Ontario Trillium Foundation Grant
The Jack Purcell Recreation Association wants to recognize the Community Building Fund Grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) received to support its operations during the COVID shutdown.
The grant enabled JPRA to provide free programs, such as yoga and fitness, to its customers through virtual video services, as well as deliver after school programs by providing personal protective equipment to keep both staff and children safe while on-site.
One of the most significant contributions the fund provided was to enable JPRA to remain a going concern. The grant allowed the organisation's operations to continue and enabled JPRA to retain knowledgeable and skilled staff, both full- and part-time, over the off-and-on shutdowns of the pandemic.
The Community Building Fund also contributed to JPRA's ability to hire a new general manager and to both keep and promote an experienced, long-time employee.
During the pandemic, this grant enabled JPRA to pivot and meet the needs of participants and their parents through a constantly changing regulatory environment. Additionally, with parents either returning to their workplace or experiencing more demands on their at-home work hours, JPRA was able, and continues today, to provide after school programming and care for children who attend an adjacent school. It has also supported the organisation as it rebuilds and repositions itself to once again deliver a full slate of adult recreational programs.
The JPRA is a not-for-profit, volunteer-governed community organisation that offers recreation programs in partnership with the City of Ottawa's owned and operated Jack Purcell Community Centre in the heart of downtown Ottawa.
The Toronto-based Ontario Trillium Foundation is an agency of the Ontario government. Its mandate is to provide grants that support social service and local community-based organisations and their projects. Founded in 1982, it has supported thousands of nonprofits and not-for-profits across the province over four decades to build healthy communities.
The grant enabled JPRA to provide free programs, such as yoga and fitness, to its customers through virtual video services, as well as deliver after school programs by providing personal protective equipment to keep both staff and children safe while on-site.
One of the most significant contributions the fund provided was to enable JPRA to remain a going concern. The grant allowed the organisation's operations to continue and enabled JPRA to retain knowledgeable and skilled staff, both full- and part-time, over the off-and-on shutdowns of the pandemic.
The Community Building Fund also contributed to JPRA's ability to hire a new general manager and to both keep and promote an experienced, long-time employee.
During the pandemic, this grant enabled JPRA to pivot and meet the needs of participants and their parents through a constantly changing regulatory environment. Additionally, with parents either returning to their workplace or experiencing more demands on their at-home work hours, JPRA was able, and continues today, to provide after school programming and care for children who attend an adjacent school. It has also supported the organisation as it rebuilds and repositions itself to once again deliver a full slate of adult recreational programs.
The JPRA is a not-for-profit, volunteer-governed community organisation that offers recreation programs in partnership with the City of Ottawa's owned and operated Jack Purcell Community Centre in the heart of downtown Ottawa.
The Toronto-based Ontario Trillium Foundation is an agency of the Ontario government. Its mandate is to provide grants that support social service and local community-based organisations and their projects. Founded in 1982, it has supported thousands of nonprofits and not-for-profits across the province over four decades to build healthy communities.
St. Luke's Park Fitness Structure
The JPRA is pleased to announce the opening of an outdoor fitness structure located in St Luke’s park. The fitness structure is free and open to the public and is the result of a project over the past year in partnership with the City of Ottawa, former City Councilor Catherine McKenney, and the Community Foundations of Canada Healthy Communities Initiative. Outdoor fitness structures provide a safe, accessible, and cost-free opportunity for the general public to practise many types of physical exercise using their body weight. Designs for the structure were modelled from similar structures in parks across the city. The JPRA recognizes the use of valuable park space for the structure and looks forward to promoting its safe and effective use going forward. Although we’re a bit late for any programming with winter approaching, check back on our website in spring for more announcements on future programming and activities using the structure.
