A Full Circle Approach to Addressing Community Needs with the Circle Project
The Circle Project is an organization in Regina that engages and works with the Indigenous community, helping individuals and families in need of support. They offer a wide range of programs including daycare, children’s programming, family violence programs, and homelessness support.
In 2021, The Circle Project opened their Community and Cultural Hub as their new home in the heart of Regina’s North Central neighbourhood. When the organization moved into the new building, it was important for them to listen to the community and focus services based on needs voiced directly by the community. At the time, The Circle Project did not offer any food security programs, but the demand quickly became clear.
“... people started coming in and asking if we had any food. At first staff were giving away their lunches because people were hungry, and we wanted to feed them. Then we started making sandwiches as a group. In March of 2022 we gave out about 15 to 20 lunches. By March of 2023 we had given out over 17,000 lunches. We didn’t have funding to start this at the time, but we were able to establish this through the generosity of grants and donations. Now people are counting on this, and we need to sustain funding for it.”
Adapting services based on immediate community needs is core to building a stronger community for The Circle Project, but barriers and challenges are often difficult to overcome. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was the perfect storm to send people in a downward spiral.
“People who didn’t have mental health issues before the COVID-19 pandemic developed them. Then addiction issues skyrocketed. The poor economy we’re living in also turns people to desperation and depression. That depression leads to substance use. All these issues are intertwined, and they all impact each other,” explains Perry.
While these challenges are daunting, Perry expresses hope towards helping those in need. She explains that The Circle Project’s lunch program has opened the door to a warm and safe environment where people who visit often become comfortable voicing their own challenges, including family issues and addictions issues.
“It has become a safe place for people to come in and start working towards solutions to help each other.”
When asked about what The Circle Project needs to move toward more impactful solutions, Perry stresses the importance of unrestricted funding for organizations to use towards operational needs, core programming, and infrastructure maintenance. Before their current space, The Circle project had many infrastructure challenges. For example, they were always renting buildings, which is not the most efficient use of their funds. They also voice potential harm that can come from project-based funding that is temporary, saying that this type of funding causes projects to start and stop abruptly throughout the charitable sector. When seeking funding, Perry notes that there are often caps on administration and operational costs. These caps make it difficult to secure the capacity needed to best serve the community.
“We have been here for over 35 years. We listen well and we know what the community needs, but when funding is limited to specific projects, it limits our capacity to focus on core challenges and core needs of our community.”
Through more access to unrestricted funding to be flexible and address urgent community needs as they arise, The Circle Project would be able to be even more efficient and impactful to the people they serve.
