Hamilton programs receive provincial funding to help break cycle of poverty

A local nonprofit working to ensure children don’t go hungry over the weekend is receiving more than $250,000 from the province over two years.

Food4Kids is one of 48 projects supported through the Ontario government’s Local Poverty Reduction Fund, which helps groups disproportionately affected by poverty.

Peter Milczyn, minister of housing and responsible for the poverty reduction strategy, announced the funding on Tuesday at Food4Kids on Whitney Avenue in west Hamilton.

Centre3 for Print and Media Arts will also be receiving about $250,000 through the fund, Milczyn said.

The goal of the funding is to help programs expand but also to study and measure them to determine their effectiveness and impact on the local community, he added.

Lena Bassford, executive director of Food4Kids, said the money will allow the program to evaluate the work it’s been doing since launching five years ago, which will hopefully help other organizations.

“We are so grateful for these funds,” she said.

“I can’t make a lot of promises in life, but what I can promise you, minister, is that we will work tirelessly to share information, to provide the tools that are needed in order to replicate this amazing program that truly makes a difference in the lives of children in this community.”