The Women’s Centre Grey Bruce will use $26,000 in funding approved by Grey County to upgrade infrastructure.
Funding was approved during a recent session of the Grey County Council Committee of the Whole. It is part of the Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative, a federally and provincially funded program that supports local housing priorities.
Women’s Centre Grey Bruce representatives Heather Sheldrick and Lindsay Brown told Council on November 14 about the number of women, families, and youth who have required services. In 2022/2023, the centre provided nearly 5,000 days of shelter for women, children and their pets and answered more than 1,000 calls to their crisis line. The centre's Anti-Human Trafficking Youth House provided service to 13 youth in 2022/2023. The centre also helped create safety plans, provided court support, and offered free clinical counselling to those in need.
The Women’s Centre will use some of the funding to renovate its new location of the Anti Human Trafficking (AHT) Youth House. The AHT Youth House recently relocated to its own separate facility. The eight bedroom home will be equipped with the essentials needed to help clients recover. The program supports youth 15 to 18 years old who are at risk of being or are survivors of human trafficking. Services include housing, counselling, and outreach with an educational and workforce component.
“The Women’s Shelter is a vital service in Grey County that helps women and children overcome abuse. Grey County’s funding will support meaningful capital improvements through the centre so these important services can continue,” said Grey County Warden Brian Milne.
The Women’s Centre Grey Bruce’s Violence Against Women Emergency Shelter Kitchen was renovated in 2022, 41 years after the building was obtained by The Women’s Centre. Necessary capital upgrades will continue to be made across The Women’s Centre locations in Owen Sound.