In 2020 the Foundation demonstrated its worth and leadership through our quick response to the COVID19 pandemic. The Stay-at-Home-Gala fundraising event, along with securing additional funding from a Vancouver Foundation grant and Emergency Community Support Fund allowed us to grant COVID response funds to 40 programs /projects through charities and non-profit organizations that support the residents of Port Coquitlam with the following impacts:

  • 99% of funds addressed the needs of our more vulnerable residents; from this percentage 62% addressed food security; the remainder 37% were programs and services offered to seniors, women at risk, addiction, radicalized, disabled & homeless
  • 38% of funds addressed social inclusion and learning
  • 32% of funds addressed mental wellness programs and services
  • 24% of funds addressed children and youth programs and services
  • 13% went to organizational support during COVID19

The Foundation’s accumulated funds allowed us to grant three Theatre Society Legacy Fund (TSLF) Arts Bursaries, three TSLF grants to Arts Grants, six Foundation Community Grants and one Vital Signs funded program and to-date Wesbild LIFT Scholarships for a total of $88, 201 in 2020. The impact to the residents of Port Coquitlam is as follows:

  • 56% of funds address the needs of vulnerable populations including food security
  • 46% of funds address mental wellness
  • 80% of funds to youth programs/services and bursaries or scholarships
2014 6 PCCF Community Grants
2 Lacrosse Bursaries
2015 6 PCCF Community Grants
2 Lacrosse Bursaries
2016 5 PCCF Community Grants
1 Lacrosse Bursary
4 Theatre Society Legacy Fund Bursary
2017 6 PCCF Community Grants
2 Lacrosse Bursary
2 Theatre Society Legacy Fund Bursary
1 Theatre Society Legacy Fund Grant
1 Wesbild LIFT Scholarship
2018 5 PCCF Community Grants
2 Theatre Society Legacy Fund Bursary
2 Theatre Society Legacy Fund Grant
22 Wesbild LIFT Scholarship
2019 7 PCCF Community Grants
3 Theatre Society Legacy Fund Bursary
1 Theatre Society Legacy Fund Grant
22 Wesbild LIFT Scholarship
2020 1 Vital Signs
20 COVID19 Community Response Grant
28 Emergency Community Response Fund Grant
6 PCCF Community Grants
3 Theatre Society Legacy Fund Bursary
3 Theatre Society Legacy Fund Grant
17 Wesbild LIFT Scholarship
2021 6 PCCF Community Grants
3 Theatre Society Legacy Fund Bursary
4 Theatre Society Legacy Fund Grant
1 Wilson Family Fund Grant
21 Wesbild LIFT Scholarship
2022 4 Capital Matching Grants (in partnership with City of Port Coquitlam)
10 Community Cultural Development Investment Program (in partnership with City of Port Coquitlam)
12 PCCF Community Grants
4 Theatre Society Legacy Fund Bursary
22 Wesbild LIFT Scholarship

Every grant made by PCCF tells a story of a need that is filled. Sometimes a grant buys equipment, sometimes a grant provides a recreation opportunity, and sometimes a grant allows an agency to start a new program or redevelop an existing one. Each grant we make touches lives of individuals in Port Coquitlam.

Here are a few examples:

Standing up to sexual exploitation and human trafficking

Sexual exploitation and human trafficking are growing problems around the world. They can happen to anyone of any age, any gender. And they can happen in Port Coquitlam.

That’s why the PoCo Community Foundation has awarded grants to the Children of the Street Society. This local agency shares frank information (and sometimes first-hand knowledge) about these issues with elementary, middle school and high school students. Through ongoing classroom workshops with youth facilitators, Children of the Streets reduces the chances of children and youth being victimized by gang members, sexual predators and human traffickers.

The Society’s executive director Diane Sowden says Children of the Streets workshops are powerful protection against being recruited into a life of violence, deception and coercion that’s hard to escape.

During the past 10 years, more than 13,000 children and youth in Port Coquitlam have attended some 350 prevention workshops, which are ongoing.

The PoCo Community Foundation sees the Society’s workshops and other programs as one more positive way to protect youth.