Province Supports Nahum Centre Application
The Nova Scotia government has committed to funding a new residential shelter for homeless women and their children across the province.
Nahum Centre will receive up to $325,000 in funding annually beginning in April 2003, Community Services Minister Peter Christie confirmed today, May 17.
"This is another step in our ongoing efforts to ensure that people who need some help don't end up trapped in the system," said Mr. Christie. "It will serve as a bridge for homeless women and children who wish to make the transition to independent living."
The proposed facility will be located in the Halifax Regional Municipality. It will contain 16 beds and will provide women and children with a home for up to one year.
Nahum Centre will be funded jointly by the province and the federal government's Supporting Community Partnerships Initiative. Planning and assessment on this project, involving community organizations and the federal and municipal governments, is now able to proceed.
"This is an exciting day. We now have improved resources available to women in transition," said Marilyn Berry, executive director of Adsum House.
"I look forward to working with the Department of Community Services and members of the community to ensure the success of Nahum Centre."
Nahum Centre will be a program of Adsum House, whose application to the federal government for funding for this project depended upon the province providing some financial support. The centre's long-term care mandate complements Adsum House's emergency shelter service.
Clients of Nahum Centre will include women and children who have left their homes because of abuse, women who have been in conflict with the law and homeless women.
The proposed facility will be staffed around the clock. It will provide residents with health education, employment counselling and computer training, in addition to the traditional support programs found at other shelters.
"Nahum Centre will provide women with the tools for independence and will allow them to once again become productive members of our community," said Mary Ann McGrath, MLA for Halifax-Bedford Basin, on behalf of Jane Purves, Minister for the Status of Women.
In his announcement, Mr. Christie said that the province is not in a position to continue to assume long-term responsibility for social programs initiated by the federal government.
"We are very pleased to support Nahum Centre, but the government of Nova Scotia does not have the capacity to stretch our budget any further," said the minister. "If the federal government has social programs it wishes to see go forward, then I encourage them to recommit to these programs and provide long-term, sustainable funding."
Nahum Centre is tentatively scheduled to open in the fall of 2002.