Centraide invests $42 million in Greater Montreal

MONTREAL, June 18, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - Centraide will invest $42 million this year to support 349 agencies and projects in Laval, in Montreal and on the South Shore. These investments were selected according to the needs and realities of each community in Greater Montreal with the goal of breaking the cycle of poverty and social exclusion.

"The gap between the circumstances of life of the most and least affluent continues to grow throughout the course of their lives: in some Montreal neighbourhoods, there is an 11-year discrepancy in their life expectancy," explained Lili-Anna Pereša, President and Executive Director of Centraide of Greater Montreal. "That's why it's important to intervene as early as possible, and on several fronts, in order to correct this trajectory. The added value of Centraide lies in the breadth of its network of agencies, and the depth of its overall work, which make it possible to alleviate the cumulative effects of poverty on people and their impacts on the future generation."

Centraide raises funds in the Greater Montreal area and invests them locally. It selects its investments according to the recommendations of some fifty volunteers, and on the basis of a rigorous analysis of needs and resources in the Greater Montreal area.

The funds raised by Centraide will be distributed to agencies and projects that act in its four areas of intervention, as follows:

• 35% to support youth success: Stimulate early childhood development, encourage academic perseverance, support parents and families, and prevent youth homelessness.
• 27% to break social isolation: Promote the inclusion of people with disabilities, break the isolation of the elderly, support the integration of immigrants and refugees, and help people in crisis situations, in difficulty or with mental health problems.
• 22% to build caring communities: Stimulate neighbourhood life, encourage volunteering, and strengthen the skills and leadership of the community agencies.
• 16% to take care of the essentials: Ensure food security by providing access to sufficient quantities of healthy food and facilitate access to suitable housing.

Centraide of Greater Montreal is an independent organization managed by a board of directors that is representative of the community. Centraide reaches one in seven people in Laval, in Montreal and on the South Shore through the agency network it supports. Some 57,000 volunteers are involved in its network of agencies, and another 22,000 work on its annual campaign. Centraide is supported by some 1,600 private and public corporations and organizations as well as by large trade unions.

SOURCE Centraide of Greater Montreal

Annick Gagnon, Centraide of Greater Montreal, Tel.: [phone], ext. 242, [email protected], www.centraide-mtl.org, twitter.com/centraidemtl; facebook.com/centraide.du.grand.montreal