COMMUNITY CARE PROGRAM
Organizations have different historical and current financial realities. While some organizations have the capacity to participate in equity work and training, smaller or volunteer-run organizations may experience barriers related to time, labour, and resources for participation and implementation.
The Community Care program exists to help reduce participation barriers for organizations that would otherwise not be able to meaningfully engage with Pathways. The fund is intended to help reduce unpaid labour connected to equity work while participating in the program.
This practice is related to the ideas of mutual aid, as championed by Dean Spade, where communities support one another through shared care, collective responsibility, and the understanding that everyone’s needs and capacities are different; where we both give and receive support at different times.
The Community Care program is supported through a combination of participant contributions and the Pathways program budget.
Organizations may choose to:
- Contribute to the Community Care program
- Request support if financial or capacity barriers would otherwise prevent participation in Pathways
- Neither contribute nor request support
How the Funds are Shared
The primary intention of Community Care funding is to reduce unpaid labour connected to equity work while actively participating in Pathways.
Examples of how the funds have been used by past participating organizations:
- Reducing the unpaid labour of staff, contractors, or volunteers while they are engaging in the program and bringing and implementing the learning back to their organizations
- Covering childcare costs so participants can attend meetings and workshops
- Providing wellness or accessibility supports connected to participation, with the recognition that the impacts and responsibilities of equity work are not experienced equally by all participants.
Pathways does not distribute the funds directly to individuals, nor is it involved in how the funds are spent by the organizations.
Why Your Organization Might Choose to Contribute to the Fund
Participating organizations are invited to contribute to the community care fund to support broader participation across the sector and help ensure that organizations with fewer resources are not excluded from opportunities for learning and growth.
Examples of why past organizations have chosen to contribute:
- Recognizing that for some organizations, a free program is out of reach due to the real costs of capacity to participate
- Understanding that organizations already experience inequitable access to resources
- Valuing reciprocity, collective care, and shared learning across the sector
- Wanting to participate in supporting greater access, where more organizations can participate meaningfully in Pathways
Reflection Process & Timing
As part of the application process, organizations will be invited to reflect on their current realities and capacity. Because Community Care funds are limited, organizations are asked to request only the amount genuinely needed to make participation possible.
- Organizations that choose to contribute will receive an invoice once the program begins.
- Organizations whose request for support is approved will receive confirmation during the third month of the program, after participants have begun engaging with their Guide.
Please note that Community Care funds are not a project grant, operating grant, participation fee, or payment for being in the program. It is a limited barrier-reduction support, intended to make participation possible. Organizations should not assume support is guaranteed when planning their participation.
- Community Care funds are limited, and requests cannot be guaranteed.
- Choosing to contribute or request support will not affect the review of your application.
