Announcement of Inaugural Grant Recipients

Charlottetown, PEI – The PEI Alliance for Mental Well-Being was created by the PEI Government in 2021 in response to community-informed recommendations to strengthen the mental well-being for all Islanders throughout their lifespan, and has since become a not-for-profit organization. Drawing on the science of resilience, the Alliance champions three action areas that can improve mental well-being: supporting responsive relationships, strengthening core life skills and reducing sources of toxic stress. It is recognized that investing in strengthening well-being can reduce acute issues for all, including mental health and addiction issues. The Alliance brings people together in a collaborative way, to achieve positive social change for all Islanders.  It provides leadership, coordination and communications related to mental well-being by collaborating, convening, disseminating knowledge and assisting with policies and programs with stakeholders and Island community members. 

The Alliance has a funding mechanism that supports projects and initiatives that focus on building and strengthening the resilience of individuals, families and communities. The multi-million dollar “Improving Mental Well-Being for All: Focusing Action for Positive Change” Grant Program is a catalyst for enhancing existing initiatives and creating innovative solutions. The Program offers 4 types of grants: Enhanced Support Grants, Innovation Grants, Creating Connections Grants, and Targeted Investment Grants.

“The PEI Government understands that improving mental well-being is paramount and is committed to supporting upstream initiatives to benefit Islanders, The Alliance welcomes the government’s continued support and applauds their investment to benefit the lives of PEI community members.” says John Horrelt, Chair of the Alliance’s Board of Directors, “Given the significant interest in and number of highly meritorious applications, as identified by the Alliance’s Peer Review Committee, the Government of PEI has agreed with the request of the Alliance to invest additional dollars in this inaugural grant competition in order to fund a greater number of these projects. These grants focus on children, families and seniors and are a particularly important investment when it comes to preventing and buffering mental health and addiction issues throughout the lifespan and across generations.” 

Review, assessment and identification of highly exemplary grant applications was guided by the work of a community-representative Peer Review Committee which recommended projects for approval to the Board of Directors and Executive Director Karen Cumberland. “The funding is to support initiatives that build resilience and foster mental well-being,” says Cumberland, “From many praiseworthy project applications submitted, 30 were approved for funding. We are happy that so many project initiatives from the community have been generated and we look forward to seeing and supporting them grow. We are also especially grateful to the Government of PEI for agreeing to invest additional dollars in this competition given the number of applications.” There were 30 grants awarded, totalling $3.3M. 

Applications originated from a wide variety of community organizations, varied across sectors and in terms of their focus, types of programs offered, and by organizational size. These organizations and their proposed projects included some with arts-focus, some with a food security and healthy-living focus, and many that support a particular age group (youth or seniors) or marginalized/equity-seeking communities. The varied projects will create new opportunities for Islanders to have access to the key action areas informed by the science of resilience. The Alliance will be following these groups to help tell their stories in the months to come.