Lloydminster’s Social Programs and Services department distributed $504,704 across three community grant programs in the past cycle, with funding touching addiction recovery, brain injury support and mental health initiatives, according to a report presented to council Monday.
Patrick Lancaster, with the city’s social programs and services department, told the Governance and Priorities Committee the update covers the Saskatchewan Lotteries Community Grant, the Safe and Healthy Communities Grant, and Family and Community Support Services, or FCSS.
“Today I’m providing an update on grants that are administered by the social programs and services department,” said Lancaster. “The total funding represented by these three grants is $504,704.”
Some of that funding went directly to healthcare-adjacent organizations. Under the Saskatchewan Lotteries cycle, the Lloydminster Area Brain Injury Society (LABIS) was among the agencies that didn’t use its full allocation, and unspent funds were required to be redirected elsewhere.
“If there are unused funds or declined grants, these funds must be reallocated to other eligible projects within the first call for applications,” said Lancaster.
Under the Safe and Healthy Communities Grant, a second call for applications directed $10,000 to Residents in Recovery for child and family transport. A further $750 in leftover funds from that cycle went to the city’s social policy framework mental health working group.
FCSS funding, the largest of the three programs, is restricted by provincial policy to preventative social programs rather than crisis or rehabilitative services. The city is now in the first year of a new three-year funding agreement with the province.
“We are now in the first year of a new three-year agreement with the province for FCSS, which provides us with funding based on our Alberta population,” said Lancaster. “That agreement will be in place until the end of 2028 and provide funding for preventative social programs and services.”
Coun. Michael Diachuk said the report highlights the breadth of support the city funds, even when public attention tends to focus on a narrower set of high-profile issues.
“It’s easy to see one specific problem or one issue, and we get bombarded with emails on one or two of those big issues we have in a community. And it’s easy to overlook all those other pieces that are going on in the community that we support,” said Diachuk. “I think people and organizations are making a difference in the strength and the future of our community.”
Coun. Michele Charles Gustafson asked Lancaster to clarify the shift to a three-year FCSS funding cycle.
“Is that more administrative, that the province has changed in the agreement, not necessarily the funding model itself?” said Charles Gustafson.
“For the most part, yes,” said Lancaster.
The city’s 2026-27 grant cycles are already underway. FCSS applications for the next cycle close in late September, with Safe and Healthy Communities funding opening Sept. 23 and the next Saskatchewan Lotteries cycle opening in October.
No motion was required on the report. Council received it as information.
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