CIF Crisis Fund Criteria
To be eligible for a Crisis Fund grant, an individual must be:
- referred by a health care worker who knows them well
- a mental health consumer
- 19 years or older
- a Vancouver resident
- unable to cover essential costs due to a crisis (i.e., a situation that is unforeseen and/or out of the ordinary)
There are a limited number of crisis grants available per month.
Individuals are only eligible to receive a crisis grant (up to $75) once every 12 months.
The Crisis Fund is reserved to provide financial assistance when no other funding sources are available.
To refer a client, please contact:
Seema Shah, Project Manager
(604)736.2033 ext. 2239
Please note that all information is obtained directly from health care workers by phone.
What is a Crisis?
A CRISIS refers to a situation that is unforeseen and/or out of the ordinary for an individual and results in:
- an unexpected loss (e.g., loss of ongoing job or volunteer honorarium; temporary loss of ability to work due to medical reasons; etc.)
And/or
- A necessary but unexpected expense (e.g., costs related to a death in the family; bed bug eradication; etc.)
A crisis does not include:
- Chronic mismanagement of funds and/or lack of financial planning (e.g., 5 weeks between PWD cheque issue dates)
- Situations of overspending on nonessential items/activities