OVERVIEW
The Province of BC has provided Nikkei Seniors Health Care and Housing Society (Nikkei Seniors) with $2 million as part of their commitment to honour seniors who lived through the traumatic uprooting and displacement of almost 22,000 Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. The Province of BC is acknowledging the role they played in the historical wrongs committed against the Japanese Canadian community during the period between 1942 and April 1, 1949. The grant came out of the efforts of the National Association of Japanese Canadians’ (NAJC) BC Redress initiative.
PURPOSE
Nikkei Seniors has designated the $2 million for the Japanese Canadian Survivors Health & Wellness Fund (Fund). The purpose of the Fund is to provide grants to enhance programs, activities, and services that will directly benefit the health and/or wellness of these living survivors. The Fund will offer three categories of grants: Organizations, Small Groups, and Underserved.
GLOSSARY
Frailty – a range of reduced mental or physical functioning, or reduced health in older individuals
(This would include seniors with reduced ability to cope independently and/or seniors with limited resources and supports who require assistance with activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living. This might include bathing, dressing, feeding, toileting, managing medication, requiring assistive equipment, requiring help with household chores, driving, shopping, etc.)
Health – a person's mental or physical condition
JC – Japanese Canadian
Organization – this is a larger, not-for-profit organization that has an established constitution and bylaws and is serving survivors
Small Group – a small or informal group that has been operating for at least two years and is serving survivors
Survivor – a living person of Japanese descent who was directly impacted (uprooted and displaced) by the BC Government actions between 1942 and April 1, 1949 and is living in Canada. This includes impacted seniors who were not displaced but were living in BC and seniors whose families left BC but were born during this period of time.
Underserved – a survivor provided with inadequate service. This could refer to a survivor living under any one of the following conditions:
- is frail
- is facing financial hardship
- is lacking connections or is no longer able to be involved with organizations or small groups
- is living in a geographical area that is remote
- is living in a geographical area that has very few survivors
Wellness – state of being healthy
APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY
Organization Any JC organization with JC survivors and/or an organization that has JC-related health and/or wellness activities serving JC survivors but is not a JC organization.
Small Group Any small or informal group serving JC survivors with health and/or wellness activities.
Underserved An underserved JC survivor who will not directly benefit from another Japanese Canadian Survivors Health & Wellness Fund grant application.
CRITERIA
Number of Grants
Organizations may apply for up to two grants, including those combined with other organizations. If multiple grants are submitted by an organization, they must prioritize the applications.
An organization may NOT apply for the same Project twice.
Small groups and the underserved may apply for one grant only.
Combining Grant Applications
Up to three organizations may combine on a grant application. When this occurs, the maximum grant allocated can be enhanced proportional to the maximum per organization. If three organizations submit a joint application, they may request up to three times the maximum but no more than 3 x $10,000 to total $30,000.
Small groups and the underserved may not combine on other grant applications.
Maximum Awards Per Grant
Maximum award for the organization category is up to $10,000 per application.
Maximum award for small group applications is up to $3,000.
Maximum award for underserved applications is up to $750.
Other Criteria and Information
Sub-groups under the umbrella of a larger organization (such as volunteer groups, special interest groups, auxiliaries) must apply under their organizations for their application.
The grant application should be a stand-alone project and should not be dependent on other funding. You may have other sources of income but those should be established at the time of your application.
Depending on the number and quality of grants, your application may only receive partial funding. Please indicate in your application whether your project can be modified if a smaller award is given.
Projects should be completed by December 31, 2022 but this deadline can be flexible due to COVID-19.
Projects can benefit other individuals but must have a direct benefit to survivors.
PREFERENCES
Preference will be given for the creation of seniors’ activities and services to assist and maintain the health and/or wellness of frail or isolated JC survivors, even if the survivors are not members of your organization or small group.
Preference will be given to organizations and small groups that have a five-year history of serving JC seniors and survivors in health and/or wellness.
Preference will be given to organizations and small groups with a history of JC community involvement.
Preference will be given to organizations and small groups with a larger number of survivors.
If the needs exceed the funds available in the underserved category, preference will be given to applicants who satisfy more conditions as stated in the underserved definition above.
INELIGIBLE PROJECTS
Ineligible projects are debt management, deficit funding, fundraising projects, research projects, endowment funds, and sustaining funds.
Salaries for organizational staff shall be excluded but contract wages and honoraria could be included.
All other expenses will be considered.