compromising their ability to deliver the core services that are critical to their communities.