Winnipeg community centres hope new wage subsidy helps boost flagging volunteer numbers

As Winnipeg community centres struggle to attract and retain volunteers, the city hopes a new grant and shift to a new governance model can help take pressure off over-burdened staff. 

The number of volunteers working at Winnipeg's 63 community centres has dropped nearly by half from pre-COVID-19 levels of more than 14,300, to just over 7,800, according to a report from the General Council of Winnipeg Community Centres, an arm's-length organization that works to facilitate operations for the city's community centres.

At the same time, many community centres say they lack funding to pay for staff to help with operations and programming. 

A new report to be presented to city council's executive policy committee next week recommends a new $250,000 annual grant to create a programming and wage subsidy program that would help community centres hire operational and programming staff.

The goal is to transition volunteer community centre boards from "working boards" — where board members are responsible for all aspects of running facilities, including maintenance, volunteer recruitment and programming — to a governance model where board members provide direction and oversight to paid staff who lead facility operations and program delivery. 

"The [current] community centre model that dates back to, you know, the late '50s and '60s, where mom and dad would go down and run the canteen and they'd have programming … and people would get involved just because of their proximity to the community centre," Lora Meseman, executive director of the General Council of Winnipeg Community Centres, said in a Wednesday interview.

About one-third of the city's community centres lack full-time managers, Meseman said.

Volunteerism rates have dropped across the country, and the motivations for volunteering have changed, she said. While in the past, people offered their time out of a sense of duty or community commitment, volunteers today are often looking for personal fulfilment, skill development or social connections, said Meseman.

At the same time, accountability requirements from the City of Winnipeg have become more complicated, adding to the burden volunteer boards must carry. 

"We see a lot more community members wanting to participate in events, volunteering two or three hours, rather than getting involved long term. So how do we adjust that?" Meseman said.

The council developed a 20-year action plan, called Plan 2045, which aims to gradually transform the city's community centres to the new model. It would also clarify roles and responsibilities for volunteers, and increase City of Winnipeg supports to help boards meet their obligations.

Board amalgamations considered

Although the plan does not call for closing any of the city's community centres, Meseman says part of the solution could be to merge boards from nearby centres, creating a single board to oversee multiple facilities.

Some Winnipeg community centres already follow that model, including Valour Community Centre. It runs three facilities — Isaac Brock, Orioles and Clifton (in the Sargent Park area).

General manager Liz Jackimec says attracting and retaining volunteers is a "huge challenge" and a "constant struggle."

"People don't have the time or they don't understand that … how you improve your community centres, and your community, is by volunteering," she said.

"That sense of ownership, of belonging to a community centre, has really gone down in the last … 10 years or so."

All community centre buildings are owned by the city, and receive funding based on a formula that takes into account a number of factors, including the building size and the amount of programming. That money pays for utilities and basic maintenance, but not staff, which is why many community centre programs include fees to participate, Meseman said.

"So it would be ideal to have programming staff and to have those doors open, have community have access to the facility, without having to pay fees to attend the facility," she said.

The council's action plan would be implemented in phases, starting with a governance review and shifting community centre boards to the new model, with the first assessment completed by 2027.

Under the plan, the city would also establish a regular assessment process to assess the health and risk level of each community centre, related to governance, finances, programming and the facilities themselves.