Recent Impact - Community Foundation of Central Alberta

Aspire Child Development Centre Launches Alumni Legacy Fund

We are proud to share that Aspire Child Development Centre has launched its Alumni Legacy Fund at the Community Foundation of Central Alberta. This fund will serve as an opportunity for Aspire’s dedicated alumni community to come together in a shared act of giving back. The Alumni Legacy Fund is part of Aspire’s broader Fee […]

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Community Foundation Awards $50,000 Total for Spring 2026 Microgrants

Spring is here, and so is a new round of our Community Microgrants! This cycle, the Community Foundation of Central Alberta is proud to support ten organizations across Central Alberta, each receiving $5,000 to fund projects that reflect the creativity and resilience of Central Alberta. From maternal health and support for both youth and seniors, […]

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New Heart of the Rockies Community Builders Fund Launched to Strengthen Community Resilience in Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County

The Community Foundation of Central Alberta is thrilled to announce the creation of the Heart of the Rockies Community Builders Fund, a permanent, community-based endowment created to support the long-term sustainability of the charitable sector serving Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County. This fund is the result of an 18-month collaborative engagement process involving municipal […]

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This communities fund is the smartest way to ensure funding is getting to the areas that need it most within your community. Our Community Grants Program operates in a flexible granting model. This means that our community-minded adjudication committee can create grants to aid the areas that need it most without having to worry about limitations or specific parameters.

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What's Happening

Aspire Child Development Centre Launches Alumni Legacy Fund

The Alumni Legacy Fund is part of Aspire’s broader Fee Assistance Endowment, which works to ensure that all families, regardless of financial circumstances, can access programs and services for their children with diverse needs. Each year, Aspire provides financial support to assist families in accessing essential early interventions for their children. Proceeds from the endowment are disbursed to cover this need, ensuring a stable funding source for the future. The new Alumni Legacy Fund will be a key pillar in strengthening and sustaining that capacity for years to come.

“Aspire Child Development Centre understands investments into their community’s future. By cultivating sustainable funding through initiatives like the Alumni Legacy Fund, Aspire is ensuring that the families who need support most will always have a place to turn, now and for years to come,” says Erin Peden, CFCAB Executive Director.

Leading the way are Lance and Jill Clark, proud alumni parents of Aspire Child Development Centre and early champions of this initiative. Lance, Aspire’s current Board Chair, and Jill were honoured to be the first contributors to the Alumni Legacy Fund. For them, giving to the Fund is a meaningful way to stay connected with the Aspire community while paying it forward to future families who will benefit from the same essential programs and services.

“All alumni can be part of Aspire’s future,” says Clark, highlighting heart of what makes this Fund so special. By pooling contributions from alumni who have experienced Aspire’s impact firsthand, the Alumni Legacy Fund transforms individual gifts into a collective and lasting force for good.

Aspire is working toward a $25,000 goal for the Alumni Legacy Fund, and every dollar brings them closer to building a more secure future for the children and families they serve. We encourage alumni and the broader community to follow the Clarks’ lead and join in supporting this wonderful cause.

To contribute, please click here.

What's Happening

Community Foundation Awards $50,000 Total for Spring 2026 Microgrants

From maternal health and support for both youth and seniors, to Indigenous land-based learning and clean energy internships, this round of funding speaks to the breadth of need and innovation happening right here in our region. Here’s a look at who received support and what they’re working on:

Blackfalds FCSS – Anam Rural Youth Programming Support Initiative
Anam’s relational model meets youth and young adults where they are, providing early, preventative mental health intervention without cost, transportation barriers, or system navigation requirements. The grant will help Anam respond to increasing needs among youth experiencing exploitation risk and mental health crises who are not well-served by traditional systems. Funding will also support Anam’s mobile mental health outreach program, including staff time, transportation, and basic client supports such as food during sessions.

