LSPC Receives Funding for Renovations

By JIM KELLY
From the Chronicle Journal Mar 6, 2007

Getting information on community, social, health and related government services will get a lot easier by next January.

That’s because the much anticipated 211 call centre will be in place in Thunder Bay, serving residents from Sudbury to the Manitoba border.

MPPs Bill Mauro (L-Thunder Bay-Atikokan) and Michael Gravelle (L-Thunder Bay-Superior North) announced $100,000 will be provided to retrofit existing space at the Lakehead Social Planning Council to accommodate a 211 call centre for Northern Ontario.

Mauro also announced $100,000 for improvements at the Polish Hall at 818 Spring St. Calling the three-digit phone number will access free, confidential, multilingual information about a variety of services. Total cost of the capital improvements for the call centre is about $160,000, but Marie Klassen, director of programs at the LSPC, said the organization has applied for the rest of the funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. She said construction is to start this spring on the 2,000-square-foot call centre and be completed by the fall. The official opening will be in January. “We’re grateful to the provincial government for supporting our shared vision to create a non-profit Community Resource Centre and a one-stop information and voluntary sector service hub,” Klassen said.

“The construction and expansion of our centre will create the space for improved communication, dissemination of information and the execution of social research,” she said.

“A lot of people have a difficult time knowing where to phone about different issues so to have it housed in the referral centre will make it easier,” added Mauro.
Mauro said the investment for the Polish Hall will include upgrades to the washrooms along with construction and installation of a ramp to make the hall wheelchair accessible.

The funding for the LSPC and Polish Hall is part of a $2.1-million package from the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration for 13 infrastructure projects in 10 communities across Ontario.