Cold Lake, AB – Cold Lake City Council approved a $100,000 grant to the Cold Lake John Howard Society to establish a mobile outreach program to assist Cold Lake’s vulnerable and unhoused population.

The City of Cold Lake’s Social Inclusion and Infrastructure Grant Program allows for grants of up to $100,000 annually to organizations that implement unique solutions that assist the community’s vulnerable population. The Cold Lake John Howard Society’s application was the sole application received by the October 1 deadline for the 2022 intake.

“While this grant program only received one application, it proposed a much needed, timely program that our most vulnerable residents are in increasing need of as winter weather approaches,” Mayor Craig Copeland said. “The people at the Cold Lake John Howard Society are passionate about their work and want to build the capacity they need to continue to assist our residents who find themselves in need.”

At a delegation held at a special council meeting on October 18, 2022, City Council heard from the Cold Lake John Howard Society that the society has been impacted by the restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, difficulty in achieving stable funding, difficulty in hiring trained staff, volunteer burnout and the lack of a facility from which to operate.

The Cold Lake John Howard Society hopes that a mobile outreach program will allow the group to overcome the lack of a facility and reach the vulnerable population where they are.

It would allow two social workers to help people who are unhoused or grappling with addictions and mental health issues access services; make them aware of available assistance and provide meals and clothing.  It is also understood that the Cold Lake John Howard Society will make an effort to understand where the homeless people are from and, in the case that some are from outside of the community, the society will facilitate conversations to get them assistance in their home communities.

The program aims to provide supports to the community’s most vulnerable through direct outreach and education, to build capacity for the Cold Lake John Howard Society, and to increase public awareness and education of social justice in crime prevention and public safety.

By establishing an outreach program with a dedicated outreach van, the Cold Lake John Howard Society hopes to reduce the instances of hypothermia, frost bite and death among the vulnerable population by providing food, clothing and referrals to agencies so that people in need can receive targeted, one-on-one support. 

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