Care for Newcomers – Youth & Elders Film Project
This grant will enable newcomer youth in Central Alberta to participate in a professional documentary filmmaking project in partnership with Reel Youth, a nationally recognized non-profit media arts organization. Working alongside professional filmmakers over several consecutive days, youth will interview and film local elders, documenting stories of hope, survival, and resilience. The project introduces a high-quality creative arts pathway that responds directly to emerging needs around identity, belonging, and youth voice.

Ellis Bird Farm – Indigenous Land Based Learning
Funding will support the “Rooted and Rising” Indigenous Youth Summer Camp, a four-day-per-week immersive outdoor experience at Ellis Nature Centre connecting young people with the land, Cree language, and cultural teachings. Each day, a different Elder or Knowledge Keeper will partner with Ellis Nature Centre’s education team to lead sessions on native bird species, medicinal plants, Tipi Teachings, and traditional arts using materials such as wolfwillow beads and porcupine quills. The camp will be offered at no cost to Indigenous youth, with capacity for up to 50 children per day.

Family Services Central Alberta – Bridging Mothers Postpartum Peer Support
This grant will fund the development and delivery of a six-module training curriculum for the Bridging Mothers Postpartum Peer Support initiative, which pairs isolated new mothers with trained peer mentors who offer understanding, guidance, and early mental health support grounded in shared lived experience. The curriculum is informed by best practices in maternal mental health and will cover active listening, safety and crisis protocols, intercultural awareness, perinatal grief, and ongoing support resources. Strengthening this training capacity will expand the program’s reach, reduce social isolation, and improve emotional well-being for parents and infants in Red Deer and area.

Home Support Stettler & District – Insulated Meal Carriers
Funding will purchase insulated hard-cover meal carriers for the organization’s Meals on Wheels service, which consistently delivered over 4,400 meals to clients in the Town and County of Stettler in 2025. The new carriers keep meals warmer, are easier to sanitize, and are simpler for volunteers to handle, which will improve both service quality and environmental sustainability. Home Support Stettler & District serves approximately 110 clients per month across a range of in-home services, helping seniors and people with disabilities live safely and independently in their own homes.

Ponoka Youth Centre – BGC Wolf Creek Youth Life Skills Programs
This grant will support three targeted programs at BGC Wolf Creek Clubs in Ponoka, Lacombe, Blackfalds, and Rimbey, offered at no cost to participants throughout the school year. Thrive is a drop-in mental health and positive relationships program incorporating peer engagement and an evidence-based curriculum. Lead Up is a leadership development program building skills in resilience, decision-making, conflict resolution, and community service. Learn On provides academic tutoring, homework support, career exploration, and goal setting. Together, these programs address the social, emotional, and educational challenges facing youth in communities where resources are limited.

Red Deer Food Bank – Agrivoltaics Internship Development
Funding will serve as a wage subsidy to secure a paid Indigenous youth internship connected to an agrivoltaics applied research initiative with Red Deer Polytechnic and ReThink Red Deer. The $5,000 grant will be applied directly to the intern’s wages, leveraging additional support from Indigenous Clean Energy’s Generation Power Program to ensure the placement is fully delivered. This investment moves from planning to implementation, building a repeatable, paid career pathway at the intersection of clean energy and local food systems — and reducing reliance on short-term, piecemeal staffing and volunteers.

Red Deer Native Friendship Society – Sustainable Medicines
This grant will support the construction of a greenhouse to grow traditional medicines, including sweetgrass, sage, and tobacco, that are used daily in ceremony, programming, client supports, and community events at the friendship centre. After growing medicines indoors, the organization is ready to expand to a dedicated greenhouse that will allow them to supply all programs and services sustainably and without the need to purchase externally. Growing their own medicines ensures the spiritual integrity of cultural practices, as the medicines will be tended by those who understand the protocols involved in growing them for ceremonial use.

Turning Point Society – Transition Funding
Following the sudden loss of core provincial funding in October 2025, this grant will help Turning Point Society bridge critical harm reduction services to rural clients and satellite sites who have been left without access to supplies and support since that time. Funds will be used to secure and deliver safer supply orders to satellite sites that have not received shipments in months, and to cover personnel costs for outreach trips to these communities. This bridging support is life-saving and time-sensitive, helping prevent the spread of blood-borne infections while the organization pursues longer-term funding solutions.

