Nunavik’s crime prevention fund opens second call for applicants

Ungaluk coordinator Sarah Airo presented the fund’s new application criteria to a KRG meeting last September. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavik’s Ungaluk fund has opened a second call for project applications for 2015-2016 funding, the program administrators announced this week.

Progam administrators Makivik Corp. and the Kativik Regional Government will open a second application period between Jan. 5 and Jan. 30, to give an opportunity to other community projects who missed out the first time around.

Ungaluk coordinator Sarah Airo said this year’s deadline came too quickly for many communities, especially given the program’s new criteria.

The fund was revised earlier this year to give priority to projects that help reduce substance abuse and addiction across the region.

Ungaluk, the result of a 2006 deal with Quebec which traded the construction of a provincial jail in Nunavik for about $300 million, pays out about $10 million to fund crime prevention initiatives.

With 70 per cent of the region’s crimes linked to alcohol and drug abuse, and many of them violent, the program has re-focused its efforts on fighting addiction, violence and promoting social reintegration.

Under the new criteria, projects should address and prioritize the following issues in order to qualify for funding:

• reduce substance abuse and-or addictions;

• prevent violence and other crimes (adults and or youths;)

• promote social integration or reintegration (prevent offending or reoffending;)

• address trauma and or mental health;

• assist victims of crime and violence;

• build parental skills and or encourage safe family and or community environment;

• prevent school dropout and or to promote educational or developmental or personal development opportunities; and,

• promote alternatives to and diversion from criminal justice.

Airo said the program received roughly 50 applications ahead of its initial deadline in early December, the majority of which were approved.

The selection committee has sent some proposals back, asking applicants to re-submit in January with more detailed information, she said.

The second round of applications will be judged in early March 2015, Airo said.

Community projects can send their applications to ungaluk@makivik.org or write directly to s_airo@makivik.org for more information.