Wolf Creek Public Schools – Indigenous Training in Trades
This grant will enable Wolf Creek Public School to develop and enhance programming that supports student mental health, social-emotional learning, and equitable access to opportunities across Ponoka and surrounding communities. Specifically, funding will support targeted Indigenous wellness workshops, expanded mentorship and peer-support programs, and access to essential learning materials for under-resourced students. The initiative also aims to strengthen Wolf Creek’s role as a community hub by developing collaborative programs with local organizations, families, and stakeholders that foster leadership, civic responsibility, and cultural responsiveness.

We are grateful to each of these organizations for the meaningful work they do every day. Their projects remind us that when communities invest health, culture, belonging, and opportunity, the impact goes far beyond any single grant.

What's Happening

New Heart of the Rockies Community Builders Fund Launched to Strengthen Community Resilience in Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County

The Community Foundation of Central Alberta is thrilled to announce the creation of the Heart of the Rockies Community Builders Fund, a permanent, community-based endowment created to support the long-term sustainability of the charitable sector serving Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County.

This fund is the result of an 18-month collaborative engagement process involving municipal leadership, the Rocky Chamber of Commerce, local businesses, and community stakeholders across the Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County regions. This process revealed systemic challenges facing the region’s more than 100 non-profit organizations, including increasing competition for limited philanthropic support, growing demand on local businesses for charitable contributions, and declining volunteer capacity driven by demographic shifts in the workforce.

The Heart of the Rockies Community Builders Fund is designed to address these challenges, while also creating a lasting legacy of community care and resilience that will endure for generations to come.

This initiative is rooted in the belief that when a community comes together to give, those gifts should flow back into the very neighbourhoods, organizations, and people that inspired them in the first place. Every dollar contributed to the Heart of the Rockies Community Builders Fund is dedicated exclusively to supporting projects, programs, and agencies operating in Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County.

“It is inspiring to work alongside such a dedicated and forward-thinking group of community members. The people driving this initiative understand that true community strength comes from supporting local charities, and from building infrastructure that will serve future generations long after any one of us is involved. That kind of vision is what philanthropy is all about, and the Community Foundation is honoured to help bring it to life,” says Erin Peden, CFCAB Executive Director.

Grants disbursed through this Fund stay in the community and are directed by community members who understand local needs, priorities, and people. This is local philanthropy in the truest sense: neighbours investing in neighbours, and in the community they call home. By building a permanent endowment, the Fund ensures that granting dollars will always be available to support Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County, not just today, but long into the future.

The Community Foundation will provide administration, financial stewardship, and reporting infrastructure necessary to ensure full transparency, accountability, and compliance with Canada Revenue Agency requirements—including the issuance of charitable tax receipts.

Philanthropic partners and donors are invited to support the continued growth of the Heart of the Rockies Community Builders Fund. This is a meaningful strategic investment in rural community resilience, social infrastructure, and future generations in Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Community Foundation of Central Alberta acknowledges that Indigenous peoples are the traditional guardians of this land we call Canada. We acknowledge that we are on the traditional lands of the Cree, Dene, Blackfoot, Saulteaux and Nakota Sioux peoples, as well as the peoples of the Blackfoot Confederacy. We also recognize that this land is the traditional meeting place of the Métis peoples. As a Community Foundation, we come to work on this land with good intentions.

Aspire Child Development Centre Launches Alumni Legacy Fund

Community Foundation Awards $50,000 Total for Spring 2026 Microgrants

New Heart of the Rockies Community Builders Fund Launched to Strengthen Community Resilience in Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County

Help us grow our unrestricted fund! Donate today to the Unrestricted Community Fund.

Aspire Child Development Centre Launches Alumni Legacy Fund

Community Foundation Awards $50,000 Total for Spring 2026 Microgrants

New Heart of the Rockies Community Builders Fund Launched to Strengthen Community Resilience in Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County

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